The centipede Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891 was first recorded for the land fauna of Vietnam from Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh province, published in Far Eastern Entomologist Magazine, number 481, page 7 -13, 2023.
The centipede fauna in Vietnam to date includes 78 recorded species belonging to 26 genera, 13 families and 4 orders. Among them, the family Scolopendridae is the most diverse with 26 species recorded for the whole country, including 2 new species and 2 new records recently. The family Scolopendridae has 8 species of the genus Scolopendra recorded in Vietnam, including S. calcarata Porat, 1876, S. gracillima stenostriata Schileyko, 1995; S. mirabilis (Porat, 1876); S. morsitans Linnaeus, 1758; S. subspinipes Leach, 1815; S. dawydoffi (Kronmüller, 2012); S. dehaani (Kronmüller, 2012) and S. cataracta Siriwut et al., 2016.
During a recent field survey in 2022 at Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh province, scientists collected a number of centipede specimens, identified as Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891 based on morphology. This represents the expansion of distribution range and the first record of this species for Vietnam. Specimens are kept at the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Center and the Vietnam Museum of Nature.
The species Scolopendra pinguis was first described by Pocock (1891) from the Kayah-Karen Mountains in Myanmar. This species was also described by Kraepelin (1903) and Attem (1930) based on specimens collected from Myanmar and Indonesia. Siriwut (2016) recorded the species in Thailand (Kanchanaburi, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Phayao, Chiyaphume and Loei provinces), Laos (Bo Kaew, Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Houaphan provinces) and Indonesia (Batavia , Buitenzorg [now Bogor], Java).
Photos:
Figure 1. Species Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891 in the field. Photograph by Le Xuan Son
Fig. 2. Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891. (A) head + LBS 1–5, in lateral aspect; (B) LBS 21–23 and ultimate legs in ventral aspect; (C) head + LBS 1–3 in dorsal aspect; (D) head, forcipular segment and LBS 1-5 in ventral aspect. Scale bar = 1 mm. Photographs: by Le Xuan Son.
Source: L. X. Son, N. A. Poyarkov, N. T. Nam1, D. T. Thinh, T. T. T. Binh, V. V. Lien. 2023. FIRST RECORD OF SCOLOPENDRA PINGUIS POCOCK, 1891 (CHILOPODA, SCOLOPENDROMORPHA, SCOLOPENDRIDAE) FROM VIETNAM. Far Eastern Entomologist 481: 7-13. https://doi.org/10.25221/fee.481.2
News: Vu Van Lien, The Vietnam National Museum of Nature, VAST