Centipedes are metameric animals that have one pair of legs for each body segment. Centipedes can have under 20 legs or more than 300, depending on the species. Another interesting thing about centipedes is that they always have an odd number of pairs of legs, for example, you will never see some with 20 pairs of legs, they will either have 19 or 21. The scientific classification of centipedes includes the Chilopoda class, the Myriapoda subphylum, the Arthropoda phylum and the Animalia kingdom. The aspect of these tiny animals is usually influenced by different shades of red or brown. The size of centipedes can differ from a few millimeters to more than 12 inch. The 8,000 species can be found in a large variety of environments. The centipedes are very important and have a significant positive contribution in the life cycles that take place in the terrestrial ecosystems.

The centipedes may be hazardous to humans because of their bite. Their bite is an injury created by piercing the skin and injecting their venom in the wound. It is not a real bite, but it was always named this way and it remained like this. Because of the venom, the area that was bitten is painful. Swelling may also occur. Of course, the bite caused by centipedes also has other symptoms like severe pain – related to the size of the centipede, redness, headaches, palpitations, vomiting, nausea, anxiety, severe itching and burning sensations in the area.

The bite of centipedes are usually not dangerous for humans, but if the person that was bitten is allergic, it might be a problem. In children, the bite of centipedes may also be serious, but regularly there is not such a big problem. Those who suffer centipedes bites usually do a urine test and an EKG, to make sure they do not have heart problems. For pain relief, the victims of centipedes receive painkillers and anti-anxiety medication. In some cases, antibiotics are used to make sure the wounds do not get infected. Anyhow, in case of such a bite, the best thing to do is to go directly to the emergency room to make sure there is nothing serious.