Everything Grows Big In Hawaii
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:51 pm
Stuff of nightmares: Big Island man caught foot-long centipede
A centipede that's more than 1 foot long is on display at a Big Island resident's home. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Sunday that retired taxidermist Clayton Cambra spotted the 14.5-inch insect in the woods behind his home last month and — against his better judgment — decided to capture it with a bucket. Cambra says the venomous arthropod stood up in the bucket "like a cobra," escaping multiple times before he was able to put it in a plastic bag and then in his freezer.
After it died, Cambra says he thawed the insect and pinned it to a piece of Styrofoam board. He then injected it with formaldehyde to be preserved. Dan Rubinoff, an entomologist and director of the University of Hawaii Insect Museum, said he thinks the bug is a Vietnamese centipede.
One fun fact: Cambra told Hawaii News Now he actually hates centipedes. His first inclination was to chop it up into pieces with a shovel.