Scolopendra viridicornis

Scolopendra viridicornis is a species of centipede in the family Scolopendridae which can be found within the Amazon Rainforest, the type locality being in Brazil. Due to the geographic distribution of this species it is known as the Amazonian giant centipede. This species is presumably a large aggressive predatory species like all other known Scolopendra species. In northeast Brazil, S. viridicornis is used in regional folk medicine as an analgesic. The species possesses a peptide in its body known as lacrain which exhibits strong antimicrobial effects against Gram-negative bacteria; this peptide is the first described peptide with antimicrobial activity from the body extract of a myriapod. The peptide is promising as it does not show cytotoxic activity against human erythrocytes.