'Scolopendra' is a kind of centipede. It's a genus that includes all the largest centipedes in the world, like Scolopendra gigantea, also known as the crazy motherf***ing Peruvian centipede that can catch a bat in mid-flight and eat it. (Here is a Youtube video of S. gigantea in action. Despite the fact that it's narrated by the sublime David Attenborough, the video will very likely give you nightmares and leave you questioning the existence of God.)
In the American Southwest lives Scolopendra heros, otherwise known as the Redheaded Scolopendra. She is not one of the Scolopendromorph heavyweights (she is only an average of 6.5 inches long), but she has a stylish black body, 21 or 23 pairs of bitchin' yellow legs, and a bright red head. (This is her aposematic coloring -- very bright, distinctive color markings, to warn predators that the bearer of the markings should not be eaten because it is poisonous. In my opinion, the presence of 42 legs is sufficiently discouraging in a meal, but the color is also a pretty good idea.)
Anyway, long ago, 'scolopendra' used to mean an ill-tempered woman: a shrew, a scold. Since I have red hair, and I like to think of myself as ill-tempered, you will occasionally find me online under the name Redheaded Scolopendra.
One other thing: I absolutely, with a nuclear-powered passion, hate centipedes. Hate 'em. They give me the howling fantods. Yet I'm fascinated by them. Maybe it's my fondness for doing research of any sort that led me to learn about them. Maybe I had the ill-conceived idea that to know your enemy is to fear it less. I dunno. Why do I assume the name of the very thing I loathe? I dunno. Am I crazy? I dunno. Well, OK, probably.
P.S. Scolopendra gigantea is over 12 inches long. You're welcome.
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