Sphendononema guildingii

Sphendononema guildingii

Sphendononema guildingii is a centipede in the order Scutigeromorpha that is common and widespread from the West Indies and Cental America south to Bolivia and Paraguay, recorded on altitudes from 60 to 2200m.
Sphendononema guildingii (Centipede) - head, Finca Heimatlos, Ecuador Where millipedes can be considered a cow-like creature, largely feeding on leaf litter and being generally harmless (other than some minimal defensive chemicals they may release), centipedes are true carnivores as well was venomous. In the closeup photo you can see a body part unique to centipedes: forcipules. They look like jaws or mouth parts, but they are specialized legs. Here's a better closeup from another species:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/387018

You can roughly compare forcipules to you having a venomous finger so sharp as to pierce subjects.

Most centipedes are blind, this one has compound eyes but it still doesn't see much. They only detect the difference between light and dark. 

Lastly, centipedes always have an odd number of legs pairs, 15 in this case.
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/129240/sphendononema_guildingii_centipede_finca_heimatlos_ecuador.html Ecuador,Ecuador 2021,Finca Heimatlos,Geotagged,South America,Sphendononema guildingii,Spring,World

Naming

Originally described as Cermatia Guildingii by Newport in 1845 (pg.356), later known as Pselliodes guildingii (Newport, 1845), currently valid as Sphendononema guildingii.

The genus Sphendononema had been erected by Verhoeff in 1904, but this species and many others have been classified in the genus Pselliodes Chamberlin, 1921 in many publications until Würmli (2005) in his "Revision der afrikanischen Pselliodiden" recognized that the genus Pselliodes had to be seen as a junior synonym of Verhoeff's genus Sphendononema. Genus names now synonymized with Sphendononema are: Brasilophora Bücherl, 1939; Lassothereua Verhoeff, 1944; Pselliodes Chamberlin, 1921; Pselliophora Verhoeff, 1904.
Sphendononema guildingii, La Isla Escondida, Colombia A small centipede found on the forest floor during a nigh tour. Colombia,Colombia 2018,Colombia South,La Isla Escondida,Putumayo,South America,Sphendononema guildingii,World

Distribution

Originally described from St. Vincent Island, the species is widely distributed from Central America and the West Indies (north to Mexico an Cuba/Haiti) and south to Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. A very questionable record exists for California (in Verhoeff, 1925)

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Verhoeff, Karl W. (1904) Über Gattungen der Spinnenasseln (Scutigeriden). - Sitz.-Ber. Ges. nat. Freunde Berlin 1904. pp.245-285.

Würmli, Marcus (2005) Revision der afrikanischen Pselliodiden (Chilopoda: Scutigerida: Pselliodidae) - Schubartiana, no. 1, pp.3-8.

Newport G. (1845). Monograph of the class Myriapoda order Chilopoda; with observations on the general arrangement of the Articulata - Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, vol.19, pp.265-302 & 349-439.
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassChilopoda
OrderScutigeromorpha
FamilyPselliodidae
GenusSphendononema
SpeciesSphendononema guildingii
Photographed in
Colombia
Ecuador