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#arthropod – @biomedicalephemera on Tumblr
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Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

@biomedicalephemera / biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com

A blog for all biological and medical ephemera, from the age of Abraham through the era of medical quackery and cure-all nostrums. Featuring illustrations, history, and totally useless trivia from the diverse realms of nature and medicine. Buy me a coffee so I can stay up and keep the lights on around here!
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Meet my new friend! I have named it Rory.

I believe this is at least the second generation of house centipede (Scutigera coleoptera) to live near my computer. It lives behind my whiteboard calendar. The first generation (to me) lived in the windowsill, though I have reason to believe it has since died and been replaced by its progeny. Rory was a tiny scamp just a year ago, but has since grown to a lovely 1.75 inch (~4.5 cm) body length (excluding legs/antennae).

Centipedes are difficult to gender without dissection, but Rory is a good centipede name, I think. I already have one named Legs. I am astounded that Rory made it to adulthood since my cat has taken to hunting wall-bugs.

House centipedes have a very long lifespan for arthropods, especially those in regular contact with humans, often living for 3-7 years. Rory will probably be here long after I have moved on.

Also, they have purpley-blue blood! This is due to having their bodies transport oxygen via the non-iron-containing hemolymph, rather than iron-containing hemoglobin, which is red, and what almost all vertebrates have.

I do not like their creepy legs or their crazy proportions or their speed, but house centipedes are harmless - they mostly come about as a result of you having spiders or ants about, which they feast on, and which are much more likely to try and bite you...unless you swat a house centipede or hurt it for no reason, they almost never bite humans - and when they do, their venom is nothing compared to their jungle relatives.

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Here, have some consolation arthropods.

I know I normally kick out at least a few posts every holiday that "normal" people celebrate with family and friends, but not this time. It turns out I actually have a birthday and family (despite some people's insinuations that I was slowly spawned from the fiery lake of Mount Etna over the span of 5 months), so I'm out visiting that family, 1300 miles away from home, and enjoying the sun while it continues to rain back up north.

Back on Friday.

Enjoy your crabs.

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Rock Scorpion - Hadogenes troglodytes

This scorpion has the longest recorded body length of all known scorpions. It hasn't been extensively researched, but is known to cause more inflammation than pain at sting sites, and there have been no known fatalities from it. It lives in Southern Africa.

Popular Science Monthly: Volume 51. 1897.

1897 rock scorpion popular science monthly volume 51

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