Scolopendra viridicornis

Scolopendra viridicornis is a species of centipede in the family Scolopendridae which can be found within the Amazon rainforest,[1] the type locality being in Brazil.[2] Due to the geographic distribution of this species it is known as the Amazonian giant centipede.[3] This species is presumably a large aggressive predatory species like all other known Scolopendra species.

Scolopendra viridicornis
Scolopendra viridicornis in Grant Museum of Zoology, London, England.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Chilopoda
Order: Scolopendromorpha
Family: Scolopendridae
Genus: Scolopendra
Species:
S. viridicornis
Binomial name
Scolopendra viridicornis
Newport, 1844

Medical use

In northeast Brazil, S. viridicornis is used in regional folk medicine as an analgesic. The species possesses a peptide in its body known as lacrain which exhibits strong antimicrobial effects against Gram-negative bacteria; this peptide is the first described peptide with antimicrobial activity from the body extract of a myriapod. The peptide is promising as it does not show cytotoxic activity against human erythrocytes.[1]

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References
  1. Chaparro, E.; Silva, P.I. da (2016-09-01). "Lacrain: the first antimicrobial peptide from the body extract of the Brazilian centipede Scolopendra viridicornis". International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 48 (3): 277–285. doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2016.05.015. ISSN 0924-8579.
  2. "Scolopendra viridicornis Newport, 1844". ChiloBase 2.0. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  3. "Taxonomy – Scolopendra viridicornis (Amazonian giant centipede)". UniProt. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
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