We just heard from a reader in Germany! She found some creatures on her ceiling, and is interested in learning more about them.

Since her message provided important necessary details, we will include it with some minor editing, “I live in a small house near a pine forest. These things keep appearing on my ceiling, usually just one specimen at a time. They move super slowly and vanish just as inexplicably. The house, like most forest cabins, is full of various spiders…could this be related?”

The image she sent in with her question displays a long, black creature with two appendages that are probably either horns or antenna. The critter also has tons of extremely thin legs lining its body. This is a centipede!

Centipedes are actually arthropods, not worms! There are many species of centipedes, but all of them have some universal characteristics. All centipedes have one pair of legs per segment on their bodies, and two antennae. Centipedes prey on spiders, so perhaps this centipede is eating some of the spiders in our reader’s house! Also, centipedes are nocturnal, which means they are active at night. This could shed some light on why these creatures disappear inexplicably.

Our reader wasn’t curious in getting rid of these arthropods, just about what they were. We hope she is pleased to find out that these are centipedes!

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