What would you do if you found a centipede? Maybe some will freak out more if they suddenly see a giant centipede.
The venomous and giant centipede dubbed as Scolopendra cataracta was found in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Scientists said this centipede that belongs to Scolopendra, grows up to 20 centimeters or 7.9 inches long.
Just like other centipedes, it is venomous and carnivorous, but can grow longer. The description of this species was published in the journal Zoo Keys, according to National Geographic.
George Beccaloni, an entomologist, was on his honeymoon in Thailand in 2001. Since he is an entomologist, he did not waste the chance to look for bugs that time.
Beccaloni said he usually turns over rocks beside steams to check if there are small animals. As he was doing this, he discovered the giant centipede.
He surprised to what he saw as the centipede is big, and its legs are longer, and color is dark, greenish-black. When he lifted the rocks, he saw the creature hiding and immediately escaped into the stream.
Before the entomologist captured the centipede, he faced difficulty catching it. He put it in a large container of water. As he was putting the creature into container, it immediately dove.
Then when he took the centipede out of the container, the water rolled off its body, thus making it totally dry.
Beccaloni brought the to the Natural History Museum in London to ask a centipede expert about his observations. According to an expert, Scolopendra can be found dry habitats and no centipedes were known to be amphibious.
Since the expert was a bit skeptical about the centipede, Beccaloni and his colleague at the Museum, Gregory Edgecombe, and his students in Thailand, collected two specimens near waterfalls in Laos. After a DNA analysis, it was confirmed that the giant centipede was a new species. They named the species as Scolopendra cataracta, from the Latin for "waterfall."
In the video obtained by Daily Mail, you can see Scolopendra species centipede swimming in the water tank.
