
Mondays and Tuesdays at the Butterfly Farm are pupae days. Over these two
days we receive packages of pupae from various tropical country's around the
world, which we then send out in the thousands to numerous
zoological gardens around Britain, Europe and the United States to be
displayed. Anyway, today while preforming this task we received a welcome
surprise, as hidden within one of the African shipments was a small, yet very
aggravated centipede of an unknown species - at present unknown to us that
is.
It is about 5 cm in length (approx 2 inches), has orange legs and antennae
and an orange and dark brown segmented body with 20 segments - see images for
more details. I have not yet had chance to determine nomenclature for
this specimen, so if any readers believe they recognise this genus please post a
comment. More detailed information can be given if required.
Over the next few weeks there will be a follow up post, hopefully
positively identifying this centipede.
Also...
Feeding time for the Indian ornamental tarantula
Poecilotheria
regalis (Greek "Poikilos - spotted and "therion" - wild beast and "ragalis"
- royal). Note the vibrant yellow and black warning colours on the undersides of
the first and second pairs of legs. These markings are not a bluff as
this arboreal species is extremely aggressive, and as far as the Theraphosidae
family (tarantulas) go they have a very unpleasant and medically significant
bite.
P. regalis originates in southwestern India through the Nilgiri
Hills and is also found in Sri Lanka.