Bug FAQCommon Cryptops
Cryptops hortensis · Order: Scolopendromorpha · Family: Cryptopidae
Also called: garden scolopendra
It lives in gardens, woodland, and under stones or logs across most of Europe, except for a few listed countries and islands.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It has 21 pairs of legs.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure 20 to 30 mm in length and about 1 mm in width.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It is found in gardens, woodland, and beneath stones and logs.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 22 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: introduced in North America; introduced in Canada; introduced in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptops_hortensis
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-28 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-28.