Creature 151: Apocephalus borealis

Maggots which turn bees into zombies

As I was writing this I realized that after 150 days this is the first Dipteran (fly) that I have done! That is a little weird considering flies are one of the 5 super massive insect orders with over 100,000 known species. There are a fair few cool flies on my list, I guess I have just overlooked them.

Description:

 Apocephalus borealis is a tiny North American fly which is commonly called the zombie fly.

These little flies don't grow more than a few millimeters long and have  fairly boring coloration. It may look pretty innocent and harmless at first glance but to various flying Hymenopetans, this fly is more like something from a horror/sci-fi movie. Apocephalus borealis are a parasitoid fly, which means they lay their eggs inside other animals and their juveniles feed off the host. The females are incredibly aggressive towards potential hosts attacking them on the abdomen. It only takes a few seconds for her to lay her eggs inside the poor bee and then the horror begins. After the eggs hatch the maggots will make their way to the bees brain where they proceed to alter its mind. The bee then stop leaving its nest during daytime, and only leave at night. Its flight becomes erratic in their flight and their walking staggering around and will sometimes end up walking around in circles. They sometimes lose their own hive and end up travelling large distances away. They will eventually die either of damage done by the maggots eating their insides or from erratic behavior getting them killed. All this serves to disperse the new generation of flies away from the site of infection increasing the geographic spread of the zombie flies. The maggots will leave the fly only when they are ready to pupate and become adult flies.

Their preferred host are various native North American bees and wasps, but it has been shown that they have taken to infecting European Honey bee colonies in North America, causing significant economic damage. Bees infected by Apocephalus borealis are often referred to as Zombees.

Check out other species which control the minds of animals here.

Distribution:

Apocephalus borealis are found throught the Nearctic zone.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Diptera

Family: Phoridae

Genus: Apocephalus

Species: Apocephalus borealis

Image Links:

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

http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/6756/20140129/apocephalus-borealis-fly-zombie-bees-honey-bees-east-coast.htm

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/zombees/

Creature 136: Hydnora africana

A parasitic plant worthy of sci-fi.

Description:
Hydnora africana is weird looking parasitic plant.

Hydnora africana flower

The plant lives underground for the majority of their lives. They don't photosynthesize and they don't produce chlorophyll and they rely entirely on other plants for their own energy. The plant sends out roots which attach themselves to the roots of another plant. They have specifically evolved to target plant species in the genus Euphorbia. They have evolved an acid which wears away the outer layers of the roots and steal the nutrients from the roots of other plants. When it rains heavily, the plant grows flowers from the roots. Their fruit also grows underground and is eaten by animals which disperse the seeds through their feces. The fruits can contain up to 20,000 seeds each.

Hydnora africana root infecting its host

Hydnora africana is mostly pollinated by carrion beetles which feed off decomposing bodies.  As a result they give off a chemical which mimics the smell of rotting ruminate mammals.  This strategy is unusually common in parasitic plants. Cultivated plants usually take around 5-6 years before they produce flowers.

Hydnora africana fruit

Distribution:
Hydnora africana is native to southern Africa, particularly in the Arid regions.

Classification:
The Magnoliid clade are one of the basal Angiosperm clades which branch off before the Monocotyledons split from the core Eudicots. The Order Piperales includes the commonly known plante genus Piper (peppers).

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperms
Class: Magnoliids
Order: Piperales
Family: Hysnoraceae
Genus: Hydnora
Species: Hydnora africana

Image Links:
https://ww2.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/parasitic/hydnora_haustoria.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydnora_africana
https://ww2.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/parasitic/hydnora_winter2002.php

Creature 112: Faviidae

Undead corals

Description:

Faviidae is the name of a family of corals commonly referred to as brain corals. This name is derived because the shape of the animal along with the strongly wrinkled surface gives it the resemblance of a brain.

These weird looking corals are reef-building corals due to the calcium carbonate skeleton which they produce. Their behaviour conjures images of the undead just as much as their brain-like appearance. The head may look fairly passive during the day but at night they extend a multitude of tiny tentacles with stings. They use these to hunt small animals swimming or floating past. In at least some members of this family the tentacles are also used to attack neighbouring corals which may be competing for food or for space on a densely packed reef. During the day the tentacles are harmlessly stored in the wrinkles on the surface of their body and only sting defensively.

Brain corals can get quite large, reaching up to 1.8 m in height. Like the Hydra I talked about in an earlier post, there is no theoretical limit to how long they can live. Individual brain corals have been recorded to be up to 900 years old. In order to kill them you have to destroy the brain. Most of them are much more spectacularly coloured than the boring grey brain coloured specimens.

Distribution:

Faviidae are found in warm waters at shallow depths in all the worlds oceans.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Anthozoa

Order: Schleractinia

Family: Faviidae

Image Links:
http://shewalkssoftly.com/2008/12/06/brain-coral/
http://aquaviews.net/explore-the-blue/unraveling-brain-coral/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colpophyllia_natans#mediaviewer/File:Colpophyllia_natans_(Boulder_Brain_Coral)_entire_colony.jpg

Creature 109: Regalecus glesne

The original sea serpent

Description:
In an earlier post I discussed the real life sea monster, the colossal squid. Another common feature of maritime legends is the giant sea serpent. If there is a living creature which fits the description of a giant sea serpent it is Regalecus glesne, the giant oarfish sometimes called the king of Herrings.

The giant oarfish is a long eel-shaped fish (but it is not an eel!). Its dorsal fin ectends along the entire length of the body. So how long can it get? Records are not common but the longest on record that can be confirmed was 11m in length making it the longest bony fish in the world (bony fish includes fish with calcified bone, it does not include distant groups such as sharks and rays). Unconfirmed accounts claim that they can grow up to 17 m in length.

Giant oarfish lack scales and their skin is apparently quite fragile and easy to damage. They may look like an evil sea monster, but their diet consists almost enitrely of plankton and they are quite harmless. Large specimens of giant oarfish which was up on beaches still give people quite a fright to this day and inevitably cause local controversy. Appearance of the oarfish is associated with earthquakes in Japanese culture, however I am always very skeptical of these stories.

Distribution:
Giant oarfish can be found in all the world's oceans and are believed to be migratory.  It is possible that they have been the inspiration for stories about giant sea serpents all over the world.

Classification:
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lampriformes
Family: Regalecidae
Genus: Regalecus
Species: Regalecus glesne

Image Links:

http://mybirdie.ca/files/1368108a17fa96f6dd9adec524e9cb53-23103.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_oarfish#mediaviewer/File:Giant_Oarfish.jpg