All members of class Myriapoda (many feet) are centipedes
or millipedes. Centipedes (order Chilopoda) comprise about
2800 species of predaceous, nocturnal carnivores; the centipede
has a head and from 15 to 177 trunk segments, each with
a pair of tiny jointed legs. The largest is Scolopendra gigantea,
the giant African centipede, about 0.3 m in length. A few are
harmless temperate species and most are tropical; they look like
armored caterpillars. Centipedes secrete a neurotoxin that they
inject from fangs (modified trunk appendages) into prey.