📸 PhotoPhoto: authors: Ralf Janssen, Nikola-Michael Prpic and Wim GM Damen · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Garden symphylan
Scutigerella immaculata (Garden symphylan · Garden symphylan)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A body length of 8 mm is about 1/3 the diameter of a Korean 500-won coin (26.5 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 It is known to damage field crops by harming young seedlings of vegetables such as tomatoes.
- 💡 Placing half a potato or carrot cut-side down on the soil can be used as bait to check whether this animal is present.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The garden symphylan is a tiny, slender white soil-dwelling arthropod closely related to insects and known as a pest of vegetable fields.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is slender and white, with distinct antennae and 10–12 legs.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Living in organic-rich soil, it moves up and down according to moisture—coming near the surface after watering and retreating deeper when the soil dries. It chews holes in storage roots, upper root zones, underground young stems, and young shoots, making it easy for pathogens to enter through the wounds.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 79YFQ
- • wikidata.org — Q6497995
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Scutigerella immaculata male.jpg
- • ipm.ucanr.edu — garden-symphylans
- • ipm.ucanr.edu — garden-symphylans
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.