#4880 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
Brown Centipede
🇳🇱 Gewone duizendpoot ·Lithobius forficatus
🪼 Jellyfish, starfish, worms & co 📍 in the Netherlands
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas · CC BY 4.0
- 2. © Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas · CC BY 4.0
- 3. © Gilles San Martin · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. © Gilles San Martin · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 5. © Eugenijus Kavaliauskas · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas · CC BY 4.0
- 7. © Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas · CC BY 4.0
- 8. © Brett Jackson · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Ryzhkov Oleg · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Lithobius forficatus , most commonly known as the brown centipede or stone centipede , is a common European centipede of the family Lithobiidae, although its distribution is not exclusive to Europe. It is between 18 and 30 mm long and up to 4 mm broad and is a chestnut brown color.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 39 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #34 most seen of the jellyfish, starfish, worms & co in NL.
- 24,773 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Brown Centipede
- Nederlands
- Gewone duizendpoot
- scientific name
- Lithobius forficatus
- class
- Chilopoda
- order
- Lithobiomorpha
- family
- Lithobiidae
- sightings in NL
- 39
- sightings in Europe
- 3,374
- sightings worldwide
- 24,773
- GBIF records in NL
- 908
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
relatives· Lithobiidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 122234, Wikidata Q790637, GBIF 2230246, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.