Creature 165: Ophrys apifera

Another orchid day.

Description:
Today's bizarre creature is Ophrys apifera. Some of my regular readers might recognize the generic name Ophrys, a genus of orchid. That's right today is an orchid day!

Ophrys apifera is commonly known as the bee orchid as it mimics bees. If you don't know what I mean by that check out my other orchid posts here. It emits a smell which mimics female pheromones of the bee genus Eucera.

Despite all the effort it has gone to in order to attract pollinators,  the bee orchid is mostly self pollinating.

Distribution:
The bee orchid can be found in Europe,  North Africa and the middle East.

Classification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperms
Class: Monocotyledon
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Genus: Ophrys
Species: Ophrys apifera

Image Links:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ophrys_apifera_(flower).jpg

http://iberianature.com/lucyblog/2010/06/

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/399055

Creature 164: Petromyzontiformes

Not a Goa'uld

Description:

Petromyzontiformes is an order within our own Phylum, the Chordata. Saying Petromyzontiformes is a bit of a mouthful so most people just call them lampreys.

Speaking of mouthfuls, check out all of those teeth. Lampreys lack jaws and skulls despite the fact that they have a spinal chord and a vertebral column, although their vertebral column is quite different from that of any other member of the Vertebrata.

So you are probably looking at this thing and wondering if it is related to the gua'uld and what those teeth are for. The answers are probably not and those teeth are for sawing into and latching onto their hosts. That's right they are ectoparasites and love to suck blood. Don't worry,  they are only really interested in fish, and I don't think they ever attack humans. I might have been a little dramatic there,  most Lamprey species are not parasitic. These species are boring filter feeders as juveniles. As adults they don't eat at all, which is even weirder than being a weird looking parasite.

Distribution:

Lampreys are found in fresh water or coastal areas in most of the world tempereate regions, however they are curiously absent from Africa.

Classification:
Lampreys are  the only living members of the class Hyperoartia, which is the basal group of the Vertebrata.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Hyperoartia
Order: Petromyzontiformes

Image Links:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112795094/sea-lamprey-genome-completed-by-geneticists-030213/
http://woodsperson.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/wisconsin-walleye-initiative.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/basalfish/petro.html

Creature 163: Pomphorhynchus laevis

A worm that wants to be eaten.

Description:
Pomphorhynchus laevis is a parasitic worm with multiple hosts.

It has an intermediate host the fresh water amphipod Gammarus pulex and and many possible bony fish as a definitive host. They need to reach the definitive host to undergo the final stage of their life cycle in which they are capable of sexual reproduction. Gammarus pulex quite commonly ends up getting eaten by bony fish, and as you can imagine they try to avoid it if they can. They can smell their predators coming and take evasive action. Pomphorhynchus laevis on the other hand wants to get eaten so it can infect its hosts intestines. In order to increase the chance of this they alter the mind of their intermediate host and make them much less responsive to the smell of a predator. This strategy is similar to that of Toxoplasma gondii, which we discussed in an earlier post.

But they don't stop there.  The orange colouration in Pomphorhynchus laevis is visible in its intermediate host while it is infected, and makes them more noticeable to the predators.

Distribution:
Pomphorhynchus laevis are endemic to the Palaerctic region.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Acanthocephala
Class: Palaeacanthocephala
Order: Echinorhynchida
Family: Pomphorhynchidae
Genus: Pomphorhynchus
Species: Pomphorhynchus laevis

Image Links:

https://biomesfourth08.wikispaces.com/Temperate+Rainforest+facts

Creature 162: Ambystoma mexicanum

The amphibian that never grows up

Ambystoma mexicanum is a salamander commonly called the axolotl or the Mexican walking fish. They are always smiling.

The reason they are always smiling is they never grow up. Well almost never anyway. As with most amphibians the Juveniles live in the water, but the axolotl becomes reproductively mature before its body undergoes metamorphosis in order to leave the water. This state is known as neotony. Most axolotls will never begin the process of metamorphosis and will remain in the aquatic phase their whole life. It is possible to induce metamorphosis in a Mexican walking fish by adding iodine to their water. This stimulates the production of thyroid hormones which triggers the metamorphosis.  In nature this usually happens when axolotls are forced to resort to cannibalism as a food source. It may be an evolutionary response which gives the axolotl an alternative habitat when the water they live in dries up.

The axolotl also has the amazing ability to regrow its limbs if they happen to get severed. This only works if they have not undergone a metamorphosis. 

Distribution:
Axolotls are endemic to various lakes in Mexico. They are kept as pets all over the world but their numbers in the wild are declining.

Classification:
I feel like I am stating the obvious here but the axolotl is not a fish. It is a salamander.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum :Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Caudata
Family: Ambystomatidae
Genus: Ambystoma
Species: Ambystoma mexicanum

Image Links:

http://southerncrossreview.org/73/axolotl.html

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-beginner-newt-salamander-axolotl-help-topics/f48-axolotls-ambystoma-mexicanum/f57-axolotl-general-discussion/69534-i-have-truly-metamorphosed-axolotl-i-need-advice-pictures-inside-2.html

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

Creature 161: Reduvius personatus

The masked hunter.

Today's creature, Reduvius personatus, is an assasin bug which are one of my favorite families.  They are called assassin bugs because of their cool tricks for hunting and killing their prey. A lot of all the assassin bugs in my blog should be included under the Hemiptera label.

Description:
Reduvius personatus are commonly known as bed bug assassins, masked bed bug hunters or masked hunters, which is a really cool sounding name. And they earned it.

Masked hunters hunt small arthropods, mostly insects. They are quite versatile in their prey selection and in the environments in which they hunt. This is because of their cool camouflage.  Many insects and spiders camouflage well in a particular environment or on a particular plant because they have evolved to blend in with those particular surroundings. This strategy works for specialist predators,  but if you want to hunt a variety of prey like the masked hunter does you need something more generic. Juvenile masked hunters excrete a glue like substance, much like Acanthapsis petax. This causes the dirt and dust from the surrounding environment to stick to them, forming a 'mask' and camouflaging them in whatever environment they are in.

The association with bed bugs in some of their common names is no coincidence. They are often seen in urban environments hunting bed bugs and while they are not bed bug hunting specialists they are very good at it. Masked hunters will bite humans if they are handles. Their bite is painful but harmless.

Distribution:
Masked hunters have a Holarctic distribution but their presence in North America is a result of a human introduction.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Reduviidae
Genus: Reduvius
Species: Reduvius personatus

Image Links:

http://www4.uwm.edu/fieldstation/naturalhistory/bugoftheweek/the-porch-at-night.cfm

http://www.pestid.msu.edu/insects-and-arthropods/masked-red-hunter/

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2011/04/03/masked-hunter-17/

Creature 160: Rhincodon typus

There is not always a bigger fish

Description:
Rhincodon typus is the largest living shark, and the largest animal that is not a whale.

They can grow over 12 m long and it has an enormous mouth, but on average are probably only around 10 m long. Their mouth can be 1.5 m wide and contains 300 to 350 rows of teeth. Despite this, the whale shark feed mostly on microscopic plankton and krill, which they harvest with 10 filter pads in their mouth. They swim along with their  mouth open filtering small organic material out of the water and digesting it.

Distribution:
Whale sharks are found in all the worlds oceans.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Orectolobiformes
Family: Rhincodontidae
Genus: Rhincodon 
Species: Rhincodon typus

Image Links:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/swimming-with-whale-sharks-160147604/?no-ist
http://www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/omg_animals/now-thats-one-big-fish/

Creature 159: Umbonia crassicornis

A colorful thorn-like bug

Umbonia crassicornis is a trehopper which is commonly known as a thorn bug, because of its thorn-like pronotum.

Their thorn like projections are probably for defensive purposes. They tend to swarm in large clusters which gives the impression that the plant they are feeding off is densely covered in thorns.

You might think that the plant derives some benefit from this, but damage done by large clusters of these bugs feeding and laying their eggs inside the plants can cause severe damage and sometimes even kill some plants. They are a garden pest in some places.

Distribution:
Umbonia crassicornis is found throughout South and Central America as well as some of the warmer parts of the United States.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Membracidae
Genus: Umbonia
 Species: Umbonia crassicornis

Image Links:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/thorn_bug.htm
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Umbonia_crassicornis_(F._Membracidae)_(2532975946).jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Umbonia_crassicornis_(F_Membracidae).jpg