General: Centipedes are arthropods with a hard exoskeleton. They are segmented, flattened, worm-like creatures with one pair of legs per body segment. All centipedes have a pair of venom claws formed from the first appendage. Centipedes have 15 or 21 pairs of legs. The first pair is hard to see because they are modified as pinchers, and the last pair are elongate as if modified into a pair of tails.

Feeding: Centipedes are strictly predators, feeding on anything they can catch.

Taxonomy: Subphylum Myriapoda, Class Chilopoda, with five orders. Members of the Order Lithobiomorpha have 15 pairs of legs and are referred to as Stone Centipedes. Members of the Scolopendromorpha, also known as Tropical Centipedes or bark centipedes, have 21 pairs of legs.

Note: Centipedes use venom to subdue their prey, and they can deliver a nasty bite to humans.

Compare with the slower moving, herbivorous millipedes that have two pairs of legs per segment.