Creature 336: Dicyemida

Not everyone's unique

Dicyemida is a strange phylum of small parasitic animals that specialise on cephalopods. 

Their bodies are not very complicated, lacking most basic organ systems common in the rest of the bilateria such as a digestive or excretory system or even a brain. Individuals of the same species have exactly the same number of cells when they are adults. The larger species can grow up to 7mm long.

Distribution:
Juvenile Dicyemida are found on the ocean floor in temperate oceans. Adults are found inside cephalopods and are usually temperate but can sometimes be found outside temperate regions.

Classification:
Kingdom: Aminalia
Phylum: Dicyemida

Image Links:

Creature 335: Myzopoda

Myzopoda are a genus of bats commonly known as old-world sucker foot bats.

Like the South American sucker foot bats they have tiny suction pads on their wrists and ankles which enables them to latch onto objects, even smooth surfaces. However they are so distantly related from any other bats in that they have been given their own family. They are the most basal genus in their subfamily Noctilionoidea.

Distribution:
The genus only exists in Madagascar, but fossil evidence indicates they once existed in Africa.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Myzopodidae
Genus: Myzopoda

Image Links:
http://www.supremelists.com/top-10-weird-looking-creatures
http://bats.mampam.com/madagascar/images/myzopoda/pages/36_jpg.htm

Creature 329: Kinorhyncha

Mud dragons
Kinorhyncha are an unusual animal phylum sometimes called mud dragons.

That name might be a little over-dramatic for what these animals actually are. They pretty much consist of a head, single segmented midsection and an 11 segmented abdomen. Their body is covered in little spine like protrusions which they use to propel themselves through the mud. Not much is known about this obscure phylum, but they crawl about in the mud eating microbial lifeforms.

Distribution:
Kinorhyncha  can be found in the benthic layer of fresh or salt water ecosystems all over the world.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Kinorhyncha 

Image Links:
http://photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6823&sid=f437b485de2fa37ea1bfcc5507979e90
http://www.britannica.com/animal/kinorhynch

Creature 326: Stygotantulus stocki

Parasites on plankton

Stygotantulus stocki is a parasitic maxillopod crustacean.

It is an ecroparasite, which means it latches onto its prey from the outside and sucks. The crazy thing is that these guys specialize of parasitise tiny little microscopic crustaceans called Harpacticoid copepods. Harpacticoid copepods usually livenon the ocean floor but a few are pelagic plankton so I am not technically wrong when I say Stygotantulus stocki is a parasite on plankton. 

In order to do this they need to become tiny. They grow up to 94 micrometers long, that's about 0.1mm. This makes them the smallest arthropods known to man, and one of the smallest animals.

Distribution:
Stygotantulus stocki is known from European waters.

Classification:
These tiny crustaceans belong to a maxillopod subclass called Tantulocarida. It is a small group of less than 50 species and while 5 families have been erected there is no ordinal classification.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Maxillopoda
Order: n/a
Family: Basipodellidae
Genus: Stygotantulus
Species: Stygotantulus stocki

Image Links:

http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/13745/body-size-what-are-the-evolutionary-trade-offs

Creature 324: Jaekelopterus rhenaniae

Giant sea scorpion
Jaekelopterus rhenaniae is an extinct species which is sometimes called the giant sea scorpion

It belongs to a  long extinct group of arthropods called Eurypterida or sea scorpions. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae could grow to be 2.5 meters longs and is the largest known species of arthropod to ever have lived.

Distribution:

 The giant sea scorpion was recovered from Willwerath in Germany.  It is from the lower Devonian period. The sea scorpion group disappears from the fossil record at the end of the Permian, just before the dinosaur era.

Classification:

Sea scorpions are not true scorpions. They are in the same radiation of arthropods as the scorpions, spiders etc.. but their closest living relatives are the horseshoe crabs.

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Merostomata
Order:Eurypterida
Family:Pterygotidae
Genus:Jaekelopterus
Species: Jaekelopterus rhenaniae

Image Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaekelopterus

Creature 312: Appendicularia

These will never grow up

Appendicularia or Larvaceans are small tadpole like, non-vertebrate chordates, meaning they don’t have a spine, but they have a sort of spinal cord known as a notocord.

I may have called them tadpole-like, but it would be more accurate to compare them to the juvenile form of another non-vertebrate choradate, the ascidians to which they are very similar. In fact it is believed that these bizarre little creatures evolved as a result of a process called neotony, in which the organism reaches maturity in what is typically a juvenile phase.

They are filter feeders, but due to an interesting little adaptation they are able to eat almost any organic material no matter how small. They build a little very sticky external skeleton known as a house, which usually surrounds the whole body. This bizarre structure attaches to all particulate organiganic matter floating by which is concentrated before it is eaten. The house loses its effectiveness over time, and the Appendicularian can discard it when this happens.

Distribution:

Appendicularians are found throughout the world’s oceans.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Appendicularia

Creature 298: Polypodium hydriforme

Weirdest parasite ever.

Polypodium hydriforme is a freshwater animal in the jellyfish group (Cnidaria) although this classification is not universally accepted.

There are not many cnidarian parasites, which makes it sort of interesting in itself. What is even more interesting is that it is one of the only animals which is an endocellular parasite, meaning it lives inside the cells of other organisms. They infect fish eggs where they live most of their life.

While inside the fish eggs they go through many fairly normal Cnidarian stages of their lifecycle, except they are inside out. What do I mean? Their gastrointestinal wall is on the outside while their epidermal cells 'skin' is on the inside. They slowly digest the nutrients inside the fish eggs and eventually emerge. Once they emerge they start to bud and quickly form a Medusa body plan like what you would think of normally in a jellyfish. In this stage of their life cycle they can reproduce sexually and infect new fish.

Distribution:
Polypodium hydriforme can be found in North America, Europe and Northern Asia.

Classification:
Polypodium hydriforme is so weird it has its own genus and family and even class. It has not been allocated an order as there is really no point. Their position within the Cnidaria is not universally accepted as some zoologists place it closer to bilateria (if you're not familiar with bilateria think of them as mainstream animals. Insects, mammals, snails, earthworms etc...). They posses the stimging cells which are characteristic of the Phylum Cnidaria and the methods which I favor place them in the Cnidaria, but some other methods contradict this placement.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Polypodiozoa
Order: see above
Family: Polypodiidae
Genus: Polypodium
Species: Polypodium hydriforme

Image Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypodium_hydriforme

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 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 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 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 246: Helicoprion

And you thought modern sharks were scary

Helicoprion is an extinct shark which does not have a common name that I know.

Most sharks have scary teeth, but the lower jaw on this one has a freaky looking spiral like projection covered in teeth. This bizarre structure probably formed gradually as the sharked aged growing outward as it gets older.

You are probably wondering what those thing is used for. Well your guess is as good as mine. It is very hard to tell with such a unique structure on an animal that went extinct so long ago. They could grow to about 4 meters in length making them a large shark, but they are not breaking any records.

Distribution:
Helicoprion  fossils are 310 to 250 million years old which means they predate the dinosaur era and went extinct in the Early Jurassic.

Classification:
The Helicoprion genus has been placed in an order named Eugeneodontida, whichnis completely extinct.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Eugeneodontida
Family: Agassizodontidae
Genus: Helicoprion

Image Links:
http://www.dinofan.com/dfAnimals/LifeForm_Detail.aspx?SBID=16629
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicoprion

Creature 243: Liphistiidae

Description:
Liphistiidae are a family of spiders which don't have a common name.

These spiders are remarkable because they remain morphologically very similar to 290 million year old fossils from the same suborder. This means they have a very highly conservative body plan. Their venom glands are tiny and for a while biologists believed they didn't have them. They lack parts of the respiratory system which are present in all other spiders. They live in tiny tube-like borrows and make use of trapdoors like many other spiders. 

Over the last 300 million years they have really got the whole trapdoor technique down packed.

Distribution:
Liphistiid spiders are found in East and South East Asia.

Classification:
Liphistiidae have been placed in a spider suborder called Mesothelae and are the only living spiders in this group. There are 3 extinct members of this group, all of which have a fairly highly conserved morphology. This suborder is the most basal group of spiders (i.e. it is the most distant relative of all other species of spiders). There are 8 genera in the family.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liphistiidae
http://www.qldaf.com/forums/spiders-insects-invertebrates-photo-video-lounge-95/liphistius-most-primitive-spiders-alive-76343/

Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3sDJnqj7hY

Creature 238: Synthetoceras

Unicorns, for real.

Synthetoceras is an extinct mammal which looks a little like a unicorn.

This weird looking creature was about 2 meters long and probably weighed 200 - 350 kilos, so it is a little smaller than a modern horse, but it had horns. It had two laterally oriented horns and much like a unicorn had one central horn above its nose. This horn was pronged. The function of the prong is unknown, but it was probably either for mate competition or for foraging in the ground. Maybe both. Maybe something else altogether. 

Distribution:

Synthetoceras lived in North America around 5 to 13.5 million years ago.

Classification:

Synthetoceras is an ungulate mammal, so it is not too distant from horses, but it is in the artyodactyl group, which means it is more closely related to sheep, deer etc... Their family Protoceratidae is entirely extinct.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Protoceratidae

Genus: Synthetoceras 

Image Links:

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

http://bbs.uua.cn/thread-114164-1-1.html

Creature 230: Dendrogramma

A new kind of animal

There are some people who think that we have a pretty good idea of what lives on Earth. They think that new species are all just similar versions of a previously known species. Every now and then a discovery like this one last year just blows that idea away.

Dendrogramma is a genus of something or other described in 2014 from specimens collected in 1986. It probably took so long to describe because anyone who saw it immediately recognized that it wasn't in their group. The truth is it does not belong to any known group of animals, although it is an animal. Ir has not been formally given its own Phylum yet, but I am pretty sure it will soon.

The long tube like structure carries the mouth while the flat end probably anchors the animal down to a surface. The animal has a gastrovascular system and seems to exhibit bilateral symmetry.

Distribution:
Dendrogramma were collected at 400 and 1000 meters South East of Tasmania.

Classification:

There are two species of Dendrogramma and for now the genus has been assigned to Kingdom Animalia only.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Incerte sedis
Genus: Dendrogramma

Image Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrogramma

Creature 227: Grylloblattodea

Insects that live on ice

Grylloblattodea are either an order or a suborder of insects, depending on who you ask. You can call them ice crawlers or rock crawlers.

There are a confusing group, even their name suggesting that they have some characteristics of both crickets and cockroaches.

Most insects thrive in hot weather, but these guys have evolved specifically to increase their metabolism in the cold. Their optimal living temperature is between 1 and 4 degrees Celsius. They live close to the soil among sheets of ice and sometimes even among glaciers. They feed mostly on dead arthropods.

Distribution:
Ice crawlers can be found in mountainous regions of Northern Asia and the West of North America.

Classification:
As I mentiones there are some entomologists who think the Grylloblattodea should be an Order unto themselves, but for now I am happy to call them a suborder of Notoptera, which also includes Mantophasmatidea. The closest relative to the Notoptera is probably either Dermaptera or Orthoptera or both.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Notoptera

Image Links:

http://entomology.osu.edu/bugdoc/Shetlar/462/462InsectOrders/Orders16.htm

http://tolweb.org/Grylloblattidae/8256

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 208: Craseonycteris thonglongyai

A small bat

Description:
Craseonycteris thonglongyai in the vernacular is called Kittis hog nosed bat or the bumblebee bat.

Kittis hog nosed bat only grows to 33 mm in length at the most and weighs about 2 grams when it is fully grown. This makes it the smallest mammal by length, but not by weight.

They tend to live in flocks of around 100 individuals. Like most small bats they are insectivores.

Distribution:
Kittis hog nosed bat can only be found in Sai Yok province, Thailand.

Classification:
Kittis hog nosed bat is quite distantly related to any other living bat and is the only extant described species in the family Craseonycteridae.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family:Craseonycteridae
Genus:Craseonycteris
Species: Craseonycteris thonglongyai

Image Links:

http://www.labioguia.com/los-10-animales-mas-pequenos-del-mundo/

http://www.datuopinion.com/craseonycteris-thonglongyai

Creature 188: Euspinolia militaris

Not a Panda or an ant.

Euspinolia militaris is commonly known as a Panda ant, because it looks like a Panda. And an ant. Actually it isn't either.

They are a type of velvet ant (see Classification). The dense layer of fuzzy setae is a common feature in the velvet ant family. In this species the color pattern happens to resemble the color patterns in a Panda.

Distribution:
The Panda ant is endemic to Chile.

Classification:
Panda ants are not true ants but belong to a family called Velvet ants (Multillidae). They are in the same Order, Suborder and Superfamily as true ants (Formicidae), but are not the closest relatives to them. There are many winged wasps which are closer relatives of the true ants. You can call them a wingless wasp, although technically true ants are also a type of wasp.

The common name Panda ant is sometimes used to refer to other members of thr family  Multillidae.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Mutillidae
Genus: Euspinolia
Species: Euspinolia militaris

Image Links:

http://astronomy-to-zoology.tumblr.com/post/56072604284/panda-ant-euspinolia-militaris-is-not-an-ant

http://www.leggilo.net/108661/le-foto-delle-16-specie-animali-che-non-potevate-immaginare-esistessero-ancora.html

Creature 180: Opabinia

This animal made zoologists laugh

Description:
Opabinia is a recognised genus of .... something. From Earth.

This was one of those bizarre experiments of evolution which was performed during the Cambrian explosion. You probably noticed the five eyes. I guess they needes the depth perception for handling things with that claw. That claw looks to me as though it might be homologous with some mouth part structures in living arthropods. But I'm guessing. Apparently when Whittington first presented this fonding to the zoological community the audience laughed at how weird it looked.

They had a tough segmented exoskeleton. Each segment was probably capable of independent movement allowing the creature to propel itself through the water by moving then in a wavelike motion. These segments are (hopefully) homologous with the segmentation present in all modern arthropods.

Distribution:
This genus is recognised from several fairly well preserved fossils from the Burgess Shale in British Columbia.

Classification:
Opabinia is probably an arthropod, or is at least a close relative of the Arthropods. It does not belong to any living Class, but it is probably related to Anomalocoris and has been placed in the same class along with several other bizarre creatures.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Dinocaridida
Order: Radiodonta
Family: Opabiniidae
Genus: Opabinia

Image Links:

http://facweb.furman.edu/~wworthen/bio440/evolweb/cambrian/opabinia.htm

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opabinia_regalis#/media/File:Opabinia_smithsonian.JPG