Brown centipede

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed

Description

Brown centipede is an exotic, widespread, very common, typical stone centipede. It is native to Europe and has been introduced into North America and New Zealand. The time and place of its introduction into North America is unknown, but it is thought to have been during colonial times in the 15th century. It probably arrived in plants brought to or shipped to America by early European settlers. Since then, it has been reintroduced many times. It is now found throughout the United States and southern Canada. It is the most common centipede in the northern U.S. Though rarely found far from places of human activity, it is considered “exceedingly abundant” throughout its range.

Brown centipede is a habitat generalist, but it is highly susceptible to desiccation, which restricts it to damp or moist places. It is found in forests, grasslands, and in places with scarce vegetation; on soil, bark, and fallen tree trunks; in leaf litter, moss, and crevices; under mulch, rocks, and stones; and in greenhouses, nurseries, and households. It feeds on small insects, spiders, earthworms, and other arthropods, including sowbugs and millipedes.

Adults are rich chestnut brown, 11⁄16″to 1¼″ (18 to 32 mm) in length, and ⅛″ (2.8 to 4.0 mm) wide.

The head is sometimes reddish. The antennae are relatively short, -no more than one third the length of the body. They usually have 39 to 43 segments, but they may have as few as 30 or as many as 55. The last segment is twice as long as the preceding one. On each side of the head there is a tight group of 19 to 34 simple eyes (ocelli) in 5 or 6 rows. There is a pair of poison claws under the head.

Recently hatched young have just seven pairs of legs. They gain a body segment and a pair of legs with each molt. The adult body has 18 segments, and it is not constricted behind the head. Fifteen of the segments have an upper skeletal plate (tergite) and a single pair of legs. Each tergite has a well-developed, flattened, plate-like extension (paranotum) on each side. The paranota are mostly, or at least in part, the same color as the legs. The tergites on segments 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 14 are much longer than those on the remaining segments. The tergites on segments 9, 11, and 13 have a large triangular projection at each rear corner. The plate on the underside of the first segment of the thorax (prosternum) has 5 teeth on each side.

The legs are often pale. The rear legs extend backward and are long, resembling a second pair of antennae.

Size

Total length: 11⁄16″ to 1¼″ (18 to 32 mm)

Similar Species

Habitat

Forests, grasslands, and urban areas

Ecology

Season

Behavior

Like most centipedes, brown centipedes are fast runners.

Life Cycle

Food

Small insects, spiders, earthworms, and other arthropods

Distribution

Sources

24, 30, 82.

Lithobius forficatus Linnaeus, 1758 in GBIF Secretariat (2023). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org. Accessed 5/6/2026.