# Insect identification, or, how I may never sleep again...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 1, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566 "2017-08-01T12:01:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/1 "2017-08-01T12:01:46Z")
Oh my god. I found one of these crawling on the wall and captured it in a jar. What the heck is it? It is about 1 inch long and full of terrors.
[[Album] imgur.com  ](https://imgur.com/a/MzPOP)
I’ve since released it outdoors, but should I nuke the city to be safe? 😕
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### Author:  [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/2 "2017-08-01T12:06:43Z")
House centipede: [Scutigera coleoptrata - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata)
They are pretty freaky, and can move fast, but they are harmless, and eat other bugs. We usually see one in our house every month or two, more commonly, but not exclusively, in the spring or fall.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/3 "2017-08-01T12:06:56Z")
Looks like a [house centipede](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata).
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/4 "2017-08-01T12:07:14Z")
Not an insect but a centipede. Probably your common house centipede _Scutigera coleoptrata_. They’re pretty harmless and help keep the population of actual insects in your house down.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/5 "2017-08-01T12:16:16Z")
Wow, I just learned that centipedes are not insects. Thank you.
Apparently these ones are venomous but rarely attack humans. The one I captured was panicking and desperately trying to escape the jar, losing several of its legs in the process. Was rather horrifying.
I will softly rock myself to sleep tonight…
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/6 "2017-08-01T13:00:15Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> Wow, I just learned that centipedes are not insects. Thank you.
If it has more than 6 legs it is not an insect. If it has fewer than 6 legs and is crawling on your wall, it is probably a lizard, which also isn’t an insect.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/7 "2017-08-01T13:05:23Z")
That’s not a centipede. [This](http://www.blog.lucafadda.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sgigantea5pi6.jpg) is a centipede.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/8 "2017-08-01T14:26:37Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> That’s not a centipede. [This](http://www.blog.lucafadda.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sgigantea5pi6.jpg) is a centipede.
That’s not a centipede. That’s first contact…
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### Author:  [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/9 "2017-08-01T14:47:17Z")
That’s a whole lotta Nope,Nope,Nope right there.
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/10 "2017-08-01T14:49:30Z")
I knew before I clicked the link that it was gonna be a house centipede.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/11 "2017-08-01T15:01:43Z")
Same.
One particularly bad summer we had epic battles between the house centipedes and wolf spiders in the kitchen and bathroom. On the upside, the house was otherwise remarkably free of arthropods, meaning nearly no insects.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/12 "2017-08-01T15:07:30Z")
> [@Athena](#):
>
> I knew before I clicked the link that it was gonna be a house centipede.
Ah, the pitter-patter of little feet.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/13 "2017-08-01T15:15:59Z")
Many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many little feet.
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### Author:  [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/14 "2017-08-01T17:55:44Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> Wow, I just learned that centipedes are not insects. Thank you.
>
> Apparently these ones are venomous but rarely attack humans. The one I captured was panicking and desperately trying to escape the jar, losing several of its legs in the process. Was rather horrifying.
>
> I will softly rock myself to sleep tonight…
They are pretty fragile. I have been known, when one is out of reach high on a wall or ceiling, to shoot them with a tight stream from a spray bottle with water. It tears them apart pretty well. I’m not exactly proud of it, but sometimes it needs to be done.
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### Author:  [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/15 "2017-08-01T18:06:55Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> That’s not a centipede. [This](http://www.blog.lucafadda.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sgigantea5pi6.jpg) is a centipede.
[Oh please](http://fotoarchiv.geology.cz/show/photo/14570/g800.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/16 "2017-08-01T18:18:36Z")
Not clicking not clicking, I don’t know why I even opened this thread. But if centipedes are not insects…are they bugs?
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/17 "2017-08-01T18:28:06Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#):
>
> Not clicking not clicking, I don’t know why I even opened this thread. But if centipedes are not insects…are they bugs?
No. Bugs are by definition insects (specifically insects with mouthparts developed for piercing and/or sucking). In other words, “All bugs are insects” is true, but “All insects are bugs” is not true.
Centipedes are in a different sub-phylum of arthropods from insects. They belong to a sub-phylum that includes them, millipedes, garden centipedes (also known as false centipedes) and a class that looks like truncated millipedes.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/18 "2017-08-01T18:34:03Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> Same.
>
> One particularly bad summer we had epic battles between the house centipedes and wolf spiders in the kitchen and bathroom. On the upside, the house was otherwise remarkably free of arthropods, meaning nearly no insects.
I would 100% rather have the other insects!!
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/19 "2017-08-01T18:57:19Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#):
>
> Not clicking not clicking, I don’t know why I even opened this thread. But if centipedes are not insects…are they bugs?
As mentioned, “bug” in a literal sense means a specific type of insect, but it is also more casually acceptable as a generic term for arthropod creepy-crawlies. “Insect” for anything other than [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect) is just wrong, though. Calling a centipede an insect is like calling a horse a turtle.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-identification-or-how-i-may-never-sleep-again/792566/20 "2017-08-01T19:14:25Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#):
>
> House centipede: [Scutigera coleoptrata - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata)
>
> They are pretty freaky, and can move fast, but they are harmless, and eat other bugs. We usually see one in our house every month or two, more commonly, but not exclusively, in the spring or fall.
They eat bed bugs and are harmless to humans? I wonder if they are easier to exterminate than bed bugs, if so why aren’t we breeding them and letting loose into seedy hotels? 😃
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