Discover new 20cm centipede, swim and hunt underwater

This is the first centipede to be able to live both underwater and on land.

S. cataracta, a new centipede that lives in Southeast Asia, can grow to 20cm long, it has venom and is the first centipede in the world capable of swimming.

The venom of this S. cataracta centipede is not enough to cause death.

George Beccaloni of the London Museum of Natural History discovered the S. cataracta centipede while he went on a honeymoon in Thailand in 2001. The specimen of this centipede is in the museum's collection in many years by Beccaloni doubted the centipede's ability to live in the water.

However, Beccaloni's colleagues recently found two more specimens of this centipede in Laos. DNA testing shows that this is a new centipede . Another specimen of this centipede was collected in Vietnam in 1928.

The good news is that this venom's venom is not enough to kill people. If bitten, it only causes pain. A bite of S. cataracta can cause pain to spread all over the arm or leg if the finger or toe is bitten. The pain may last for one or several days but does not leave any other side effects.