This bug may be called the mustache bug but for this specific bug there is no funny business going on this is a fearsome creature. Scutigera Coleoptrata is Latin for a fearsome creature. Another common name for this arthropod is a house centipede. It is regularly found in the Mediterranean region, Europe, Asia, North America, and damp places. There are many insects that may look like the mustache bug but one thing that you may notice when you see it is its longs legs used for darting and racing away from anything attempting to hurt or harm this arthropod. This insect may not look like it has a mustache but it is still very dangerous and fascinating at the same time.

 

                This bug may not have a mustache but it is still very fascinating. The size of this arthropods is about an inch or more. The color of this insect is almost like a yellowish brown. One of many numerous adaptations of the Scutigera coleoptrata is that it likes damp places. There are many statements that you would have when you first lay eyes on this bug such as its ugly, the long legs, it runs fast. Those are but many comments that people would say when they first lay eyes on this hideously fearsome creature.

 

                 This hideous bug may be found in numerous places all over the world even in your backyard. Scutigera coleoptrata can be found in damp places, the Mediterranean region, Europe, Asia, North America,  it has also spread from the southern states and Mexico. Some of the habitats of this arthropod are under wood, in the trash, or inside caves.  The population of this bug is not increasing nor is it decreasing. How many of this species has not yet been found? This species is not considered endangered or threatened. This species may not be increasing or decreasing or live in many places but it still is a fearsome insect.

 

This insect’s diet is a little weird. Scutigera coleoptrata eats other insects.  It is a consumer and a carnivore. They eat silverfish, flies, cockroaches, moths, spiders, and other house centipedes. One of the ways the mustache bug tries to not get eaten is that if it seems like it may get harmed it will run up to 16 inches in 1 second.

 

One fact that a lot of arthropods have in common is that one predator of these insects is of course mankind or anything bigger than it of course. The way a man would dispose of this is either stepping on it or calling an exterminator to get the job done even though this insect is only getting rid of other insects by eating them. Their feeding habits include eating spiders, bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, and silverfish. They eat a lot of household pests. This bug may look like an ugly old pest but that is one of the things that a lot of people are wrong about Scutigera coleoptrata they eat pests and try to avoid any contact with us at all costs they try not to harm us but if we go they will bite and cause a wound like a bee sting.

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Scutigera Coleoptrata is a very important arthropod due to their feeding habits is their wouldn’t be any spiders, bedbugs, termites, or silverfish in your home so what it basically does is that is gets rid of the pests in your home. Another important fact about this but is that it darts and hides under large objects trying not to get squashed. Scutigera Coleoptrata is one of maybe many that have at least one standard that stands out about them one is that they have longs legs for running and hiding from predators. Another is that they eat other centipedes or to be specific it is an insectivore.

 

Author: Mikaela H.
Published: 2/2012

 

http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/house_centipede.html http://work.colum.edu/~cshaw/scutigera.php                                                http://animals.jrank.org/pages/2545/Centipedes-Chilopoda-HOUSE-CENTIPEDE-Scutigera-coleoptrata-SPECIES-ACCOUNTS.html                                                      http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/chilopoda/interesting/