Generally, this species has a darker brown-, red-, or orange-colored head and lighter brown, tan, or orange body segments with yellow legs.

[3][4] It inhabits dry grasslands, forest, and desert; in these habitats, the centipedes generally take up residence under rocks, though they have been observed creating burrows in suitable environments and inside rotting logs.

However, due to incomplete adaptation to this extreme environment, Scolopendra polymorpha are most active at night during the cool winter months, or occasionally during the summer New Mexico Monsoon, when temperatures are lower and moisture is higher, and remain burrowed underground throughout the rest of the year.

[6] After purification by electroelution, this peptide exhibited antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two bacteria that are the leading causes of nosocomial infections.

The body length of this centipede is also negatively correlated with the rate of venom regeneration, making size a limiting factor in its regenerative abilities.