Centipedes

Centipedes (Class Chilopoda) are carnivorous, active invertebrates with jointed legs, capable of inflicting a poisonous bite, and reaching nearly one foot (305 mm) in length in the region. Captain Stanley S. Flower, 5th Fusiliers, produced the first systematic account of the group for the Malay Peninsula and Siam in 1901, drawing on four years of fieldwork (1895–1898) across the Straits Settlements, the Native States, and Siam [1, pp. 1–2]. His survey was explicitly designed for European residents arriving from England, where such creatures were rare and harmless, and who needed to identify the “wonderful variety” they encountered in daily life [1, p. 1].

Taxonomic Framework and Distribution

Flower adopted a provisional classification following papers by R. J. Pocock and Prof. Ray Lankester published in Natural Science in 1897, placing centipedes within the Sub-kingdom Arthropoda, Section Tracheata, Subdivision Opisthogoneata [1, p. 2]. The class is divided into two sub-classes: Anartiostigma, containing the single genus Scutigera with large compound eyes and thread-like antennae, and Artiostigma, with simple ocelli or no eyes, shorter antennae, and bodies of 15 to over 121 segments [1, p. 18]. The Artiostigma is further divided into three orders: Lithobiomorpha (15 pairs of legs), Scolopendromorpha (21 or 23 pairs), and Geophilomorpha (39 to 161 pairs) [1, pp. 20–21].

The usual centipedes encountered in Malaya and Siam belong to the family Scolopendridae, which has 21 pairs of legs, four eyes on each side of the head, and reaches nearly a foot in length [1, p. 20]. Flower recorded specimens across at least fifteen localities in the Malay Peninsula and Siam, including Penang, Singapore, Perak, Kedah, Johore, Selangor, Bangkok, Ayuthia, Chantaboon, Kosichang, and the Dong Phya Phai [1, pp. 21–25]. The largest individual measured was Scolopendra de haanii at 281 mm total length, caught in Bangkok in December 1897 [1, p. 22].

Behaviour, Venom, and Local Knowledge

Flower documented that Scolopendra species are for the most part nocturnal but have been observed roaming in daylight; they are found in houses, gardens, jungle, and even on board ship, and run very swiftly, trying to bite fiercely when interfered with [1, p. 22]. He recorded a single case of a centipede bite on Surgeon-Captain Smith at Penang in 1895, who felt no ill effects, though the animal had probably exhausted its supply of poison by biting at a cord beforehand [1, p. 22]. Flower noted a local claim in Singapore that a centipede running over a man’s face left a line of bad sores where its feet touched his skin, but he expressed disbelief, having observed Malays allowing a large centipede (with poison fangs extracted) to run about their bare shoulders and neck without harm [1, p. 22].

The luminous centipede Orphnæus brevilabiatus, known in Malay as klamayer, was recorded from roofs and upper stories of houses in Singapore, Kedah, and Siam; when disturbed it emits a bright but lurid green phosphorescent light, leaving a trail that glimmers for a moment before fading [1, p. 25]. Native names recorded include Malay halipan or lipan, and Siamese takhāp [1, p. 18].

Research and Documentation

Flower’s 1901 paper in the JSBRAS remains the foundational taxonomic account of centipedes for the region. The work was produced within the colonial natural history network linking the Straits Settlements to the British Museum of Natural History, with R. J. Pocock serving as principal taxonomic authority for identifications and species descriptions [1, p. 1]. Several species described or first recorded in the paper were formally named by Pocock or Cambridge in the same period, indicating that Flower’s collections directly fed into the broader taxonomic literature of the 1890s [1, pp. 34]. The paper’s practical orientation—addressing the needs of European residents—distinguished it from purely systematic monographs, and Flower himself noted the hope that his notes might help “some more competent writer to compose a full catalogue” [1, p. 1].

MBRAS Sources

• S.S. Flower (1901). Notes on the millipedes, centipedes, scorpions etc., of the Malay Peninsula and Siam. JSBRAS 36: 1–48

References

1. S.S. Flower (1901). Notes on the millipedes, centipedes, scorpions etc., of the Malay Peninsula and Siam JSBRAS 36: 1–48.