Phillip Island centipedes devour up to 3,700 black-winged petrel chicks each year, trapping nutrients brought from the ocean by the seabirds and distributing them around the island
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Monash University
An international study led by Monash University scientists has found that giant centipedes, growing up to 23 cm long, are predators of seabirds, suggesting that the arthropod has a key role to play in ecosystem dynamics.
The discovery, based on research on Philip Island, Norfolk Island, is outlined today in the American Naturalist.
Lead author of the study, professional ecologist and PhD candidate Luke Halpin at the Monash University School of Biological Sciences said the research revealed a novel result.
“There is evidence that large centipedes around the world consume vertebrate animals, but this is the first time that centipedes have been implicated as a major, natural predator of seabirds,” Luke said.
Luke Halpin
As large marine predators, seabirds usually sit at the top of the food chain. But our new study, published in The American Naturalist, demonstrates this isn’t always the case.
We show how large, predatory arthropods can play an important role in the food webs of island ecosystems. And the Phillip Island centipede achieves this through its highly varied diet. Read more:
A well-armed predator stirs in the night
This centipede can grow to almost one foot (or 30.5cm) in length. It is armed with a potent venom encased in two pincer-like appendages called “forcipules”, which it uses to immobilise its prey. Its body is protected by shield-like armoured plates that line each of the many segments that make up its length.