We selected the centipede as a specimen from among the arthropods for the study of evolution. The myriapod centipede is related to chelicerata (such as spiders) and insecta (such as flies). They are expected to be important for understanding the transformation from the ancestral form to the derived form.
If you work extremely hard from just before spring to early summer around Takatsuki, you can collect about twenty 10-centimeter specimens of the Chinese redhead centipede in two hours. Catching them requires overturning fallen trees and having a container ready to catch them when they flee. Close the lid on the container quickly once you have them.
At first, this wasn't frightening, but it was very painful when the centipedes I caught turned around and bit me. After that, though I was happy to see a large specimen, I hesitated before catching it.
Their eggs are essential for studying how they procreate. These centipedes lay about 20 eggs a year in the early summer. The parent protects the eggs until they hatch, preventing mold from growing on them. They cannibalize each other, so it is difficult to raise several individual specimens in the same place or have them reproduce. Females have to be collected every year. I wondered how many eggs they would lay this year. Even when they lay eggs, sometimes the parents neglect to protect their eggs from the stress of being kept under observation. Research that involves handling creatures from nature is difficult, starting with acquiring the specimens. I isolated genes related to the formation of the body axis common to both flies and spiders from last year's eggs, and this year I further analyzed their expression region. From the new findings regarding centipedes, I believe that we can clarify, even to a small extent, the process of evolution in arthropods
(Kazunori Yamazaki / Post-Doctoral fellow)
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Biohistory Journal, Autumn, 2003
