Creature 61: Trachelophorus giraffa

A beetle that uses its neck to fight.

Today's creature is a member of that incredibly most specious super-family the Curculionoidae, commonly know as the weevils. This species belongs to a family called Attelabidae, which is just outside the family with the bulk of the species Curculionidae.  The little grubs that sailors pull out of their biscuits are probably juvenile flour weevils, but there a weevils which specialize on all kinds of different plant. There are 60,000 known species of weevil and probably as many unknown species. To put this is perspective the whole class mammalia only has about 5,500 known species. As you can imagine, with that many species there must be a few unusual ones. They are a type of beetle and are sometimes called elephant beetles but the common name weevil is more common.

Description:
Trachelophorus giraffa is commonly called a giraffe weevil, so I guess if you wanted to you could call it the giraffe elephant beetle. Once you have seen it you will no longer wonder why it is called a giraffe weevil. 

The elongate "neck" is formed from a combination of an elongate pronotum and an posterior of the head. The males use their "necks" to fight over females. The females have a much shorter "neck" as they don't nee it for fighting. They do use it for rolling leaves into tubes for their nests. This behavior is common to all species in the genus Trachelophorus.  Female giraffe weevils lay only one egg at a time.

Like most beetles in the weevil group, giraffe weevils are very host specific, or in layman's terms they are very fussy eaters. They rely entirely on host plants from the genus Bridelia.

Distribution:

Giraffe weevils are endemic to that hotbed of bizarre creatures, Madagascar.

Classification: 

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Attelabidae

Genus: Trachelophorus

Species: Trachelophorus giraffa

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trachelophorus_giraffa_male_01.jpg

http://orionmystery.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/giraffe-weevil-and-its-host-plant.html

Creature 60: Tardigrada

A real animal with the power of invulnerability

Description:
And now the creature we've all been waiting for; the indestructible Tardigrades. If you haven't heard of these guys you are in for a treat today. Tardigrada is a whole Phylum of animals commonly known as water bears. Their most notable characteristic being that they are virtually indestructible.

A Tardigrade coloured SEM.

They have a really cool trick known as cryptobiosis. When they are in a threatening environment they can shut their metabolism down completely. This isn't just slowing the heart beat down and lowering the body temperature, while in cryptobiosis there is no metabolic process whatsoever. They are essentially dried out husks and are temporarily not living. In this state they are called a tun. Their normal method of cryptobiosis involves dessicating themselves and when they are immersed in fresh water their metabolic processes will start up again. In cases of low oxygen they often take in extra water and high oxygen environments remove the water by osmosis and their metabolism starts up again.

A Tardigrade tun coloured SEM.

We've tried everything to kill these guys including boiling them, freezing them even to 1 degree above absolute zero, dehydrating them and starving them, sending them to space and exposing them to the vacuum and radiation. They can survive pressures up to six times those of the deepest ocean trenches and ionizing radiation hundreds of times more intense than would kill us. They can survive some really nasty environmental toxins and preserved specimens have been known to survive formalin and alcohol preservation.

A Tardigrade under a light microscope

They are slow moving eight legged and have an exoskeleton. These tiny beasts only grow up to about 1.5 mm long in the larger species but with at that mouth and those claws they look like savage predators. Most water bears are actually vegetarians eating only algae or moss. They are usually found in moist areas on moss or ferns.
Check out a Tardigrade foraging under a microscope here:

And for some cool Tardigrade CGI check this out:

Distribution:
Water bears are found from the oceans abyss to the highest mountains in the world on every continent and every ocean in the world. There seems to be a lot of diversity in Antarctica due to their ability to freeze for years and reanimate.

Classification:
Tardigrada is related to the Phyla Arthropoda and Onycophora and together they form a group called the panarthropoda. The exact nature of the relationship has been the topic of some debate. I favor the hypothesis that they are the basal group of the Panarthropoda, which seems to be the dominant hypothesis.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Tardigrada

Image Links:
http://www.astronoo.com/en/news/tardigrade.html
http://www.rosspiper.net/2012/10/12/time-travellers/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mikrofoto.de-baertierchen2.jpg

Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvkigeut3Q4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjV2WP0wkvo

Creature 59: Coelopleurus exquisitus

This looks more like an alien mother ship than an animal to me.

Description:
Coelopleurus exquisitus is a recently described (2006) species of sea urchin. It's colour and shape are so unusual that they were being sold on E bay before they were known to science.  In fact it was from E bay that the scientific community became aware of the existence of the species. Their skeleton retains the impressive colouration even after they are killed, dried and preserved.

Like most recently described species not a lot is known about them. I still consider them bizarre because of their alien mother ship appearance and the weird method by which they were discovered.

Distribution:
Coelopleurus exquisitus is only known from New Caledonia between depths of 240 and 520m.

Classification:
If you're wondering where this bizarre creature fits in to the tree of life they are in the echinoderm phylum which you may remember from Johnson's sea cucumber. It is a member of the Sea Urchins (class Echinoidea) in an order called Arbacioida defined by their five plated anus.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Echinoidea
Order: Arbacioida
Family: Arbaciidae
Genus:Coelopleurus
Species:Coelopleurus exquisitus

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Coelopleurus_exquisitus#mediaviewer/File:Coelopleurus_exquisitus_(Macro).jpg

http://koghisberg.com/wp-content/uploads/Coelopleurus-exquisitus-38mm-Coppard-Schultz-2006.jpg

Creature 58: Daphnia

A crustacean which only grows body parts if it needs them.

Description:
Daphnia is a genus of if the crustacean order Cladocera. Their common name water fleas is used for several similar small crustaceans which do not form a natural group.
These tiny crustacean only grow to about 5 mm at most. They are of interest because of this simple fact. The two individuals below are in fact genetically identical:

They grow differently depending on weather predators are present or absent. If they grow up in an environment with predators they develop defenses such as those spines on the head and tail. If they are absent, there is no need to bother, so they don't. These differences are so extreme that before this dimorphism was understood some of the species were described as two separate species despite the fact that they may well have been genetically identical. The defenses do vary between species.

It is not just their appearance which changes in different environments. At least one species Daphnia magna changes its reproductive strategy depending on the environment.  When times are good they reproduce asexually producing as many clones of themselves as they can. When the environment becomes hostile they switch to sexual reproduction. The reason for this is presumably due to the fact that this strategy gives them a greater diversity of offspring giving them more chance of at least some of their offspring will survive.

They are convenient for use in the effects of various substances on the nervous system as their transparent body allow the heart rate to be observed without killing the animal.  Daphnia pulex was the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced.

Distribution:
Daphnia are planctonic animals found in fresh water aquatic environments all over the world.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Branchiopoda
Order: Cladocera
Family: Daphniidae
Genus: Daphnia

Image Links:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/294/5541/321

https://wiki.cgb.indiana.edu/display/DGC/Projects

http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0030219

Creature 57: Paedophryne amauensis

A frog the size of a pea

Description:
I have spoken a lot about grossly enlarged organisms which often hold the title of the largest organism in their group. Today I will be showing  you the smallest frog and indeed the smallest vertebrate in the world. Paedophyrne amauensis was discovered in 2009 and described in 2012 and does not even reach 8 mm in length, that's one third of an inch. For those of you who think the generic name looks a little unusual it simply means child frog in Greek.The specific epithet comes from a town near where they were found.

Unlike most frogs this guy doesn't have a tadpole phase and its young are hatched as even smaller versions of the adult. Apparently their calls sound a lot like the noise of an insect. It is presumed that they specialize on eating tiny invertebrates such as mites.

They can jump nearly 25 cm, which may not seem like much, but considering that they are one thirtieth of that length it is quite impressive.

Distribution:
Paedophryne amauensis is only known from the Central Highlands in Papua New Guinea.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Microhylidae
Genus: Paedophryne
Species: Paedophryne amauensis

Image Links:
http://goldenbookofrecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Golden-book-of-World-Records-Smallest-Frog-Professor-Chris-Austin-and-Eric-Rittmeyer-Louisiana-State-University-Amau-Papua-New-Guinea.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paedophryne_amauensis#mediaviewer/File:Paratype_of_Paedophryne_amauensis_(LSUMZ_95004).png

Creature 56: Syrinx aruanus

This makes the Giant African snail look tiny

Description:
Yesterday I noticed some of the twitter crowd marveling at the size of the Giant African Snail. I couldn't let this wimpy pest of a snail be marveled at without showing my readers how big some snails get. 

Syrinx aruanus, commonly known as the Australian trumpet can grow up to 91 cm long with a 7 7cm shell and 18 kg in weight. I am reluctant to give it any such a title as the largest snail in the world as first you would have to define what a snail is. They are the largest living shelled gastropod in the world and probably heavier than any non shelled gastropod, but not the longest as we will find out later. The Australian trumpet feeds on large worms which live under the ocean benthos. They have a long proboscis which they use for finding and sucking up their prey.

Living specimens are rare sightings and the shells are highly sort after collectors items and hard to find.

Distribution:
Syrinx aruanus is endemic to the Torres strait (between Northern Australia and New Guinea).

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Turbinellidae
Genus: Syrinx
Species: Syrinx aruanus

Image Links:

http://www.ebronzemart.com/store.php/eBronzeMart/pd8089326/seashell_syrinx_aruanus_australian_trumpet_sea_shell_20_inches

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syrinx_aruanus_61_a.jpg

Creature 55: Nepenthes

Revenge of the plants

Description: 

Nepenthes is a genus of plants commonly know as a tropical pitcher plant. Their common name comes from the fact that they grow some of their leaves into a structure which resembles a pitcher.

In tropical rain forests there is a lot of competition between different plants for access to light. It can be a huge advantage to a plant if they can devise a strategy which enables them to thrive in area in which most plants can't grow. Tropical pitcher plants specialize in poor quality low nutrient soils. They can occupy this niche due by supplementing the soil nutrients with those of dying animals. It obtains these dying animals through a really cool trick their leaves have developed. They attract unsuspecting prey animals with the promise of rewards. As they enter the pitcher plants cup shaped leaves they get trapped in a thick syrupy bio polymer which the plant produces. The thick sticky syrup makes it impossible for many prey items to escape and as they die and slowly rot they release the nutrients stored in their body for the benefit of the plant.
The different members of the genus are quite varied in appearance and in scent depending of the particular prey they are targeting. 

The pitchers used to trap animals are not flowers although they will sometimes appear to be. The flowers are brush like in shape and fairly small.

Distribution:
The tropical pitcher plant is found in South East Asia, Melanesia, Northern Australia, Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean Islands and the East coast of Madagascar.

Classification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperms
Class: Dicotyledon
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Nepenthaceae
Genus: Nepenthes

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bicalcarata-upperpitcher.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nepenthes_attenboroughii#mediaviewer/File:Attlwr.jpg

http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Nepenthes%20ventricosai%20pc.html

Creature 54: Centrolenidae

See through frogs + Is this the real hypnotoad?

Description:

Centrolenidae is a family of frogs with about 10 known genera and 60 species, first found in the nineteen century but most species and genera have been described in the 21st century. They are commonly known as glass frogs. The unusual thing about these fogs is that you can see through them.

That's right, while most of them may be colored and dorsally opaque of translucent the ventral side is normally colorless and transparent. 

You can see their organs through the skin. In an unusual twist of evolution their skeleton  is green in some species and can sometimes be seen from the outside. They are arboreal animals and only descend to the ground during breeding seasons. One particular strange looking species known as the ghost glass frog can change its color to match whatever leaf it is sitting on and has eyes which make it look like it is some kind of hypnotoad.

Distribution:

Glass frogs are found in Central and tropical South America.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Amphibia

Order: Anura

Family: Centrolenidae

Image Links:

http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/13694

http://www.nerdist.com/2014/05/miracles-of-weird-the-glass-frog/

http://www.thefeaturedcreature.com/watch-out-glass-frog-got-crazy-eyes/

Creature 52: Daubentonia madagascariensis

Our weird cousins

Description:

You can't have a weird creature blog without, at some point, mentioning Daubentonia madagascariensis, commonly known as the Aye-aye. The Aye-aye is a Primate (hey that's us) and are not named after their weird nocturnally adapted eyes, but from the name the indigenous people give them.  Although their eyes are pretty cool:

They are nocturnal and arboreal, rarely if ever venturing onto the ground. They use their teeth to drill holes in trees and claw out grubs with their long lanky fingers. They are generally omnivorous and have quite a similar diet to us except with more insects and less meat.

Distribution:

The Aye-aye is endemic to the dense forests of Madagascar, mostly along its east coast.

Classification:

Aye-aye's are often mistaken for Lemurs and indeed they are a close relative. I think the persistence of this misunderstanding has a lot to do with their distribution as Madagascar is the place to go for lemur diversity. There has also been speculation that they are in fact a squirrel but modern analysis has shown that they are indeed primates and not rodents and they are most likely the sister group to the Lemurs. They are the only member of the genus Daubentonia  and the only member of the family Daubentoniidae.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Family: Daubentoniidae

Genus: Daubentonia

Species: Daubentonia madagascariensis

Image Links:
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/13-of-the-ugliest-animals-on-the-planet/aye-aye
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aye-aye_(Daubentonia_madagascariensis)_2.jpg?uselang=en-gb

Creature 51: Bathynomus

Not your garden variety slater

Description:
I'm sure you've all see those little arthropods, in pretty much every garden in the world, which roll up into a hard ball when you pick them up. They go by many common names including slaters, rolly pollies, pillbugs and woodlice. Many people don't realize they are actually an order of crustaceans called isopoda and the majority of them live in the ocean. Bathynomus is a genus of about 20 of these marine isopods. They live in the deep ocean,  and like many species down there they have undergone deep sea gigantism.

Yes they can grow up to 76 cm long and weigh up to 1.7kg. They do have the ability to roll themselves up into balls when threatened, albeit very slowly.  They don't eat very often due to the fact that they are very rarely fully active metabolically. Most will only eat a few time per year with some individuals recorded spending years at a time without eating. When they do eat they eat so much that they can scarcely move afterwards. They are predominantly scavengers and feed off dead organisms that fall from the pelagic zone.

Distribution:
Bathynomus are benthic organisms usually found between 200 and 2000 meters in depth  and are found in all the major oceans of the world.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Isopoda
Suborder: Cymothoida
Family: Cirolanidae
Genus: Bathynomus

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bathynomus_giganteus#mediaviewer/File:Giant_isopod.jpg
http://trawlerphotos.co.uk/gallery/data/634/medium/bathynomus-giganteus-sideview.jpg

Creature 50: Scolopendra gigantea

A giant centipede that eats bats.

Description:
Scolopendra gigantea is South American centipede which is, as its specific epithet suggests, huge.

 It became famous from a documentary called life in the undergrowth narrated by David Attenborough,  the king of documentaries. The documentary shows one of these large beasts climbing a cave wall, releasing some of its front legs in order to hang from the ceiling. It then catches the bat in mid flight and starts devouring it. I would embed the video here but it has been taken down from YouTube for copyright violation. Scolopendra gigantea will eat small mammals or birds as well.

They can grow up to 30cm long and have long fangs which are for feeding only. Subduing and envenomating their prey is achieved through the large hooked claws on the end of their legs.

Distribution:
Scolopendra gigantea is found in central and tropical South America and the Caribbean Islands.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum :Arthropoda
Class: Chilopoda
Order: Scolopendromorpha
Family: Scolopendridae
Genus:Scolopendra
Species: Scolopendra gigantea

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Scolopendra_gigantea#mediaviewer/File:Scolopendra_gigantea_(2).jpg

https://arthropoda.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/unluckybat1.jpg

Creature 49: Amitermes laurensis

Nature's compass

Description:
Amitermes laurensis is one of many outback Australian species of termite which build large ground level nests. They are one of many unrelated species of these termites which are nicknamed magnetic termites.

They earned this name due to a cool trick which they employ to beat the scorching hot sun. Temperatures in these areas regularly rise above 40°C (104 Fahrenheit) and the sun does not relent all day during the dry season. Their nests are built narrow and long with the North-South aspects pointed and the East-West aspects flat. This earned them the nickname magnetic termites as their nests face the same direction as the needle of a compass.

 This weird phenomenon can be explained by the termites trying to avoid the midday sun. The narrow part of the nest is facing the sun in the middle of the day while the broad aspect is facing the sun in the morning and afternoon. If you do happen to be lost in Northern Australia one day and the termite mounds are flattened with the aspect facing the same direction you can avoid walking around in circles by gauging the direction from the termite mounds. We are still not sure how the termites determine the direction pf North, but it is not impossible that they can detect the direction of the Earths magnetic field.
Large nests can be 2-3 meters tall and up to 100 years old.

Distribution:
Amitermes laurensis is found on the North coast of Australia particularly in Cape York but also Arnhem land and the Kimberly region.

Classification:
I am following the new classification for termites which have been shown to be a type of troglodytic cockroach. As a result they have been lumped into the same order Dichtyoptera instead of Isoptera for termites and Battoidea for cockroaches. They have also thrown in the cockroaches' surprisingly close relatives, the mantises (Mantoidea).

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Dichtyoptera
Family: Termitidae
Genus: Amitermes
Species: Amitermes laurensis

Image Links:

http://csironewsblog.com/2012/10/12/a-termites-closest-relation/untitled-7/#
http://www.ieeemagnetics.org/ieee_static_content/Newsletters/Newsletter/05July/quizsolution.htm

Creature 48: Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni

A real life sea monster

Description:
Cartographers used to write there be monsters on the uncharted areas on the edges of the maps. Today's uncharted territory is the depths of the ocean in which it can truely be said there be monsters. No creature confirms this more than Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni commonly known as the colossal squid. This giant beast is often referred to as the giant squid, but as this is also the common name of the genus Architeuthis, it is probably better to avoid this name.

The largest of all squid (at least by weight) is the colossal squid and its size makes it the stuff of maritime legends. Remains of these beasts may have inspired some of the myths of sea monsters which sailors have been embellishing for centuries.  It is the largest animal in the world outside of the vertebrates, measuring at an estimated maximum size of 14 meters long you would think this deep sea monstrosity would be hard to miss.

 As it  turns out, this is not so. The first live specimen to be observed was captured in 2005 despite sporadic confirmed instances of remains being found in the 100 years before. Since then, deep ocean exploration has turned up two more confirmed sightings. The colossal squids tentacles a covered in suction pads as well as hardened hooks which can swivel, presumable for preventing its prey from escaping.

Distribution:
The colossal squid is found in the depths of the southern oceans. Not enough information is available to give an accurate approximation of its most common depths.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Teuthida
Family: Cranchiidae
Subfamily: Taoniinae
Genus: Mesonychoteuthis
Species: Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid#mediaviewer/File:20000_squid_holding_sailor.jpg
http://animania-daily.livejournal.com/15570.html#

Creature 47: Myxinidae

Mucus monsters

Description:
Today's creature is a family in our phylum chordata and have a spinal chord but they don't have a vertebral column.  It is a family called Myxinidae but it is commonly known as the hagfish. They are sometimes called slime eels, but I don't like that name as it confuses their phylogeny position as true eels are bony fish.

Hagfish are scavengers and live of various benthic invertebrates and carcass of dead vertebrates. They are notorious for their nasty habit of taking up residence in rotting carcasses and eating them from the inside out. They have a skull, but no jaws, which necessarily makes stripping the flesh off a rotting carcass a little complicated. The hagfish, however, have made stripping flesh of a rotten carcass unnecessarily very complicated. They tie their body in a knot around a part of the carcass they can grab hold of. This combined with sudden movements assists them in separating bite sized chunks of delicious rotten fish from a carcass.

Interestingly enough they also use a know to free themselves when they get captured by a predator, but in this case they are assisted by the copious amount of mucus they produce. The hagfish have dozens of holes along the side of its body which enable it to excrete over a liter of mucus in a second. When they are threatened they produce copious amounts of mucus, which confuses predators, sometimes clogging their gills and makes everything much slipperier aiding in their escape. The knot trick is used if they are captured despite the confusion. Hagfish mucus is actually very interesting in itself, at least as far a mucus goes. It contains tiny threads of microfibers which despite being only 12 nanometers in length are 10 times stronger than nylon. There has been a lot of speculation as to what practical application this material might have.

Hagfish are eaten in East Asian cuisine, and often they are called eels. That's right, you may have eaten them at some point.

Distribution:

Hagfish live on ocean floors across the world, they prefer habitats with muddy benthos and can live up to several hundred meters below the ocean's surface.

Classification:

Hagfish are in a subphylum called Craniata as opposed to the Vertebrata which contains most of the chordate species including us. There is some debate as to their exact phylogeny position but I consider it likely that they are the closest relative of the Vertebrata
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class: Pteraspidomorphi
Order: Myxiniformes
Family: Myxinidae

Image Links:

http://phys.org/news/2011-03-hagfish-skin.html

http://www.nilesbio.com/prod238.html

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/hagfish-slime-biomaterial-future#

Creature 46: Ampulex compressa

The wasp with a zombification toxin in its sting

Description: Today's creature, Ampulex compressa, commonly known as the emerald cockroach wasp is one of the freakiest animals in the world. It is a type of parisitoid wasp. Parisitoid wasps are freaky enough due to the fact that they inject their eggs into a living creature so they can have fresh food to eat their way out of when they hatch.

 These guys aren't happy with injecting their eggs into any old insect, they are very fussy. They only target a few species of cockroaches for their victims (luckily enough one of them is the common pest the American cockroach).  They inject their victim with two stings of different venom. The first sting is for temporary paralysis, leaving the cockroach helpless. The wasp then carefully feels for the right location to inject the second sting. It has to be delivered in the right location and is a very precise process. This is the zombification sting. Once the cockroach is under the influence of the wasp's zombie toxin the wasp will lead the cockroach by the antenna back to its nest where it also lays a single egg. 

While under the influence of the wasps toxin, the cockroach can perform certain basic tasks such as moving its legs to walk or swim and in fact the first thing they do is to groom themselves continuously for half an hour. This grooming time gives the wasp an opportunity to find a suitable burrow. They don't control where they are going or what they are doing. The juvenile wasp eats its way into the cockroach, starting with muscle and other tissue which will not kill the wasp, as it wants to keep the cockroach alive for as long as possible so it stays fresh. The cockroach is apparently O.K. with that as it is devoured alive in its little cave. Eventually the wasp takes up residence in the partially hollowed cockroach, and if it is not dead already, it will be soon. The wasp will live in the cockroach until it is an adult.

Distribution:

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Ampulicidae

Genus: Ampulex 

Species: Ampulex compressa

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_cockroach_wasp#mediaviewer/File:Ampulex_compressa.jpg

http://69.195.124.141/~extraou5/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/emerald-cockroach-wasp-leading.jpg

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/07/if-youre-going-to-live-inside-a-zombie-keep-it-clean/

Creature 45: Heterocephalus glaber

The naked molerat... and that's being nice.

Description:
Heterocephalus glaber is commonly known as the naked molerat, and if you think that this name rather unflattering, take a look at it:

Those incredibly large teeth are not only capable of moving around, but can move independently of one another and are predominantly used for tunnelling. Those long scrawny whiskers are used to feel their way around their tunnels as light is limited and their eyesight is poor.

Not only is this one of the ugliest mammals alive, but has a very unusual social structure. They live underground, usually in colonies of a few dozen but can contain up to a few hundred. Colonies have one queen, the only reproductively active female, and a few reproductively active males. The rest of the colony is made up of sterile worker or soldier drones. The queen produced pheromones to stop other females from becoming reproductively active queens, once a queen dies the females compete to become the new queen.

This is one of the very few examples of eusociality outside of the insects.
One can hardly mention naked molerats without pointing out the fact that they don't feel pain when they come in contact with acid. This is said to be an adaptation to living in high carbon dioxide environments. They are very long lived (up to 31 years) and they seem to have a resistance to cancer.

Distribution:

The naked molerat is endemic to the horn of Africa.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Rodentia

Family: Bathyergidae

Genus: Heterocephalus

Species: Heterocephalus glaber

Image Links:
http://genomemag.com/2014/09/researchers-study-cancer-resistant-naked-mole-rat-genome/#.VGWQTJCUd4E
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Naked_Molerat_001.jpg?uselang=en-gb
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-mole-rat-prophecies/

Creature 44: Glaucus atlanticus

A slug so tough it eats poison for breakfast

Today I am finally introducing the first of several species from one of the most spectacular looking groups in the animal kingdom: the Nudibranches, commonly known as the sea slug. The common name doesn't conjure images of anything quite so spectacular as they are.

Description:
Today's species is Glaucus atlanticus, a species with many common names.

This spectacular looking Nudibranch feed on other animals on the oceans surface. It floats on the surface tension of the open ocean upside down. It maintains its position by swallowing air and storing it to reduce its density. It feeds of various Cnidarians and will even eat their stinging cells and recycle them for their own defense. The long thing tentacle like spines you see are used to store the cnidocytes (stinging cells). This makes it a rather unappealing meal for the numerous predators which feed off animals on the oceans surface.

Distribution:
The sea slug is known in substation numbers from a few disjunct areas (off the East of South Africa, West of Europe and East coast of Australia). There are also various sitting records from various places across the world, which leads me to believe they are probably very widespread and possibly all over the world's ocean.

Classification:
The nudibranches are in the snail-slug group Gastropoda, but to answer the question as to whether they are true slugs is complex. In truth the terms snail and slug are biologically useless as they don't describe monophyletic groups.

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Family:Glaucidae
Genus:Glaucus
Species: Glaucus atlanticus

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Glaucus_atlanticus#mediaviewer/File:Glaucus_atlanticus_1_cropped.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaucus_atlanticus#mediaviewer/File:Glaucus_atlant..jpg

Creature 43: Gluteus minimus

A  cheeky animal

Descritpion:

Gluteus minimus is an extinct animal from the upper devonian period. Most people have hear of the muscle in humans Gluteus maximus and are familiar with its location on a humans rear end. The lesser known muscle Gluteus minimus is a similarly located muscle. The authors Davies and Semken noted that the fossil resembles a human backside and rather cheekily (excuse the pun) used the muscle's name as the generic name and specific epithet. 

Fossils of Gluteus minimus were first uncovered in 1902, but were not described until 1975. This was because no one can figure out what they are. Specialists of various kinds will not take responsibility for them, there has been speculation that they are various different body parts of various different animals, but nothing can be confirmed with any reasonable certainty. They have not been assigned to any Phylum, but due to their chemical composition we are fairly sure they are animals, and they look to me like we need not look outside the bilateria.

Distribution:

Gluteus minimus is extinct, whatever it was.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: incertae sedis

Class: incertae sedis

Order: incertae sedis

Family: incertae sedis

Genus:  Gluteus

Species: Gluteus minimus

Image Links:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/31406/7-fabulously-named-fossils

Poll

Not many people voted in the poll so I won't bother with it any more. The winner was Epomis, but there were not a whole lot of votes.

Creature 42: Papaver somniferum

The remembrance day poppy's evil brother

Seeing as it is rememberance day I thought I might find an appropriate creature for the day. Poppies are the symbol of the day, so I decided to go with the opium poppy.

Description:
You would be surprised how often I get asked 'so is there some sort of bug or something that will make you high?'. The truth is most things that make you high (at least the ones known to science) are probably well known by those people already.  Papaver somniferum or the opium poppy is the king of all making you high organisms. It has been used at least since ancient Egyptian times for pain relief ans to help people sleep. In ancient Greece it was also used for its hallucinogenic properties.

It has a rather striking appearance bearing bright red petals with a contrasting black base. Don't let the innocent looking flowers fool you, because it really packs a punch. This plant contains all kinds of highly addictive chemicals such as Heroin, Morphine and Codine. The illegal substance Opium is a combination of chemicals present in the dried latex of the opium bulbs.

Poppies themselves are a large genus and the poppy used in remembrance day is not the opium poppy but Papaver rhoeas, a common agricultural weed in Europe. The origin of this comes from a poem for a fallen friend by the WW1 Canadian military Physician John McCrae.

Distribution:

The native range of the Opium poppy is hard to determine as it has been widely cultivated for a long time. It most likely originates from the middle east or Southern Europe but it now 

ooccurs both as a cultivated crop and Iin the wild in many parts of the world.

Classification:

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Angiosperms

Class: Dicotyledon

Order: Ranunculales

Family: Papaveraceae

Genus: Papaver

Species: Papaver somniferum

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Papaver_somniferum#mediaviewer/File:Papaver_somniferum_flowers.jpg

http://opium.com/wp-content/uploads/opium-poppy.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy_seed#mediaviewer/File:Poppy_seeds.jpg

Creature 41: Hemiphractidae

A very creepy frog

Description:
Hemiphractidae is a diverse family of frogs commonly known as marsupial frogs. Marsupial frogs earned their name from their unusual reproductive behavior.

If you are wondering what those lumps on its back are and you are nervously thinking of the name marsupial frog you're worst suspicions are correct.  Those lumps are full of tadpoles wriggling around as they grow large enough to tear open their mothers pouch and break free. Something about that seems really creepy even thought it is not all that different from mammalian reproductive strategies. The eggs are externally fertilised, as is standard in frogs, they are then moved onto the females back by the male.

The different generea and species of Hemiphractidae develop to different stages while inside their mothers skin. Some are released into the water as eggs, while others do not leave until they complete their tadpoles phase.
To add a little bit of creepiness to these frogs, Gastrotheca guentheri (a type of marsupial frog) is the only frog with teeth on its lower jaw.

Distribution:
Hemiphractidae are a tropical family found in central and south America.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hemiphractidae

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Flectonotus_pygmaeus#mediaviewer/File:Flectonotus_pygmaeus02.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrotheca#mediaviewer/File:Gastrotheca_excubitor.jpg

Creature 40: Odontodactylus scyllarus

A cructecean with super powers

Description: Odontodactylus scyllarus is commonly known as a Peacock mantis shrimp or clown mantis shrimp, but it is not a Peacock, or a clown, or a mantis or even a shrimp.

 Not only is this a bizarre looking creature with its stalked eyes and it brightly coloured exoskeleton, but it is widely known for having the fastest punch in the animal kingdom. Some fisherman have been known to call them thumb splitters because of what they do to your thumb. The Peacock clown mantis shrimp can punch at over 80km/h (50mph) with an acceleration of over 10,000 g, the action is so fast that it literally boils the water in a small area which creates a minute vacuum for an instant. The heat and light created when this vacuum implodes is large enough to be measured.

The Clown mantis shrimp moves its eyes around on its stalks roughly ever 300ms. The eyes are moves independently and in independent directions. As far as we can tell these movements are random (within certain parameters) and are made up of three independent unpredictable components: a tilt in the angle of the eye stalk axis, a vertical-horizontal tilt and a rotational component.

Distribution:

The Clown Mantis shrimp is very widespread occurring in shallow (3-40m) benthic ecosystems throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

Classification:
If you are wondering how these guys got their eclectic common name here is the explanation: Order Stromatpoda is commonly called the mantis shrimps in order to differentiate them from other shrimp like Orders. The peacock or clown at the front is a reference to the particular species.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Stomatopoda
Family: Odontodactylidae
Genus: Odontodactylus
Species: Odontodactylus scyllarus

Image Links:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odontodactylus_scyllarus1.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/OdontodactylusScyllarus2.jpg

Creature 39: Tachyglossidae

One of the weirdest Australian native mammals

The Tachyglossidae, commonly known as the echidna is a family of monotremes comprised of 2 to 4 species, depending on who you ask. They are also all but one of the species of monotremes which still exist, the other being the platypus which we will discuss in a later post. Monotremes are a nearly extict family of egg laying mammals. Some people mistakenly assume they are related to marsupials due to their distribution, but morphology and molecules both strongly agree that marsupials are more closely related to placental mammals (us).
Monotremes are an ancient lineage which broke off from the rest of the mammals during the Triassic. They don't possess nipples although they do possess mammary glands and lactate in order to feed their young. it is interesting to note that although monotremes young are hatched from eggs they still derive a large part of their immune system from their mother's milk.

Description:
Echidnas are insectivorous and specialize in eating ants.The name Tachyglossidae means sticky tongue, as they have a long sticky tongue similar to anteaters (analogous only).  The common name echidna comes from the ancient Greek mythological creature of the same name who was considered to be the mother of all monsters. She was half snake and half woman. The inspiration of the name comes from the fact that monotremes retain several ancestral characteristics which have been lost in other mammals such as egg laying, the way it's legs are attached to the hips and the way structure of the ear. There is definitely something lizardesque about the way an echidna walks.

The next two photos are my own work, you can you them in whatever way you want for whatever purpose you want, without conditions. If you do use them, I consider it good manners to include a link to this site.

Echidnas possess large spines on their back which are used for protection. When they feel threatened by people trying to take photos of them they curl up into a ball and present their spines as a defense.

The males posses a specialized spine on their foot that seems to be a characteristic of monotremes.  In echidnas the spine does not harden or contain toxins as it does in the platypus. It is believed that it is used to excrete pheromones.

A common fact which Australians love to tell tourists is that echidnas have a four headed phallus. If you don't know what a phallus is, you can look it up, I don't want my blog to be blocked by parental controls. Two of these are used for mating and not for urinating, however only one head is used at a time. The other two are presumably both for urination. Marsupials also have their urinary and reproductive functions separated which suggests that having them fused is a derived condition in placental mammals.

The echidna's 'beak' contains electroreceptors, albeit far fewer than their relatives the platypus. This is unusual because elctroreception has only been proven to exist in aquatic or amphibious organisms, although it is thought to exist in the star nosed mole.

Distribution:
Echidnas are endemic to Australia and New Guinea.

Classification: 

There are two extant genera of echidna, Tachyglossis and Zaglossus,which are the short beaked and long beaked echidna respectively. I was taught that both of these genera are monotypic, however according to Wikipedia there are three species of long beaked echidna. I'm not going to pretend to understand the nuances of the case for these species, so I won't comment any further. There are also extinct echidnas in the fossil record

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Monotremata
Family: Tachyglossidae

Image Links:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Long-beakedEchidna.jpg