Dynamic gait transition in theScolopendromorpha scolopocryptops rubiginosus L. Kochcentipede

Crawling using locomotory waves is a common method of locomotion for limbless and many-legged invertebrates. It is generally believed that the direction of locomotory waves is fixed for a given species. However, by recording and performing detailed analyses of the gait patterns of aScolopendromorpha scolopocryptops rubiginosus L. Kochcentipede in various conditions, we found that it dynamically generated its gait to allow for locomotory waves that varied in direction. By introducing thewave-indexorder parameter to characterise locomotory waves, we showed that gait patterns were associated with control of stride rather than rotation frequency.