Creature 273: Plectaster decanus

Look, don't touch.

Plectaster decanus is a seastar commonly known as the mosaic seastar.

It is renowned for it bright coloration and distinct tile like patterns. But that coloration is there as a warning. These seastars are poisonous. There is a substantial amount of poison in the mosaic seastars skin and it can cause a human's limb to go numb just by holding it.

Distribution:
The mosaic sea star can be found off the coast of temperate Australia at depths of 5 to 200 m

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Asteroidea
Order: Spinulosida
Family: Echinasteridae
Genus: Plectaster
Species: Plectaster decanus

Image Links:

http://www.casc.it/photogallerynew.asp?Page=0&P=1&F=1626&S=2187

http://metazoan.net/8-a-quiet-phylum/

Creature 272: Dicrocoelium dendriticum

Parasitic zombification worm

Dicrocoelium dendriticum is a parasitic flatworm commonly known as the lancet liver fluke.

Its eggs are transferred from feces of the definitive host to snail which eat those feces. One inside the snail the parasites hatch and mature to the next phase of their life cycle. At this point they chew through the snails digestive system and cause all kinds of havoc. The snail encases the parasites in cysts and expels them from its body, but that was all part of the plan for the little liver flukes.

The slimy cysts attract ants which will eat them. The parasites then infect the ants digestive system and grow. Once it is ready the parasite will take control of the ants nervous system. The ant behaves normally during the day, but at night it will leave the colony and wander off until it finds a nice blade of grass. It climbs the blade of grass and waits. If nothing happens it will return to the colony before the sun comes up. It will continue doing this until it gets eaten by a grass feeding animal such as a sheep or cow. This is the definitive host. If they manage to infect their definitive host they take residence in the liver and become adults, at which point they reproduce and their eggs are transferred to the feces.

Lancet liver flukes can infect and mature in humans, but it is very rare. Symptoms in humans are very mild.

Distribution:
The native range of the lancet liver fluke is unknown,  but they can now be found anywhere where livestock is grazed.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Class: Trematoda
Order: Plagiorchiida
Family: Dicrocoeliidae
Genus: Dicrocoelium
Species: Dicrocoelium dendriticum

Image Links:

http://www.socialphy.com/posts/off-topic/7076/Some-bacteria-are-able-to-control-their-guests.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicrocoelium_dendriticum

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Dicrocoelium_dendriticum

Creature 271: Wollemia nobilis

Still a lot to discover

It is fairly common knowledge that many, if not most animals have not yet been documented by Science. You may however think that all the species of large trees in the world have been documented by now. If so this species should cast some doubt on that assertion. Wollemia nobilis is commonly known as the Wollemi pine.

The tree can grow up to 40 m tall and can sprout multiple trunks. It was found in Wollemi national park only 150 km from Sydney, Australia's largest city. It was first documented in 1994, just over 20 years ago. It was discovered by an avid bushwalker who found a small population of them. 



The Wollemi pine is from a mostly extinct ancient family of trees which still has a few remaining species. It was common in the dinosaur era and its dark green foliage and the bubble like texture of the bark make it look like it comes from another era.

Distribution:

The Wollemi pine has not been found growing in the wild outside of Wollemi national park. The wold population is probably fewer than a 100 trees however several specimens have been cultivated and are now commercially available.

Classification:

The Wollemi pine is not really a pine (genus Pinus). It is, however in the  same order (Pinales).  The family Araucariaceae used to exist all over the world during the dinosaur era, but is now restricted to a few relict gondwanan populations.

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Araucariaceae
Genus: Wollemia
Species: Wollemia nobilis

Image Links:

http://plantsinaction.science.uq.edu.au/edition1/?q=figure_view/15

http://rota.hubpages.com/hub/-Wollemi-Pine-A-Living-Fossil#

http://globaltrees.org/threatened-trees/trees/wollemi-pine/

Creature 270: Tsintaosaurus

A suspicious horn

The Tsintaosaurus is a dinosaur with a hollow crest above its nose.

In the flesh the crest probably looked something like this:

I'll let your imagination go wild with that one. We don't really know what that horn does, although there are several theories including the possibility that they used it as some kind of noise producing horn by breathing through it.

Distribution:
Tsintaosaurus is known from eastern China and is 70 to 80 million years old.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Family: Hadrosauridae
Genus: Tsintaosaurus

Image Links:

https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/tsintaosaurus-and-that-wonderful-crest-or-not-or-is/

http://www.dinosauri-bora.it/dinosauri_con_corna.htm

Creature 269: Hoplostethus atlanticus

How old can a fish get?

Hoplostethus atlanticus is a deep sea fish which is commercially known as the orange roughly.

Apart from the fact that it just looks weird it is somewhat of an extremophile. They only live at cold temperatures between 3 and 9 degrees Celsius. They don't seem to mind though, as specimens of Orange roughy have been aged to a maximum of 149 years old. They are extremely slow growing organisms and can take 30 years to reach maturity. They

Distribution:
Orange roughy have been found in various disjunct locations across all oceans of the world at depths of between 180 and 1800 m.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Beryciformes
Family: Trachichthyidae
Genus: Hoplostethus
Species: Hoplostethus atlanticus

Image links:

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-ugly-animals-that-are-shockingly-delicious.php

Creature 268: Phallus indusiatus

Weird net like mushroom

Phallus indusiatus is a fungus which can be known under several common names, but I know it as the veiled lady mushroom.

It is a stinkhorn fungus which has a small cap with a ridiculous looking net-like structure (indusium) growing downwards from the edges. There are several theories as to what this structure is for, but it is not known for certain. It may not look like the type of mushroom you can eat,  but it is edible and in fact is commonly eaten in parts of China.

It emits a foul odor to attract flies and other scavenging insects. Once the flies come in contact with the mushroom a spore filled slime sticks to them and if spread by the fly to a different area.

Description:

Phallus indusiatus has a pantropical distribution.

Classification:
Kingdom:Fungi
Phylum:Basidiomycota
Class:Agaricomycetes
Order:Phallales
Family:Phallaceae
Genus:Phallus
Species: Phallus indusiatus

Image Links:

http://imgur.com/gallery/eqFgO

http://www.bio-forum.pl/messages/33/21556.html

Creature 267: Adetomyrma venatrix

Ants that drink the blood of their own babies

Adetomyrma venatrix is an ant:

It is commonly called the Dracula ant because of an unusual behavior it displays. They are hunters and orther arthropods make up the basis of their food, however adult workers can't eat solid food. If the workers get hungary they have something else to keep them going. They will take small amounts of the Haemolymph of the juvenile ants maturing in their colony. Haemolymph is not actually blood, but it is the nearest equivalent in insects. The workers won't take enough to kill them, just to keep themselves going. The juveniles do seem to mind this as they try to avoid workers when they enter the nest chambers.

This species belongs to an unusual group of ants with many characteristics which are primitive in the ant family. Their abdomen resembles a wasp. Their queens are also wingless throughout their life which is unusual in ants.

Distribution:
Dracula ants are endemic to Madagascar.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Adetomyrma
Species: Adetomyrma venatrix

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adetomyrma_venatrix
http://muravej.mojznak.ru/muravej-kannibal/

Creature 266: Geochelone radiata

Old tortoise

Geochelone radiata is a tortoise which is sometimes called the radiated tortoise because of the unusual radial patterns on its shell.

Apart from these really cool patterns the radiated tortoise makes the Bizarre Creature list because it loves a very long time. It is difficult to say accurately how long they live as their lifespan far exceeds our own amd there are so few of them. Captain James Cook gave one of these tortoises to the king of Tonga in the 1770s and it died in 1965.

Distribution:
The radiated Tortoise can only be foumd in the South and South West of Madagascar and has a very limited range. They have been introduced to Reunion Island nearby as a conservation measure.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: Astrochelys
Species: Astrochelys radiata

Image Links:
http://animalsreptiles.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/radiata-si-tortoise-cantik.html
http://www.biolib.cz/en/image/id10328/

Creature 265: Zospeum tholussum

A snail that lives over 1000m underground

Zospeum tholussum is a recently discovered (2010) European snail which is sometomes called the Croatian cave snail.

The snail was found in one of the deepest cave systems in the world at a depth of 980 m. Since the fisrt several shells were collected at depths of up to 1390 m. They have several adaptations whoch often occur in cave dwelling animals which never see the light. They are transparent, they are completely blind and apparently they are even less mobile than most snails.

Distribution:
These little snails are only known in the Lukina jama–Trojama cave system in Croatia.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Heterobranchia
Family: Ellobiidae
Genus: Zospeum
Species: Zospeum tholussum

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zospeum_tholussum

http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/61597.php?from=248636

Creature 264: Nematomorpha

A parasite that is longer than its host.

Today's creature is a whole Phylum, the Nematomorpha.

They are usually referred to as horsehair worms and they are all parasitic as juveniles but free living as adults. They juveniles live inside the host slowly eating them as they grow. they can sometimes grow longer than the host itaelf and will be forced to fold up inside it. When they mature they will leave the host probably killing it. They may also leave if the host dies:

Berfore you freak out let me assure you that they only infest the bodies of arthropods, so you are safe.

Distribution:
Nematomorpha are found in damp areas all over the world.

Classification:
The Nematomorpha are the closest raltive of the Nematode worms.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Nematomorpha

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nematomorpha.JPG

Video Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcj0Srt8i6k

Creature 263: Cladonota

Bizarre body shape

Like Bocydium globulare, Cladonota is a genus of membracid (tree hopper), and it is nearly looks as Bizarre.

They have a generally bresent shaped body, but there is a lot of variation on the theme within the genus. I really wish I could explain the purpose of this Bizarre body, but I can't. I don't think anyone can. I had a quick look at the literature and there isn't much more than a physical description. One would have to assume that there has been some pretty strong selection pressure at some point. There are a lot of Bizarre looking Membracids, and believe me this is not the last you will see if them if you continue following my blog.

Distribution:
Cladonota are found in the American tropics.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Membracidae
Genus: Cladonota
Species: Cladonota benitez

Image Links:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=ancient-leviathan/treehoppers&image=cladonota-benitezi.jpg

http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=pdb&PdbID=15900

Creature 262: Acantharea

Living crystal spikes

There are certain bizarre creatures which make you think about how different life on Earth could have been. The Acantharean class is included I  this category.

Acantharea are a unusual single cellular organism with a skeleton made or ten or twenty precisely arranged Strontium Sulfate crystal spikes. They are unicellular but multinuclear. We don't know a lot about them because we haven't had a lot of success culturing them in labs.

Distribution:
Acantharea are found as plankton throughout the world's oceans.

Classification:
Acantharea belongs to one of the 'Protozoan' kingdoms. These kingdoms do not form a natural group, so they are not a taxon, but you could say they are a relative of the Animals.
Kingdom:Rhizaria
Phylum:Radiolaria
Class: Acantharea

Image Links:

http://pinkava.asu.edu/starcentral/microscope/portal.php?pagetitle=assetfactsheet&imageid=5167

http://elte.prompt.hu/sites/default/files/tananyagok/BevezetesAProtisztologiaba/ch04s06.html

Creature 261: Harphaphe haydeniana

A millipede with a toxic gas defense.

I don't often post about millipedes, because most of them are not that interesting. Harphaphe haydeniana is an exception.

Harphaphe haydeniana goes by many common names. It can be called the night train millipede,  the clown millipede,  the yellow spotted millipede, the almond millipede or the cyanide millipede. Hopefully the picture alone will shed some light on some of these common names, others can be explained by the toxic gas they exude.

When they are threatened they produce Hydrogen Cyanide gas, which is toxic to almost every living thing. This is where the name Cyanide millipede and Almond millipede comes from. Wild almonds also produce Hydrogen Cyanide gas when handled,  so the two smell very similar, but the almonds are a subject for a later post. Suffice it to say that a millipede which gives off deadly gas is a pretty cool millipede. The cyanide millipede does not produce enough poison to kill a human, however if you ate a few you would be in trouble.

Distribution:
Cyanide millipedes can be found along the entire West coast of North America.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Diplopoda
Order: Polydesmida
Family: Xystodesmidae
Genus: Harpaphe
Species: Harphaphe haydeniana

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harpaphe_haydeniana_5050.JPG

http://www.natureatcloserange.com/2009/05/north-american-millipede.html

Creature 260: Orchis italica

It's an orchid day!

Description:
Orchis italica is usually known as the naked man orchid. I'll let you figure out why:

I'm not sure if we fully understand why the flowers assume this shape. It seems that their main pollinators are bees. The do produce a sweet nectar which is sometimes used by humans to produce a drink.

Distribution:
Naked man Orchid occurs rarely across the Mediterranean.

Classification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperms
Class: Monocotyledon
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Genus: Orchis
Species: Orchis italica

Image Links:
http://www.danoah.com/are-the-hanging-naked-men-flowers-real
https://angiesgrapevine.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/orchis-italica-naked-man-orchid-italian-orchid/

Creature 259: Suncus etruscus

The smallest mammal

Suncus etruscus is commonly known as the Etruscan shrew.

It is officially the smallest mammal in the world by body weight, weighing on average 1.8 grams and at most 2.5 grams when fully grown. Its full grown body length can be as little as 3 cm excluding the tail.

These tiny shrews expend a lot of energy keeping themselves warm due to their high surface area to volume ratio and can eat up to twice their body weight each day just to stay alive.

Distribution:
Although they are called Etruscan, their range extends well outside Tuscany with a patchy distribution stretching across south and Southeast Asia the middle east and the Mediterranean.

Classification:
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Soricomorpha
Family: Soricidae
Genus:Suncus
Species:Suncus etruscus

Image Links:

http://www.scientificlib.com/en/Biology/Animalia/Chordata/Mammalia/SuncusEtruscus01.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_shrew

Creature 258: Livyatan melvillei

What big teeth you have!

As a rule among modern whales,  the big ones are friendly and feed on plankton and the smaller ones like killer whales are hunters, feeding mostly off fish. If Livyatan melvillei was still alive it would be an exception to this rule.

Livyatan melvillei grew to 17.5 meters long, a little smaller than a blue whale or sperm whale but definitely one of the big ones. It's skull measured up to 3 meters long and its teeth got up to 36 cm in length. These are the largest teeth that work as teeth of any known animal ever.

So what did it need such big teeth for? It used to hunt and kill other whales! Other than humans whales have not really had many predators in their history so that makes Livyatan melvillei part of a very small club. Sperm whales are also large hunters but their primary food source is large squids and not other whales.

Distribution:
Livyatan melvillei lived 12-13 million years ago and were found not far off the west coast of Peru.

Classification:

Livyatan is a monotypic genus and its familial placement is uncertain. They are large toothed whales belonging to the superfamily Physeteroidea with sperm whales but for now they have not been designated a family.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: incertae sedis
Genus: Livyatan
Species: Livyatan melvillei

Image Links:

http://theworldofanimals.proboards.com/thread/89/carcharocles-megalodon-livyatan-melvillei

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livyatan

Creature 257: Atolla wyvillei

Jellyfish with an alarm

Atolla wyvillei is a jellyfish which is commonly called the Atolla jellyfish. That is sort of cheating when it comes to common names because it is also the genus name.

These deep sea jellyfish look a little bit like an alien spacecraft. But the aliens must have put an alarm on it because when they are attacks the Atolla jellyfish will produce light in flashes on and off. It is believed that this behavior attracts even bigger predators who are likely to go after whatever is hunting the jellyfish.

Distribution:
Atolla jellyfish can be found in all the world's oceans at depths from 500 to 5000 meters.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Scyphozoa
Order: Coronatae
Family: Atollidae
Genus: Atolla
Species: Atolla wyvillei

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atolla_jellyfish

http://deepseanews.com/2009/02/tgif-wallpaper-alert/

Creature 256: Sternoptychinae

These fish are like ghosts

Sternoptychinae are a subfamily of deep sea bony fish which are commonly called hatchetfish.

Their common name comes from the fact that their body is laterally flattened giving them the overall shape of a hatchet blade. I think it gives them a really spooky appearance.

If their appearance doesn't convince you they are like ghosts, you should consider the fact that they can turn invisible. When they are being attacked by a predator they give of faint lights from their skin. That far under the surface most animals can only really see the difference in light caused by the shadow cast by certain objects. When hatchetfish glow at the same intensity as the light around them so they effectively have no shadow. This renders them invisible to many of their predators.

Distribution:
Hatchetfish can be found across most of the worlds oceans at depths of 50 to 1500 meters.

Classification:
There are about 45 species in the subfamily. Their common name hatchetfish is also used for a completely different group of freshwater bony fish.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Stomiiformes
Family: Sternoptychidae

Image Links:

http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2011/05/marine-hatchetfish.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_hatchetfish

Creature 255: Gavialis gangeticus

Big wimp

Gavialis gangeticus is a crocodilian species which is commonly known as a gharial.

They are among the largest of all crocodilians and according to unconfirmed reports are the longest of all crocodilians.  Males usually grow at least 5 m long and often reach 6 m. Unconfirmed reports suggest they might be capable of growing up to 7 m long.

Crocodilians are usually pretty scary, especially when they are 6 m long, but these gentle giants are not interested in eating you. They live on a diet consisting entirely of fish. Their jaws have been modified to be thin and narrow with lots of little needle-like teeth. They are incapable of raising their body off the ground while on dry land and can only move around on land by 'belly sliding' with their legs providing propulsion.

Distribution:
The gharail used to be found in river systems throughout the Indian subcontinent but their range is now limited to parts of Northern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar

Classification:
Gharails are one of only two surviving species in the crocodilian family Gavialidae.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Gavialidae
Genus: Gavialis
Species: Gavialis gangeticus

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gharial

http://www.reptarium.cz/en/profiles/1451/photogallery/16434

Creature 254: Arthrobotrys oligospora

The fungus that watches and waits

Arthrobotrys oligospora is a fungus and like other fungi it likes to break down organic matter.

These guys like to feed on small animals, particularly nematode worms. They are not their only source of food, but they are a good source of nitrogen. It might sometimes be hard to find dead nematodes so these guys are a little more proactive. Their hyphae form little sticky rings which constrict when a nematode comes across them, much like a snare we might use for animal trapping. The fungus will then grow its hyphae into the nematode and absorb all the nutrients out of its body.

But these fungi don't always lay down these snares. They can detect when there are nematodes around by the chemicals present on the skin of the nematodes. In the presence of nematodes the fungus will build snares.  When there are no nematodes around they feed off other thing, but they are always watching and waiting for nematodes.

Distribution:
Arthrobotrys oligospora is a wide ranging species and from what I can tell they are probably cosmopolitan.

Classification:
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Ascomycota
Class: Leotiomycetes
Order: Helotiales
Family: Orbiliaceae
Genus: Arthrobotrys
Species: Arthrobotrys oligospora

Image Links:
https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/5663
http://plpnemweb.ucdavis.edu/nemaplex/Ecology/antagoni.htm

Creature 253: Amblycorypha oblongifolia

Freaky mutant cricket

Amblycorypha oblongifolia is sometimes known as the oblong winged katydid. As its name suggests it is a katydid, which is a type of cricket.

It usually doesn't look like anything special, but there is a recessive gene within the species which when expressed makes the cricket bright pink.

Pink is an unusual color for an insect, or indeed any animal and it gives them an unusual appearance. Oblong wing katydids have several other unusual color morphs.

etc...

Distribution:
Oblong wing katydids are endemic to North America.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Tettigoniidae
Genus: Amblycorypha
Species: Amblycorypha oblongifolia

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblycorypha_oblongifolia

http://www.bolshoyvopros.ru/questions/76126-vsegda-li-kuznechiki-zeljonye-sm.html

http://www.northrup.org/photos/oblong-winged-katydid/

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/007pmy2.htm

Creature 252: Bagheera kiplingi

The hippie spider

Bagheera kiplingi is a salticid (jumping spider) which as far as I know doesn't have a common name. I like to call it the hippie spider for reasons which will become clear soon.

A lot of people find spiders to be creepy even though they look really cool and are mostly harmless to humans. To be fair to all those who get creeped out by spiders, they are creatures who as a rule like to ambush and entrap other animals, subduing them with sticky silk and venom. Once subdued they slowly digest their prey alive and suck the partially digested body fluids out with massive fangs. That is sort of creepy. Bagheera kiplingi, however does not follow rules.  These little nonconformists feed off the Beltian bodies of plants, which are intended to be enticements for ants to protect the plant from herbivorous insects. As jumping spiders they posses the agility to evade the hordes of ants protecting their food source and snatch up the occasional meal.

Distribution:
Bagheera kiplingi  is endemic to Central America.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Salticidae
Genus: Bagheera
Species: Bagheera kiplingi

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagheera_kiplingi

http://gajitz.com/vicious-veggie-worlds-first-herbivorous-spider-identified/

Creature 251: Trapania miltabrancha

Just another nudibranch

Description:

Trapania miltabrancha is a Nudibranch with no common name.

I am writing this post on the train as I am very tired. Luckily the pictures of this one speak for themselves.  Its really just another bizarre looking nudibranch.

Distribution:
Trapania miltabrancha is found off the coat of Bali, Indonesia.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Family: Goniodorididae
Genus: Trapania
Species: Trapania miltabrancha

Image Links:

http://featuredcreature.com/new-week-nudibranch-trapania-miltabrancha/

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21682

Creature 250: Nasalis larvatus

Named for its nose

I'm guessing a lot of you have already seen pictures of Nasalis larvatus, but it's not the sort of thing you get used to quickly.

Its English common name is proboscis monkey or long nosed monkey. Even its scientific name is based on the fact that it has a really weird nose, which is much larger in males than females. The potbelly gives it an even more comical appearance.

For all its nose the proboscis monkey doesn't really have a heightened sense of smell. As far as we know the only purpose of the nose is that the females find it very attractive.

Distribution:
The Proboscis monkey is endemic to the Island of Borneo.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Cercopithecidae
Genus: Nasalis
Species: Nasalis larvatus

Image Links:

http://www.bangkok101.com/headhunters-borneo/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_monkey

Creature 249: Glyptapanteles

Caterpillar brainwashing

Glyptapanteles is a genus of parisitoid wasps, and we all know how much fun they can be.

Female wasps lay their eggs inside certain caterpillar species. The juvenile wasps grow inside the caterpillar feeding off it but not damaging it too severely. The caterpillar behaves normally as the wasps develop. Once they are ready to enter their cocoon phase the wasps burrow out of the caterpillar and build their cocoons.

But one or two juvenile wasps sacrifice themselves and stay behind to take care of things. Once the others have left  altering the brain of the caterpillar making it stand guard over the cocoons of the other wasps. The caterpillar will even cover the cocoons in protective silk, but mostly it just stays still over the top of the cocoons. If anything touches the caterpillar it springs into action doing everything it can to scare or fight off the potential predator. The caterpillar will eventually die of starvation as in its new brainwashed state it has no desire to eat. Watch it happen here.

Distribution:
Glyptapanteles are endemic to the Americas

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Braconidae
Genus: Glyptapanteles

Image Links:

http://www.waspweb.org/Ichneumonoidea/Braconidae/Microgastrinae/Glyptapanteles/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptapanteles

Video Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7UkDMrG6tog