As predicted, we found bugger all throughout the winter, but the days are now longer and warmer and we've got a GODDAMN CENTIPEDE!
This one is Lithobius microps, a stone centipede found commonly in northwest europe.
The two questions always asked about centipedes are 1. What's the difference between a centipede and a millipede, and 2. Do all centipedes have 100 legs. In reality, centipedes are not as closely related to millipedes as was originally thought, and they now come under seperate classes, the Chilopoda and the Diplopoda respectively. The most obvious difference is that centipedes have one pair of legs per segment, whereas millipedes have two. The other main difference is that centipedes are mostly carnivorous, and millipedes are detritivores, feeding on leaf litter and other rotting vegetation. However, you are still likely to find centipedes in such areas as they lack the waxy cuticle of other arthropods and must stay moist.They can have under 20 or over 300 legs, depending on the species.
To disable prey centipedes have venomous jaws on the ventral side of their heads. There are some tropical species that can be dangerous to humans, but in the UK there are none with jaws large enough to pierce skin. Some centipede species do something rare in the invertebrates, that is the female in many species stays with her eggs until they have hatched and the young centipedes are able to fend for themselves.
So far, everything we've found has been in the bathtub, and the reason for that is that the only escape route would be through the plughole. These species have evolved to climb upwards onto trees and are unlikely to go for that, so they stick around. However, if this is only a small part of our (relatively clean) flat which has yielded 3 different species so far, just think how many organisms live surreptitiously in your own home.

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