Centipedes (Chilopoda) represent a dominant group of predators in temperate forest soils, where multiple species often coexist in syntopy. However, their trophic ecology is largely unknown because traditional methodologies are hindered by the secretive habits of these animals and their partial fluid-feeding. We applied a DNA-metabarcoding approach with COI to assess and compare the prey spectrum of three centipede species (Clinopodes flavidus, Eupolybothrus tridentinus, Lithobius validus) living in a forest plot in the Southern Alps. We obtained DNA sequences from the guts of 79 specimens through Next-Generation Sequencing technology and applied a suite of stringent criteria of data filtering and taxonomic assignment. We found evidence for a similar rate of prey detection between predator species and for a broad prey spectrum, including most taxa of invertebrates living in the local soil biocoenosis and having subduable body size. We did not find evidence of diet variation in relation to sex and annual season, and instead slight but significant differentiation of diet between the geophilomorph C. flavidus and the other two lithobiomorph species.

temper（Chilopoda）代表温带森林土壤中的一个主要掠食者群，在这里，多种生物通常共存。但是，它们的营养生态在很大程度上是未知的，因为这些动物的分泌习性及其部分食水阻碍了传统方法。我们使用了带有COI的DNA元编码方法来评估和比较三种cent物种（Clinopodes flavidus，Eupolybothrus tridentinus，Lithobius validus）居住在南阿尔卑斯山的森林地带。我们通过下一代测序技术从79个标本的内脏中获得了DNA序列，并应用了一套严格的数据过滤和分类学分配标准。我们发现证据表明，捕食动物之间的猎物检出率相似，并且猎物光谱范围很广，其中包括生活在当地土壤生物群落中的无脊椎动物的大多数分类群，并且它们的体形很小。我们没有找到与性别和年度季节有关的饮食变化的证据，而是在嗜盐状黄水晶C. flavidus和其他两种石生生物形态之间的饮食有微小但显着的区别。