Terrifying centipede attacks, kills mouse in under 30 seconds. By Mike Wehner. nypost.com. January 24, 2018 .Even if you’re not afraid of most bugs — like ants, flies, or bees, for example — there’s still a good chance you have a fear of centipedes. There’s just something about them and their long chain of legs that is incredibly unsettling. Most centipedes are perfectly harmless, but some can be real terrors. The Chinese red-headed centipede belongs in the latter group, with a venomous bite that can kill creatures 15 times the creature’s size and scientists are just now beginning to understand how its powerful toxin functions.

The research, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was a painstaking effort to isolate the exact chemical that causes the centipede’s venom to be so incredibly lethal. After testing each compound independently they finally discovered what they were looking for and it’s most definitely bad news if you’re a tiny mammal.
The toxin, which the scientists have nicknamed “SSM Spooky Toxin” — the SSM is an abbreviation of the centipede’s scientific name Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans — is incredibly efficient in the way it puts an animal down. The researchers say that it actively blocks the movement of potassium into and out of the victim’s cells. That action actually inhibits the brain from telling the heart to beat and the animal’s entire body just shuts down on the spot. A nasty side effect is that it also hampers breathing, but that’s obviously secondary to the lack of a heartbeat.
Video: Centipede attacks and kills mouse in 30 seconds