Skull Island’s huge tropical centipedes are serious contenders as predators of the jungle undergrowth and dwarf their offshore cousins. Several giant species prowl the leaf litter, eating other invertebrates, Skull Island rats, lizards and other small prey.
Some smaller forms can be prey to young V. rexes.
Species examples
- Megapede horridus (3-4 feet long): among the largest of the jungle-dwelling centipedes of Skull island. The wriggling killer has strong legs for grappling prey, pinning the struggling victim while its cruel venom takes effect. Predators of it include Noctupervagus.
- Gyas gyas (20-30 inches long): with huge mandibles, the Gyas is a specialist egg-cracker. The scissor-jawed brute uses the astonishing power of its mandibles to crack the eggshells of ground-nesting birds and then lap up the escaping fluid.
- Megapede dereponecis (3-5 feet long): the second largest centipede that has ever lived. Too heavy to haul itself very high into the trees, it hunts among the roots for small prey, including dinosaur hatchlings, which it quickly immobilizes with its fierce and fast-acting venom. Mother M. dereponecis nest in rotten logs, chewing channels into the pulpy wood, where they lay their eggs. They are particularly territorial during this time, attacking any intruders that threaten their developing offspring.
- Megapede humus (26-40 inches long): this broad-bodied species is a chunky burrower that will follow other invertebrates or Skull Island rats underground. Long front sets of legs are used to dig and to subdue prey.
- Megapede impurus (3 feet long): a pale, upland-dwelling species that is one creature alone that makes a living in the rank pestilence below Terapusmordax colonies. A predatory centipede almost 3 feet long, M. impurus crawls in the filth beneath the colony, waiting for the inevitable fall of careless young. Terapusmordax give birth to litters of 4 to 6 pups and attrition does occur. A single fall can result in disabling injury. If the venomous centipedes find the wayward pup before it can crawl back, it is doomed.
Megapede horridus (1) and Gyas gyas (2)
Megapede dereponecis (1) and Megapede humus (2)