Centipedes are usually brownish, flattened, and elongate animals which have many body segments. One pair of legs is attached to most of these body segments. They differ from millipedes in that millipedes have two pairs of legs on most segments and bodies which are not flattened. Centipedes range in length from 1 to 6 inches and can run very rapidly.
This is a family of over 35,000 species in more than 2,500 genera, one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families. Many are economically important pests of agriculture.