Creature 218: Isochaetes beutenmuelleri

A crystal caterpillar

Description:
Isochaetes beutenmuelleri is a moth which is commonly called the spun glass slug moth or the spun glass caterpillar in its juvenile phase.

As a caterpillar or a pupa it looks like it is made of glass. These caterpillars are poisonous stinging caterpillars,  so don't try to pick them up.

The adult looks pretty much like an ordinary brown moth, albeit quite a hairy one.

Distribution:
Isochaetes beutenmuelleri are found throughout most of the United States but are absent from the West.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Limacodidae
Genus: Isochaetes
Species: Isochaetes beutenmuelleri

Image Links:

http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/spun-glass-slug.html

http://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/viewSpecies.php?species=6601

http://soocurious.com/fr/19-photographies-transformation-chenilles-papillons/papillon-nuit-isochaetes-beutenmuelleri/

Creature 217: Desmodontinae

Friendly blood sucking vampires

Description:
Desmodontinae is a subfamily of bats known as vampire bats.

They are called vampire bats because they love to suck your blood, and the blood of other vertebrates. They sleep in caves in large colonies during the day. If a vampire bat does not feed for a few days they are in desperate danger of starvation. Starving vampire bats have been known to beg other bats in the colony to let them feed off them. Well fed bats will usually let them. Bats which do not allow others to feed off them will find it difficult to find willing blood donors when it is their turn to do the begging.

Distribution:
Vampire bats are found in South and Central America.

Classification:
For some reason there are three genera and three species of vampire bats. I know Mammologists are weird.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae

Image links:

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

Video links:

https://youtu.be/iLp-ls8AoaU

Creature 216: Hammatostylus

Its snout is longer than its body

Description:
Hammatostylus is a genus of Cycad weevils commonly called hose nosed cycad weevils.

Not much is known about this genus with literature almost limited to species descriptions. I will note, however, in case you didn't notice that the 'snout' in this genus has been severely elongated for some reason. They also have some weird looking long yellow setae.

Distribution:
Hammatostylus is found in the American tropics.

Classification:
Cycad weevils are not true weevil but are a related family called Belidae.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Belidae
Genus: Hammatostylus

Image Links:
http://www.pbase.com/image/150909515

Creature 215: Phycodurus eques

There be dragons

Description:
Phycodurus eques is a fish which you might have heard of referred to as the leafy sea deagon.

The weird leafy lobes on their body are a form of camouflage giveing them the appearence of seaweed. They can even change color to match the seaweed and their movements mimic floating seaweed.

Distribution:
The leafy sea dragon is found on the southern coast of Australia.

Classification:
You are probably thinking it looks like a seahorse, well that's because the genus Phycodurus is in the same family as the sea horses. Phycodurus eques is the only member of this genus.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Phycodurus
Species: Phycodurus eques

Image Links:

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

http://ichthyologist.tumblr.com/post/23171475992/leafy-sea-dragon-phycodurus-eques-sea-dragons

Creature 214: Qianzhousaurus sinensis

Pinochio rex.

Description:
Qianzhousaurus sinensis is a species of dinosaur which doesn't really have a common name but has been Given the nickname Pinochio rex.

This nickname is a result of its extremely long nose plus a reference to the widely known species Tyrannosaurus rex. Pinochio rex was around 9 meters long and probably weighed around 1800 kilograms.

Distribution:
Qianzhousaurus sinensis is only known from a single specimen from a construction site in Jianxi province, China. It comes from 72-66 million years ago, shortly before the dinosaur era ended.

Classification:
Qianzhousaurus sinensis is the only species described in its genus. 

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida

Order: Saurischia
Family: Tyrannosauridae
Genus: Qianzhousaurus
Species: Qianzhousaurus sinensis

Image Links:

http://nerdist.com/nosey-pinocchio-tyrannosaur-identified/

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/05/11/pinocchio-rex-fossil-found-by-chinese-construction-workers/

Top ten

It has been ages since I updated my top 10 most viewed creatures, so here it is updated now. There have been a lot of changes since last time, including the Lyrebird losing the top spot, but not to the former champion Ophiocordiceps, but to a parasitic worm, Loa loa.

Creature 213: Macrocystis pyrifera

Under water forests

Description:
Macrocystis pyrifera is a species of marine plant commonly called giant kelp.

Forests are usually terrestrial, and are usually comprised of several species of trees. Giant kelp grow so large and in such densities that it is hard to describe their ecosystems as anything other than forests. They have been known to grow over 50 meters tall. They don't waste time either, under good conditions they can grow at 60 cm per day. At that rate they can grow human sized in jest 3 days. There are a lot of animal species which depend on kelp forests for survival.

Kelp don't have trunks made from woody fibers to keep them upright like large terrestrial land plants and only manage to stay upright because of gas filled bladders which give them buoyancy.

Distribution:
Macrocystis pyrifera is found in cool coastal waters in disjunct locations across the globe. It can be seen in most temperate Southern coastal regions as well as the West coast of North America.

Classification:
I'm not sure where I stand on this whole breaking up of the plant kingdom, and I am no botanist  so I guess I will roll with what seems to be the prevailing opinion. 

Kingdom: Chromalveolata
Phylum: Heterokontophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Laminariales
Family: Laminariaceae
Genus: Macrocystis
Species: Macrocystis pyrifera

Image Links:

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

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4595/bladder-kelp-forest

http://www.fergusmurraysculpture.com/new-zealand/stewart-island-bluff-foveaux-10-pages/vi-ackers-point-stewart-island/