First month overview, in case anyone is interested.

I'm just going over the first month of page views and I guess I'm doing all right with over 1000 pageview in the first month and definite growth there in the last week, peaking at over 100 a day in the middle of the week. It's not the most popular blog on the web yet but I think I am doing all right. Most of my views come from Australia but I have a growing number of pageviews coming from the U.S. and a small but steady following in France.

The top 5 posts (in order) were:

Creature 2: Ophiocordyceps 2 Oct 2014
Creature 3: Neoclinus blanchardi 3 Oct 2014
Creature 28: Psychrolutes marcidus 28 Oct 2014
Creature 1: Papilio troilus 1 Oct 2014
Creature 10: Melanocetidae 10 Oct 2014

 I do have to say, as an entomolgist, I'm very disappointed in you guys. I imagined my audience would be more interested in the freaky but biologically interesting creatures, not the weird looking charismatic macro fauna. All three fish came in the top 5 most viewed pages and vertebrates made up 5 out of the top 10 most viewed pages even though they are less than 1/3 of the posts. Only 1 insect made it into the top 10, despite the fact that they are nearly ¼ of the posts and that was probably because it was the first post and has been up there the longest. Oh well, I guess there is no accounting for taste, you guys like fish. To your credit Ophiocordyceps is Number 1, and I guess it is definitely a contender for the coolest of them all.  

Tell your friends about your favourite post in this blog.

Creature 31: Acanthaspis petax

A bug which makes a costume out of the corpses of its prey.

Well it's halloween and while that is not really a thing here in Australia I thought I should choose an appropriate creature for my slowly growing American audience. I thought of some sort of bat (of which I have many) or something which looks evil like last week's leaf tailed gecko but I decided that  Acanthaspis petax would be perfect. It is a bug which makes a costume out of the dead bodies of its prey.

Reduviidae (Assassin bugs) are one of my favorite families. They have a curved rostrum and raptorial spiny forelegs which make they use to deadly effect when catching prey.

Head

Foreleg

(these SEMS are my own work, they are of a Reduviid in the genus Oncocephalus. If you want to use them for any purpose in any form you can, without condition. If you do use them I would appreciate a link to this blog if possible.)

 Many members of this family are highly specialized in the prey which they catch and have developed some really cool tricks for killing prey, which has earned the family the common name assassin bug.

Description: Like most assassin bugs, Acanthaspis petax is a voracious predator of arthropods. It is an ant hunting specialist and has a horrifying trick. When it kills an ant and sucks out its fluids, as assasin bugs do, it uses the dried out remains to disguise itself. It excretes a glue like substance and sticks the ant husk to itself. It can stick up to 20 ants onto itself at a time.

This may seem like a fairly useless disguise,  but the purpose seems to be to give the bug the appearance of being an ant swarm. Predators are reluctant to attack ants because they are fairly unpalatable and they tend to defend themselves in swarms. This has been shown to work in experiments with jumping spiders.  There has also been speculation that the dead ants act as a visual and/or olfactory camouflage which assists them in capturing ants.

Acanthaspis petax like to hide in abandoned termite mounds or muddy cracks in the ground.

Distribution:
Most websites, including wikipedia, claim that Acanthaspis petax is from Malaysia, which I was a little confused about because I had always thought it was African. Upon trying to find out weather this meant the Malaysian peninsula or Borneo I could not find any records of Asian specimens in the literature. According to the literature I have read, they all seem to come from Africa, most commonly Uganda, but some records from West Central Africa exist. I'm not sure where this discrepancy comes from.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Reduviidae
Genus: Acanthaspis
Species: Acanthaspis petax

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthaspis_petax#mediaviewer/File:Acanthaspis_petax_nymph.jpg
http://www.2wenty4se7en.com/2013/03/ark-in-space-assassin-bug.html

Creature 30: Megascolides australis.

A worm that is bigger than you.

Description:
Megascolides australis, commonly called the giant Gippsland earthworm, is like any other earthworm, except for its enormous size. 

It can expand and contact in size. A normal worm can expand to up to 2-3 meters in length, but I have seen claims that it can get up to 4m, but I have been unable to substantiate them. This (sort of) makes it bigger than you, at least in length anyway.  Online records will vary as biologists will record its official length as the length at rest. But where is the fun in that? Normally in its resting state it is only amount 1 meter long or slightly more. 

This also makes it the largest annelid in the world. It is so large it can be heard making sucking noises from above ground, which is quite impressive considering its holes can be over 50cm below the surface of the earth.

Distribution:

The giant Gippsland earthworm is only found in the Bass River Valley of South Gippsland. Gippsland is a province in the South eastern Australian state of Victoria.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Clitellata
Order: Haplotaxida
Family: Megascolecidae
Genus: Megascolides

Species: Megascolides australis

Image Links:

http://www.coolweirdo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/work-soil.gif

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/5720565/fullscreen

http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/giant-gippsland-earthworm/

Creature 29: Chondrocladia lyra

A nasty sponge

Description:
Chondrocladia lyra, commonly called the harp sponge, is a recently described (2012) sponge which resembles a harp. It lives in the deep ocean below the level to which light can penetrate. They grow several long filamentous branches out of several veins which radiate from the middle. These branches serve as both their reproductive structures and as a rather insidious trap.

Most sponges feed of whatever marine gunk floats into their tiny pours, often aided by minute currents created by tiny cilia on the inside of the sponge. The harp sponge is a bit more dramatic when feeding. Hundreds of minute hooks and barbs trap whatever unfortunate small animals bump into it.

 Once they are stuck the sponge excretes a membrane and engulfs its prey slowly digesting it alive.

Distribution:
Harp sponges were recently (2012) discovered off the coast of California on the ocean floor higher up in the lower Bathyal zone.

Classification :
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Cladorhisidae
Genus:Chondrocladia
Species: Chondrocladia lyra

Image Links:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/2012/11/08/new-carnivorous-harp-sponge-discovered-in-deep-sea/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ivb.12001/abstract;jsessionid=8ED5D59EB0F03A4D70EE672B95422570.f01t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false

Creature 28: Psychrolutes marcidus

The ugliest animal in the world

Description: 

What is the ugliest animal in the world? There is some pretty tough competition out there but according to competition run by the ugly animal preservation society the reigning champion is Psychrolutes marcidus commonly known as the blobfish. The competition was aimed at drawing attention to some of the less charismatic animals.  I find as all the animals which did well were vertebrates anyway. Having said that, it is a very ugly fish.

The blobfish is a deep sea fish. It's body has a density just lower than that of the surrounding water allowing it to float almost effortlessly above the benthic floor. This low body density accounts for its shriveled appearance when it is taken out of the water as the air is not dense enough to support its body. In its natural state it probably looks something like this:

Of course this fact has caused some people to argue that the competition was not fair as the blobfish is not nearly so ugly in its natural state. I think these people are mostly New Zealanders who are disappointed that the kakapo did not win. Whenever an Australian win anything, even an ugly contest, the New Zealanders get jealous and either pretend that it is actually from New Zealand or that the Australians cheated.

Distribution:
The blobfish is found of the south and east coasts of Australia in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones. There are claims that some specimens have been found off New Zealand, but see discussion above for conspiracy theory.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Psychrolutidae
Genus: Psychrolutes
Species: Psychrolutes marcidus

Image Links:

http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/Fathead-Psychrolutes-aka-Mr-Blobby/

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Psychrolutes_marcidus#mediaviewer/File:Two_Psychrolutes_marcidus.jpg

Creature 27: Macrocheles rettenmeyeri

A mite which becomes a foot

Descriptions: Macrocheles rettenmeyeri is a rather unusual parasitic mite which has is dependant on ants as hosts. The bizarre thing about this mite is that it replaces the tarsus (foot, but analogously only) of ants. That;s right it literally bites into the tarsus and latched on the the end of the ants leg feeding off the ant's haemolymph  (blood, but analogously only). It operates as a perfectly functional tarsus, and may even improve the function of the leg. Not much is known about these guys, and pictures are hard to come by, and there is pretty much just one doing the rounds:

So I got you guys an illustration from a journal article:

Don't say I don't look after you.

Distribution: 
Macrocheles rettenmeyeri have been found in army ant colonies in Panama.

Classification:
Kindom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Mesostigmata
Family: Macrochelidae
Genus: Macrocheles
Species: Macrocheles rettenmeyeri

Image Links:
http://www.lorologiaiomiope.com/formiche-in-tacchi-a-spillo-macrocheles-rettenmeyeri/
http://www.jstor.org.wwwproxy0.library.unsw.edu.au/stable/25083277?seq=7

Creatur 26: Nyctibius

A bird which doesn't look real

Description:
Nyctibius is a genus of 7 nocturnal insectivorous birds commonly called Potoos, which quite frankly don't look real:

Their large eyes are an adaptation to nocturnal hunting and their overall appearance is a camouflage adaptation. During the day they rest on tree stumps and the camouflage is surprisingly good. I am reluctant to call this behavior perching, as they are not in the perching bird group (Passeriniformes), but the behavior is at least analogous.

Potoos are monogamous both parents share child rearing responsibilities, however they do not build nests

Barnorama has some a very good collection of pictures of Potoos.

They also have an unusual call, which I think sound like some sort of swamp monster:

Distribution:
Nyctibius is endemic to central America and the tropical zone of South America.

Classification:
Note here as with other birds I am using Sauropsida as the Class as it is a more rational category than the Aves-Reptilia split.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Caprimulgiformes
Family: Nyctibiidae
Genus:Nyctibius

Image Links:

http://www.barnorama.com/potoo-bird-photos/

http://diply.com/omg-facts/meet-potoo-most-expressive-bird-in-animal/25324

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Long_tailed_potoo_belly.jpg

Video Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a5O9iTJcvc

Creature 25: Panaetius eliasi

A bug with a cool name

Seeing as it is my birthday I have decided that today's creature will be the species that is named after me Panaetius eliasi (Elias being my last name). I found these guys sucking on coral ferns up at Smiths Lake. All records that I know of come from coral ferns so that is presumably their host. Not many things eat coral ferns so it was a pretty cool find. The species has been described by a college of mine Xiao Jing who named it after me, but  that paper is yet to be published so I guess the name isn't official yet, I imagine it will be published with her PhD thesis.
You have to admit they look cool:

I don't really know what those spines on the pronotum are for but I assume it is some sort of camouflage or possible some sort of defense.

Distribution:
As I said Panaetius eliasi has been found at Smiths lake, but as I understand it there are other records of this bug along the East Coast of Australia.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family Acanthosomatidae
Genus: Panaetius
Species: Panaetius eliasi

4dbioblog

It occurred to me to day that I need to have a unique phrase which people can search to find my blog for when I am recommending it to someone. I decided that 4dbioblog was a good tag. When you search for it in Google, my contact me page is the only thing that appears. So now I am putting this post up so my homepage will appear when you Google search 4dbioblog, which is not something you would search by accident so I am not cheating to get more hits. As an aside, the term comes from my first year biology lecture's '4 dimensional bio-blob'. This is not the place to explain it.

Creature 24: Uroplatus phantasticus

An evil lizard

Description:

Uroplatus phantasticus is commonly called the satanic leaf tailed gecko. I guess the name of this one speaks for itself, it looks like spawn of some undying wyrm which has emerged from the darkness of the eternal pit of fire.

Their unusual body is a form of camouflage which is aimed at mimicking decaying leaves. Their camouflage is useful for both ambushing prey and escaping the notice of predators.

Eye colour is variable in the satanic leaf tailed gecko but sometimes their eyes are entirely red, contributing to their demonesque appearence. This is probably a result of an adaptaion to hunting prey in the dark as their nocturnal lifestyle demands. I’m also pretty sure their red eyes glow when the lizard is using his unholy power to set distant objects ablaze by summoning hellfire into this mortal relm, but I have been unable to get this confirmed by herpetologists.

Distribution:

The Satanic leaf tailed Gecko comes from the eighth circle of hell known as Melebolge. It can be found in the seventh of the ten pits, usually tormenting the thieves who are consigned there for all eternity.

It has also been reported in the Rainforests of Eastern Madagascar

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Sauropsida

Order: Squamata

Family: Gekkonidae

Genus: Uroplatus

Species: Uroplatus phantasticus

Image Links:
http://100curiosidadesdelmundo.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/el-gecko-satanico-uroplatus-phantasticus.html
http://www.xn--peanevaresesquiclub-w3b.com/modules/com_uddeim/uroplatus-phantasticus-1641.html
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Uroplatus_phantasticus#mediaviewer/File:Uroplatus_phantasticus.jpg

Creature 23: Hallucigenia

A creature which.... actually we don't really know what it is

Description: This extinct genus is named Hallucigenia because it is so unlike any living organism that it seems you are hallucinating.

It is so strange because the phylum to which it is now assigned, Lobopodia, is entirely extinct. Originally it was thought to be a type of polychaete worm, and in fact it was even assigned to an existing genus but the original fossils were incomplete. As it turns out the original author, Charles Doolittle Walcott, had it upside down, or so we believe. The parts which he thought were parapodia (legs, sort of) are now believed to be large spines on its back, presumably used for protection from predators.

During the Cambrian period (ca 550-485 myo) nearly all the animal phyla that we recognize today emerges as distinct lineages. I guess it makes sense that not all of them made it, this is probably just one of those failed evolutionary lineages.
 It has been speculated that Hallucigenia is actually just part of a much larger organism which has not been preserved in the fossil record. After all, 450 milllion years of extinction is a long time. The current (mostly) accepted morphology of this creature is something like this:

Distribution:
Extinct, not seen in the fossil record since the Cambrian.

Classification:
Modern authors believe Hallucigenia to be related to Onycophora and Tardigrada, both of which will feature as bizarre creatures in later entries.
Kingdom: Aminalia
Phylum: Lobopodia ext.
Class : Unassigned
Order:  Scleronychophora ext.
Family: Hallucigeniidae ext.
Genus: Hallucigenia ext.

Image Links:
http://paleobiology.si.edu/burgess/hallucigenia.html
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucigenia#mediaviewer/File:Hallucigenia_Artist%27s_Rendering.jpg
http://ees2.geo.rpi.edu/older_pic_pages/clife/hallucigenia.html

Creature 22: Condylura cristata

A mole which sees with its nose

Description:
Condylura cristata is commonly called the star nosed mole, for reasons which are blatantly obvious once you have seen it:

The unusually shaped nose looks bizarre, but given the lifestyle of moles in general this sort of structure can hardly be surprising. It is highly sensitive to touch and is presumably used for feeling around for the tiny invertebrate prey it hunts. Unlike most moles, the star nosed mole is completely blind but its sense of feel is so acute that it can catch and eat prey faster than the human eye can keep up.

Distribution:
The star nosed mole is confined to coastal and lakeside areas of the east of North America, from the Florida Penninsula to Quebec and around the great lakes.

Classification:
The genus Condylura is monotypic as is the tribe to which it belongs; Condylurini.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Soricomorpha
Family:Talpidae
Genus: Condylura
Species: Condylura cristata

Image Links:

http://www.popspotsnyc.com/workingmans_dead/tumblr_mole.jpg

http://treeocean.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/star-nosed-mole.html

Creature 21: Dendrocnide moroides

A tree which can kill you

Description: 

We Australians like to brag about how many poisonous things there are on our continent, between the many deadly snakes, box jellyfish, blue ring octopus, stonefish, Conus geographus and various spiders we manage to spin many a tall tale about creatures lurking in the backyard or on the beach which are out to get you. That's part of the fun of being Australian. One creature which rarely gets a mention, but in my opinion is worthy of its own tall tales is Dendrocnide moroides.

This innocent enough looking plant goes by many names, including some which I have never heard according to the wikipedia article. I have always called it a stinging tree, although that name could apply to any member of the genus Dendrocnide. The leaves and fruit of trees in this genus are densely covered in very fine needles with small amounts of a very strong, deadly neurotoxin. 

Upon contact with said needles they will implant themselves in you skin and break off the leaf injecting their poison. These needles are very difficult to remove as they are so fine and many bushwalkers in areas where Dendrocnide moroides is common will carry wax strips to apply to the skin and rip them out. The toxin itself is really more painful than deadly, although it is quite capable of killing a human in high enough concentrations. Depending on the degree of envenomation, victims of the stinging tree will feel anything between a mild stinging sensation and a searing excrutiating pain, which unconfirmed and questionable anecdotes have suggested is bad enough to drive some people to suicide. The pain can last anything between a few minute and months. There has only been one officiallr recorded death from a stinging tree, however there are several questionable anecdotes of deaths of humans, dogs and even horses. Surprisingly enough, you can eat the fruit if the needles are removed, but I wouldn't try that at home kids.

All 37 species of the genus Dendrocnide posses the stinging needles, however  Dendrocnide moroides has by far the most potent toxin. Dendrocnide moroides is more of a bush than a tree, unlike some of its large relatives.

Distribution:

 Dendrocnide moroides is found along the east coast of Australia from the far north to northern New South Wales in disturbed habitat. It is most common in its tropical range.

Classification:

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Angiosperms

Class: Dicotyledon

Order: Rosales

Family: Urticaceae

Genus: Dendrocnide

Species: Dendrocnide moroides

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide_moroides#mediaviewer/File:Stinging_tree.JPG

http://alanswildlife.blogspot.com.au/search?q=stinging+tree

http://jennifermarohasy.com/2008/06/the-world%E2%80%99s-most-painful-plant/

Creature 20: Strepsiptera

A parasite for insects

Description:
Today's animal is whole order of insects, albeit one of the smaller orders.

 The strepsiteran order are highly specialised parasites. They specialize in parasitising other insects, which as you can image necessitates a very tiny body. They burrow in to the exoskeleton of their host taking advantage of the weak points where different plates on the exoskeleton overlap.

Male and female strepsipterans are radically different. Some females never leave their host body and resemble juveniles lacking wings, limbs and most sensory organs including eyes.

Males grow wings as adults and are free living but short lived as adults. In most species the males don't have functioning mouthparts or their mothparts have taken on some other function as they don't eat, once they become adults they find a mate, breed and die. They seek females using the pheromones that virgin females give off to track them.

The males mate through an unusual process which has evolved several times in insects called Traumatic insemination, which will be discussed when Cimex lectularius gets its turn for animal of the day.
Adult male strepsipetans have their fore wings reduced to tiny nubs sometimes referred to as halteres. It has been speculated in the past that these are homologous with the hindwing halteres in Diptera (flies and mosquitos). Several authors have speculated that the forewings and the hindwings have switched position in these highly specialized parasites, leading to their scientific name strepsiptera, meaning twisted wings. Detailed study of the organisms and their morphology have revealed that this is not the case and any similarity between the strepsipteran forewings and dipteran hindwings is analogous. Most modern phylogenetic analyses agree that strepsitera are more closely related to Coleoptera (beetles) than to Diptera.

Distributions:
Strepsipterans have a cosmopolitan distribution but are uncommon and hard to find.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Strepsiptera

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strepsiptera#mediaviewer/File:Stylops_melittae_f1.jpg
http://dududiaries.wildlifedirect.org/category/parasites/
http://www.rosspiper.net/2011/08/09/lift-off/

Creature 19: Chelus fimbriata

The laziest turtle in the world

Description:
Today our creature has to be considered one of the laziest animals in the world.

Chelus fimbriata or the Mata mata turtle spends almost its entire life underwater, only coming out to lay eggs or if their pond drys up. Their shell, head and neck are modified to camouflage in the leaf litter that they live in. This protects them from being harassed by predators and enables them to ambush their food.

You might be thinking 'how can any predator be that lazy really?', well these guys have found a way. They form a semi vacuum in their mouth when it is closed and they wait for fish to swim along. They then just need to extend their very long neck and open their mouth and the water will get sucked in along with the fish. As a turtle it obviously cant chew so it just passively swallows the thing whole.

The extra long nose is also a convenient invention for its sedentary lifestyle. turtles, like all other tetrapods, need to breathe. The combination of its long neck and long nose enables the Mata Mata turtle to breathe without getting up out of its leaf litter bed.

Distribution:
The Mata mata turtle are found in tropical South America. It is only found in very slow moving streams or pools because fast moving water would ruin all the cool adaptations it has foe being increadibly lazy.

Classification:
Note here that I don't recognize the class Reptilia as it is clearly not monophyletic (see my discussion of linnean classification).
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class:  Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Family: Chelidae
Genus: Chelus
Species: Chelus fimbriata

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chelus_fimbriatus_01.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matama10.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelidae#mediaviewer/File:Chelus_fimbriatus_close.jpg

Creature 18: Amblyomma americanum

A tick which makes you allergic to meat

Description:
Today's creature will redefine your understanding of terror. Amblyomma americanum, commonly called the Lone Star tick, is a tick which is mostly found in the United States.

Like most ticks it injects a toxic saliva when feeding. This venom serves to stop blood coagulating and to stop the host feeling the fact that a little arthropod is burrowing into their flesh. The terrifying consequence of the particular toxin produced by this tick is that it can cause an allergy to meat in humans. I don't know about you but this scares the hell out of me. It has been speculated that other ticks may also produce a similar effect.

Distribution:
The Lone Star tick is normally found in eastern and southern united states across to Texas and Mexico. There are reports of it from the tropics of South America.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Ixodida
Family: Ixodidae
Genus: Amblyomma
Species: Amblyomma americanum

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyomma_americanum#mediaviewer/File:Amblyomma_americanum_tick.jpg
http://www.pestid.msu.edu/InsectsArthropods/LoneStarTickAmblyommaamericanum/tabid/280/Default.aspx

Creature 17: Coleorrhyncha

A bug which is a very fussy eater

Description:

Coleorrhyncha are a higher level taxon within the Order Hemiptera (the true bugs and their allies). Hemiptera are one of the five super large insect orders, which together probably make up around 50% of all known animal species (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera and Hemiptera). They are also the only one of the big five that are outside of the Holometabola. Unlike all their three incredibly successful cousins, all of which contain tens of thousands of species and counting and have cosmopolitan distributions, the Coleorrhyncha contain between 50 and 100 species and a single Family, the Peloridiidae and have a very restricted distribution as discussed below. They are quite rare and very hard to find.

They are only found feeding off moss that grows on Nothofagus trees, which explains their modern distribution, but does not explain why they have not been successful on any other host. I guess sometimes these things just happen.

Apart from that, they also look like aliens.

Distribution:
Coleorrhyncha are only found in gondwanan relict forests such as on the East coast of Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and the Patagonian region of Chile and Argentina.


Classification: 
Coleorrhyncha are a one of four suborders in the Order Hemiptera (Auchenorrhyncha, Sternorrhncha, Coleorrhyncha and Heteroptera). Some orders have suggested that they should be an infraorder within the suborder Heteroptera, the group which is generally accepted to be their sister group.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Xenophyes_rhachilophus#mediaviewer/File:Xenophyes_rhachilophus.jpg
http://www.nmb.bs.ch/forschung/forschung-biowissenschaften/projekt-systematik_und_biogeographie_von_peloridiidae.htm

Creature 16: Chrysopelea

A snake that flies

Description:
Chrysopelea is a snake genus containing 5 species.

The unusual thing about these guys is that they can fly. Well, they can at least glide, but as far as gliding goes these guys are pretty impressive.

They can expand their wings to turn their body into a parachute like flap which it move in a wave like motion which gives it the ability to glide.

Distribution:
Chrysopelea is endemic to the subcontinent and Southeast Asia including the Moluccas and Sunda Islands and the Philippines.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Squamata
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Chrysopelea

Image Links:
https://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/tag/chrysopelea-ornata/
http://www.kamikazereptile.com/Chrysopelea%20paleas1.jpg
http://cobrasserpentes.blogspot.com.au/p/cobra-voadora.html

Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMs8Cu8PNKM

Creature 15: Grimpoteuthis

Dumbo the elephant in Octopus form

Description:

Another creature which just looks weird today, Grimpoteuthis or the Dumbo Octapus. Grimpoteuthis is a genus of 14 described species of deep ocean Octopi (I refuse to use Octopuses no matter how grammatically acceptable it has become).  

Not much is known about these unusual creatures as with many animals from the deep ocean. The common name comes from dumbo the flying elephant, the Disney character, for reasons which will become obvious once you have seen this clip:

The fin like flaps growing out of their mantle are used for swimming.

Distribution:

Dumbo Octopi are known from the Pacific ocean and are found in the Bathyalpelagic and Abyssopelagic
zones.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Octopoda
Family: Opisthoteuthidae
Genus: Grimpoteuthis

Image Links

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/dumbo_octopus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimpoteuthis#mediaviewer/File:Grimpoteuthis_discoveryi.jpg

Video Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDxBVZhZZwI

Creature 14: Ophrys insectifera

A flower that looks like a wasp (if you're a wasp)

Description:
Ophrys insectifera or the fly orchid is an orchid which is said to resemble a fly:

Actually this flower is going for a more bee-wasp look. It is pollinated by bees and wasps and does everything it can to trick males into thinking it is a female wasp or bee to draw them in. Not only does its flow grow to look like an hymenopteran but it emits a scent which is supposed to mimic the female hymenoptera pheromones which many of that order use to find mates.

You might be thinking: "hang on, that doesn't look much like a wasp to me." Remember that the insect pollinators see the world through radically different eyes and not only is their visible color range different from ours but all other aspect of their sight are different, e.g. depth perception, motion perception etc... In fact the homology between our sight and insect sight is very, very deep, and we should be careful about what we assume with regard to the way they experience the sensation of sight. But that is a discussion for another place.

Distribution:
Ophyrys insectifera is found throughout most of Europe, being most common in central Europe.

Classification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperm
Class: Monocotyledon
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Genus: Ophyrys
Species: insectifera

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fly_Orchid_(Ophrys_insectifera)_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1330567.jpg
http://www.kuriositas.com/2013/04/the-fly-orchid-agent-provocateur-of.html
http://www.orpingtonfieldclub.org.uk/ofc-article002.html

Creature 13: Maratus

A dancing spider

Description:
Today's creature is a genus of spider with a few dozen specie named Maratus or  peacock spiders. They have earned its place on this blog due to its spectacular colored abdomen:

and its unusual mating dance

As with Peacocks (and many other animals), it is the males that have all the fashion sense, with the females being drab in comparison:

Classification:
The name Peacock spider is sometimes used to refer exclusively to the species Maratus volans.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Salticidae
Genus: Maratus

Distribution:
All species of Maratus bar one are known from Australia only. Maratus furvus being the only exception, which is endemic to China. Given the disjunct nature of this distribution and the poor knowledge generally of small Arthropods from South East Asia, I would guess that there is a strong possibility of a sampling error here.


Image links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MalePeacockSpider.jpg
http://strangesounds.org/2014/09/peacock-spider-maratus-speciosus-video.html
http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/australian/salticidae/Peacock_spider_Maratus_volans.htm

Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOAfXUshpVY