🌿ESM

6 Types of Centipedes in Michigan

Find out whether centipedes live in Michigan, where sightings are most likely, and which wildlife pages to open next for IDs, state context, and gifts.

Quick Answer

Find out whether centipedes live in Michigan, where sightings are most likely, and which wildlife pages to open next for IDs, state context, and gifts.

Browse centipedes giftsSee more Michigan wildlifeCompare wildlife shirts

More Pages

More centipede pages for Michigan

Jump back to the main page for this route cluster.

Main page

Real sighting data, source iNaturalist

1,818 verified observations on iNaturalist of centipede have been recorded in Michigan, most often in April, May, June.

When centipede are recorded in Michigan

Verified species, source iNaturalist

6 types of centipedes recorded in Michigan

6 centipede species have a verified observation record in Michigan, each with at least 10 confirmed sightings. The full list, ranked by how often each is recorded, is below.

4 of the 6 shown are recorded as introduced to Michigan rather than native.

  • No openly licensed photo yet
    1

    House Centipede

    Scutigera coleoptrata

    490 recordsIntroduced
    Wikipedia
  • No openly licensed photo yet
    2

    Brown Centipede

    Lithobius forficatus

    363 recordsIntroduced
    Wikipedia
  • No openly licensed photo yet
    3

    Diamondback Soil Centipede

    Geophilus vittatus

    68 records
    Wikipedia
  • No openly licensed photo yet
    4

    Eastern Red Centipede

    Scolopocryptops sexspinosus

    43 records
    Wikipedia
  • No openly licensed photo yet
    5

    Japanese House Centipede

    Thereuonema tuberculata

    27 recordsIntroduced
    Wikipedia
  • No openly licensed photo yet
    6

    Common Cryptops

    Cryptops hortensis

    11 recordsIntroduced
    Wikipedia

Plus 6 more recorded only rarely (fewer than 10 verified sightings). Counts from verified iNaturalist observations.

More on centipedes in Michigan:

The House Centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) is the most commonly recorded, with 490 verified observations, about 49% of all centipedes reported in Michigan. If you spot a centipede here, it is statistically most likely to be this one.

Michigan also hosts less common centipedes such as Diamondback Soil Centipede, Eastern Red Centipede and Japanese House Centipede, each recorded fewer than 100 times. These are the species worth a second look when you are out, since a sighting is more notable.

Not every one of these is originally from here. House Centipede, Brown Centipede and Japanese House Centipede are recorded by iNaturalist as introduced in Michigan rather than native, so they arrived with human help rather than on their own.