Scolopocryptopidae

Scolopocryptopidae is a family of blind centipedes in the order Scolopendromorpha. This family includes more than 90 species. Centipedes in this family are found mainly in the Americas and East Asia but have also been recorded in West Africa, New Guinea, and Fiji.

Description
The number of leg-bearing segments is fixed at 23 for species in this family, which distinguishes the species in this family from all other centipede species. Species in this family are eyeless. They have a pectinate second maxillary claw and a forcipular coxosternite without prominent serrate tooth-plates, featuring at most a few shallow teeth.

Species in this family feature a distinctive gizzard. Gizzards in the families Scolopocryptopidae, Cryptopidae, and Plutoniumidae are characterized by a sieve formed by multiple transverse rows of elongate projections along the inside of the gizzard. These projections taper with their tips pointing forward toward the anterior end of the gizzard. In the family Scolopocryptopidae, these stiff projections are pineapple-shaped and kinked in the middle. This kink separates the proximal and distal halves of these projections, with the distal half pointing more directly forward. These projections contrast with those found in other families, which feature projections that curve evenly without any kink.

Phylogeny
Phylogenetic studies using molecular data indicate that the three eyeless families Scolopocryptopidae, Cryptopidae, and Plutoniumidae are each monophyletic and together form a clade. This blind clade also features sieve projections in the gizzard as a shared characteristic. These results imply a single shift from 21 to 23 pairs of legs leading to the last common ancestor of the family Scolopocryptopidae, with kinked sieve projections in the gizzard as an unreversed autapomorphy.

Genera

 * Dinocryptops
 * Ectonocryptoides
 * Ectonocryptops
 * Kartops
 * Kethops
 * Newportia
 * Scolopocryptops
 * Thalkethops
 * Tidops