Giant native? Only a few cms long - for scale, cf. decaying tradescantia stems -but larger than any garden centipede I've seen, and a purplish-black colour. Colour-saturation of these photos discloses a blueish tint to the legs.

This centipede was among snails, Maoriblatta novaezelandia and other quickly-vanishing invertebrates disclosed by the sudden partial uplifting of a pile of decaying Tradescantia on the irregular surface of a steep very wet clay bank - in rainy weather, a run-off channel between unguttered road and forest stream below. The entire bank was released Dec 2018-Autumn 2019 from honeysuckle, ginger and Alocesia, with ground cover by deep Tradescantia. The Tradescantia was gradually withdrawn into large deep piles covering Alocasia and ginger, with many cut woody stems of Melianthus major (Cape honey flower, "CHF"). The CHF stems are hollow, and many hosted ants nests and other invertebrates through a long drought after the CHF was cut down. They were kept in ground contact and/or mulched with Tradescantia both to assist rotting of the wood and to provide habitat.

The tradescantia uplifted on this occasion was partially replaced, to cover the centipede. The remaining pile was spread a little uphill but kept deep, to extend this habitat and for optimum weed control.