The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department released a photo of a Texas Redhead centipede found at the Garner State Park in Hill Country and the centipede was a classic example that everything truly is bigger in the state.
As it can grow eight inches in length (in the wild) and more, the Texas Redhead's size can be frightening, given that it is a centipede. But aside from its size, it also has a number of features that will send anyone with chilopodophobia running, like bright coloration, biting equipment, a lot of legs and stingers on one end.
Take all of that together and the Texas Redhead centipede is bad news, most especially for small vertebrates like toads, lizards and rodents. Its larger cousins in South America have even been recorded catching bats! Not to be outdone, the Texas Redhead does easy work of snatching insects flying around in the air.
To grasp their prey, the centipede uses its legs while feeding, with its stingers (actually an extra pair of legs highly modified) piercing skin to deliver a dose of painful toxin. The Texas Redhead's normal legs also appear to be capable of delivering venom as well, piercing skin to cause pain and swelling.
The stingers are called caudal legs. They are prehensile, used to pinch would-be predators as well aside from firmly holding prey in place. When the Texas Redhead is aggravated, it will usually flee but at times will take a defensive stance by lifting its caudal legs as a menacing warning.
The giant centipede is typically found under leaf litter, rocks and logs but will occasionally enter homes so interacting with humans can be common for the Texas Redhead. But while the centipede encounters humans frequently, thankfully it is not a threat. Or at least, it is not as dangerous as it looks.
It will be painful to be bitten by a Texas Redhead but bites are usually mild, with the sharp, painful sting (and possibly some swelling) subsiding after a few hours. In rare cases though, someone bitten by the centipede will experience minor necrosis on the skin, headaches, nausea and dizziness. In even rarer cases, there is a risk of heart attacks, kidney failure and muscle tissue damage occurring.
Overall, the Texas Redhead is truly something to watch out for. However, downright terror directed against the centipede is mostly an overreaction, said the TPW.
