In Scutigera the leg length increases steadily from front to back. Because a running centipede swings its legs in overlapping waves, equal-length legs would interfere; graduated lengths let each pair swing outside the one ahead. Combined with a rigid body strengthened by fused tergites, this allows sprints of the order of 0.4 metres per second, exceptionally fast for an animal this size.
The rearmost legs are so long that they resemble antennae, and the animal exploits the confusion. Threatened, it can shed legs, a process called autotomy, leaving a twitching limb behind while the rest escapes. Lost legs are regrown over subsequent moults. The animal also has compound eyes, unusual among centipedes, most of which have simple ocelli or none.
House centipedes are venomous, as all centipedes are, using modified front legs called forcipules rather than jaws. In this species the forcipules often struggle to penetrate human skin, and bites are uncommon and mild. Longevity in the wild is not well documented.