Common/Brown Centipede (lithobius forficatus)

This is something we often find when minibeast hunting at Scotswood Garden. They are sometimes confused with millipedes, but they are quite different. 

Firstly they are carnivores! They are voracious predators who prey on other small insects such as spiders, flies or worms. They have large front legs which are more like huge teeth. They use them to catch their prey and then inject it with venom to kill it. 

Just like millipedes they have a segmented body but the main difference is that they only have one pair of legs per segment whereas millipedes have two. There are species of centipedes which have over 100 legs, but the common centipede has only 15 pairs of legs.

Finally they definitely move faster than millipedes, in fact they scuttle around quite quickly!