Translucent white in coloration, and largest of the family Scolopendridae, ranging from 20 to 50 centimeters in length (antennae included, length 3 to 10 cm) Arthrorhabdus mobilis is so named for its speed in hunting prey or fleeing threats, attaining a recorded velocity of over six meters per second upon emerging from its burrow. The animal is currently known to inhabit humid surface caves in subtropical climates in Africa and South America, although its range is believed to have once covered Europe, Asia, and North America. Habitat destruction of its prey, insect-eating bats, and possibly other unknown factors, have led to a reduction in both numbers and extent in modern times. Humans encountering A. mobilis in its natural environment show strong instinctual fear and disgust, and seventy percent of Chilean, Polish, and American university students shown film footage of hunting activity recoiled viscerally from the screen. Barrett et al. proposed this reaction is due to evolutionary pressures from past human interaction with this species, although it is difficult to understand how this could have occurred. A. mobilis injects digestive enzymes as well as an unknown sedative into its prey through the primary maxillipeds, maintaining groups of sedated bats and rodents in its burrow for months at a time while feeding upon them. When threatened, specimens will attempt to flee, but when cornered have been observed to raise their rear to squirt or flick a sticky odorous fluid containing a neurolytic peptide, which has been shown to induce amnesia in rats and mice at very low concentrations, as well as anecdotal reports of researchers having been affected. This amnesiac venom, the combination of speed and preference for darkness, has made A. mobilis exceedingly difficult to study in laboratory environments, and so observation in its natural environment remains the preferred research tool.