arthropods
awild | February 11, 2010
click to enlarge
The top-tier journal Nature doesn't often deal in purely phylogenetic research. So when such a study graces their pages we know it's big stuff.
Yesterday, Nature published a 62 gene, 75 species analysis of the evolutionary history of the arthropods. Arthropods, as readers of this blog likely know, are animals with a chitinous exoskeleton and jointed legs. They include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, centipedes, and others. This is a staggeringly diverse group, and one found just about everywhere on the planet. Most animals are arthropods.
This study has been in the…
awild | February 8, 2010What's this charming creature?
Ten points for the first person to get the family name right, too.
awild | May 26, 2008
Centruroides sculpturatus - Arizona Bark Scorpion
I have a hard time getting worked up over stuff that happened 25 years ago. But here's something that still angers me every time I think of it.
One of those educational safety movies we were shown back in grade school- you know, the "Stop-Drop-and-Roll" variety- presented the dangers of the Bark Scorpion. The film featured dark tones and a dramatic reenactment of a deadly encounter, complete with screams and fainting.
This was shown in Rochester, New York, mind you. We don't have scorpions anywhere near Rochester. The climate is is far…
mikethemadbiologist | March 22, 2008Flasing back to my marine biology days, International Polar Year researchers have discovered all sorts of neato critters (sadly, I can't find any pictures):
Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish.
A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.
...Hanchet singled out the discovery of "fields" of sea lilies that…
edyong | March 21, 2008Eagles may be famous for their vision, but the most incredible eyes of any animal belong to the mantis shrimp. Neither mantises nor shrimps, these small, pugilistic invertebrates are already renowned for their amazingly complex vision.
Now, a group of scientists have found that they use a visual system that's never been seen before in another animal, and it allows them to exchange secret messages.
Mantis shrimps are no stranger to world records. They are famous for their powerful forearms, which can throw the fastest punch on the planet. The arm can accelerate through water at up to 10,000…
tqa | October 5, 2007
Last week, I had a picture of a live spider for you to identify. Most of the guesses came quickly, and were absolutely correct - the spider in the picture was a Spiny-Backed Orbweaver. This week's arthropod might be a little more challenging.
The picture below features a pinned museum specimen, and was taken through a light microscope at about 40x magnification. The edge of a quarter appears in the photo for scale. The species in question is unique to the island of Hawaii, and is found on the wetter slopes of the younger volcanoes.
Good luck. I'll post either the answer (if someone…
grrlscientist | October 4, 2007tags: blog carnivals, Carnival of the Spineless, invertebrates
It has come to my attention that the latest edition of the Carnival of the Spineless is now available for you to enjoy. Remember that the majority of life on earth consists of living creatures that lack a spine, so there is a great deal of information out there for you to read and learn from.
tqa | September 28, 2007
A couple of weeks ago, I posted some pictures of some large spiders and asked for help in identifying one of them. Jerry Cates of Bugs In The News got back to me quite quickly, and identified the mystery spider as Nephila clavipes - the same species as the other ones shown in that post.
I took some more spider pictures this week. I've identified the species. Can you? The pictures are below the fold, along with some information about the size and where it was spotted. I'll post my identification on Monday.
The spider in these two pictures was a little less than an inch long (approx 3/4"-7…
tqa | September 11, 2007
I was out walking yesterday morning when I saw several very large spiders sitting on webs. I had my camera with me, so I shot a bunch of pictures, and got a couple of really nice ones. I think I've managed to identify the species for a couple of the spiders, but there's one that I'm not quite sure of.
I'm pretty sure that three of the spiders are golden orb spiders (Nephila clavipes). The body shape is right, the markings are right, the site (League City, TX) is within the known range of the species, the habitat (marshy scrub along the bank of Clear Creek) is right, and the behavior (head…
mikethemadbiologist | September 3, 2007Tom Pennington/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, via Associated Press
First, rock snot. Now, giant spider webs that cover acres. One more screwy thing, and I'm stocking up on canned goods. From the New York Times:
Most spiders are solitary creatures. So the discovery of a vast web crawling with millions of spiders that is spreading across several acres of a North Texas park is causing a stir among scientists, and park visitors.
Sheets of web have encased several mature oak trees and are thick enough in places to block out the sun along a nature trail at Lake Tawakoni State Park, near this town…
mikethemadbiologist | June 5, 2007Well, they're not giant, but, by way of Majikthise, I found this story about an isolated population of freshwater crabs that has been dwelling in Roman ruins for 3,000 years.
During this period of isolation, the crabs have increased in size by at least fifty percent and possibly more than 100% (based on molts) compared to the wild Greek popoulations. What's interesting is that the population is thought to be around 1,000 individuals, so there are some neat studies that can be done looking at the effects of genetic bottlenecks (we need a crab genome!). One thing puzzled me though:
While in…