It doesn’t get any more Southwestern than this: the Giant Texas Redheaded Centipede, Scolopendra heros.

This sculpture, from my Creepy Copper series, is made from pure 16-ounce copper and measures 8.5 inches in length.

The length of this fast-moving and aggressive centipede typically ranges from 6.5 to 8 inches. They prey on insects, reptiles, small mammals, and occasionally take birds and bats.

Their bites are painful, and can cause nausea and temporary paralysis. The venom is delivered through the animal’s forcipules, which lie just behind the mandibles. The venoms of Scolopendra species contain compounds such as serotonin, haemolytic phospholipase A, a cardiotoxic protein, and a cytolysin.

Scolopendra was one of the genera created by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758, 10th edition of Systema Naturae, the starting point for zoological nomenclature.