YELLOW HAIRY HERMIT CRAB
Aniculus maximus
©Cynthia Hankins Photography
Yellow Hairy Hermit Crabs have bright yellow bodies covered with short hairs. Their legs and claws are fairly stout. This is a large, predatory hermit crab. Most hermit crabs are scavengers. Some smaller crabs will feed on algaes like nuisance hair algae, while larger hermit crabs like this one, are scavengers and carnivores. Most hermit crabs are opportunistic - they will not actively hunt for a fish or active invertebrates but will prey on sick, dead, or dying individuals.
Habitat: Coral reefs in the tropical Pacific
Food: Crustaceans, mollusks, worms
Breeding: Female carries the eggs on abdomen inside shell
Lifespan: Not known
Size: Up to 4 inches/10cm long
Source: Amazon.com and Aquatic Life of the World
Other posts:
Hermit crab with anemone protector on its shell
TREE SHREW, DRONGO and SPARROWHAWK - a beneficial alliance?
by @notrocketscience check it out in full on his fabulous blog
Images: Drongo by Nimesh M
Through the branches of the forest, the tiny Nicobar treeshrew scuttles about searching for insects. They’re followed by the racket-tailed drongo, a small bird that picks off juicy morsels flushed out by the foraging treeshrews. So far, this isn’t unusual - many distantly related animals forage together.
But this alliance has a third, more surprising member - a sparrowhawk. This bird of prey is five times larger than either of the others and can easily kill the treeshrew. But it doesn’t - instead, it feeds on prey that are disturbed by its partners.
Meera Anna Oomen and Kartik Shanker discovered this strange coalition and they suspect that it’s engineered by the drongos. Certainly, sparrowhawks aren’t traditional companions for treeshrews. On their own, these mammals keep their distance from the raptors for their own safety and are extremely vigilant. But with the drongos around, they tolerated the hawks and allowed them to get a couple of metres closer. The hawks, meanwhile, appear to use the drongos as a way of finding treeshrews.
Birds of prey are unusual participants in foraging groups. When they join another species, it’s usually one big enough that it couldn’t be a possible meal. That clearly doesn’t apply on Nicobar Island.
Nonetheless, the hawks, and certainly the drongos, seem to get a good deal out of their partnership. Oomen and Shanker think that they find more food when they follow treeshrews (although the data on this are still limited). Why a bird of prey should stray from its typical hunting technique is unclear, but it may be that the treeshrews simply aren’t a possible target with the drongos around.
Source:
http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/12/small_bird_engineers_uneasy_alliance_between_hawk_and_treesh.php
Other posts:
Don’t be a bird brain, learn like an Anole
You can teach and Old Dog New Tricks - or at least and Old Macaque
Every time I scroll past these on my dash I have to laugh - Is it just me or would these stick insects make great oversized plush toys? You know - Buy the entire Phasmatodea family! Can someone get on this please!? :)
stick insects (Peruphasma schultei) dancing
“… with the male on the right and female on the left. You can see that the male is quite a lot smaller than the female, a usual sex difference observed in stick insects.”
(photo and text: lofaesofa)
MOTH FLY
Clogmia albipunctata
By macropoulos
I love these mash-ups., it looks like a moth but it’s really a fly!
The nematoceran family Psychodidae (moth flies or drain flies) are small true flies (Diptera) with short, hairy bodies and wings giving them a “furry” moth-like appearance. The adults have long antennae and the wings are leaf-shaped, either slender or broad, with the most elementary wing venation of any Diptera, having little more than a series of parallel veins without crossveins. Adult Psychodidae are typically nocturnal and associated with damp habitats. The larvae of the subfamilies Psychodinae, Sycoracinae and Horaiellinae live in aquatic to semi-terrestrial habitats, including bathroom sinks; some species are commonly nuisance pests in bathrooms.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychodidae
Other mash-up posts:
Crab Spider - which looks like an ant
—-
Moth fly. A true fly in the family Psychodidae.
Photo: macropoulos
If you’d like to see other types of insects featured, please just ask!
GREAT EGRET
Ardea alba
©Graham Owen
Facts:
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Egret
Other posts:
COTTONY CUSHION SCALE — making males redundant?
Icerya purchasi
©Peter Hollinger photo
©Christine Dell’Amore for National Geographic News
Are males necessary?
Maybe not for long, at least in an insect species whose females have begun to develop sperm-producing clones of their fathers—inside their bodies.
In the cottony cushion scale—a common agricultural pest that grows to about a fifth of an inch (half a centimeter) long—a new phenomenon has arisen: When some females develop in fertilized eggs, excess sperm grows into tissue within the daughters.
This parasitic tissue, genetically identical to the female’s father, lives inside the female and fertilizes her eggs internally—rendering the female a hermaphrodite and making her father both the grandfather and father of her offspring, genetically speaking.
Though this new form of reproduction hasn’t replaced cottony cushion scale sex, “this parasitic male has taken off like an epidemic in population,” said study leader Andy Gardner, an evolutionary theorist at the University of Oxford
Other posts:
COCONUT VEINED OCTOPUS
Amphioctopus marginatus
©Roger Steene photo
©Matt Kaplan for National Geographic News
Octopuses have been discovered tip-toeing with coconut-shell halves suctioned to their undersides, then reassembling the halves and disappearing inside for protection or deception, a study discovered in 2009.
Tool use, once thought to be a uniquely human behavior, is seen as a sign of considerable mental sophistication among nonhuman animals.
It’s been known for years now that chimpanzees use whole “tool kits,” that some dolphins attach sponges to their beaks for fishing, and that crows fish for insects using sticks and leaves, for example.
Even so, the octopus discovery stands apart.
“An octopus without shells can swim away much faster by jet propulsion,” said biologist Julian Finn of Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. “But on endless mud seafloor, where are you fleeing to?” In other words, a coconut-carrying octopus may be slow, but it’s always got somewhere to hide.
So what makes the veined octopus’s behavior “tool use,” versus, say, the hermit crab’s use of seashells as armor?
Worn nearly constantly, a hermit crab’s adopted shell isn’t considered a tool, because it’s always useful. Tools, by definition, provide no benefit until they’re used for a very specific purpose—showing that the animal is capable of what you might call advance planning.
The octopus’s coconut carrying qualifies as tool use, Finn said, because the shells provide only “delayed benefits.”
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091214-octopus-carries-coconuts-coconut-carrying/
Other posts:
Coconut Veined Octopus using clam shells
SPANISH WALKING STICK
Leptynia hispanica
©photo: Fritz Geller-Grimm and Felix Grimm
Science Speak about species bisexuality, and polyploidy:
The Leptynia hispanica stick insect species complex includes bisexuals, triploid and tetraploid parthenogenetic populations, suggesting that polyploidy has played a central role in the evolution of this complex. An analysis of karyotype, mitochondrial DNA (cox2) and nuclear DNA (ef1-alpha) markers was carried out to clarify phylogenetic relationships and microevolutionary/phylogeographical patterns of the L. hispanica complex.
Our analyses suggested a subdivision of bisexual populations into four groups, tentatively proposed as incipient species. Moreover, triploids and tetraploids showed two independent origins, the latter being more ancient than the former. From ef1-alpha analysis, triploids showed hybrid constitution, while the hybrid constitution of tetraploids is likely, but more data are needed. We suggest that L. hispanica is a case of ‘geographical parthenogenesis’ with parthenogenetic strains colonizing large peripheral ranges, and bisexuals confined to glacial refuge areas. Moreover, the age, wide distribution and competitive advantage of polyploids over diploids, demonstrate their significance in the evolution of the L. hispanica species complex. Source
Other Stick Insects:
Chan Megastick - Walking Stick
—-
Spanish Walking Stick (Leptynia hispanica), Le Caylar, France
(photo: Fritz Geller-Grimm and Felix Grimm)
SPOONWING or THREAD WINGED ANT LION
Nemoptera bipennis
© Jose Sousa
Nemoptera is a Palearctic genus of insects of the family Nemopteridae or spoonwings living in France, Spain and Portugal. All species are diurnal with an exclusively floral diet, preferring to fly in open spaces in full sunshine while visiting flowers. They can be recognized by their very long hind wing prolongations.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemoptera
Other posts:
RED-CRESTED CARDINAL
Paroaria coronata
©JimBoots
The Red-crested Cardinal is a bird species in the tanager family — despite its name it is not very closely related to the true cardinals.
It is found in northern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and heavily degraded former forest. Among other regions, it is found in southern part of the Pantanal.
It has also been introduced to Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In Brazil, it has been introduced to various places outside its historical range, as in the Tietê Ecological Park in São Paulo.
The character Pedro (spoken by will.i.am) in the 2011 animated film Rio is unmistakeably a Red-crested Cardinal, with the species’ tell-tale features of a long crest, grey upperparts, red throat and greyish bill.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-crested_Cardinal
Other posts:
—-
Brazilian Cardinal Up Close and Personal (by JimBoots)
KNOBBY ARGONAUT
Argonauta nodosa
©shigeru.harazaki
The knobby or knobbed argonau is a species of pelagic octopus. The female, produces a very characteristic paper-thin shell, which is covered in many small nodules on the ridges across the shell. These nodules are less obvious or absent in juvenile females, especially those under 5 cm in length. The argonaut’s shell is runs approximately 5.5 - 10 inches (150 mm - 250mm in length). Males rarely surpass 3/4” (2 cm) and only mate once in their short lifetime, whereas the females are capable of having offspring many times over the course of their lives. In addition, the females have been known since ancient times, while the males were only described in the late 19th century.
Unlike most octopuses, argonauts live close to the sea surface rather than on the seabed. Argonauta species are characterised by very large eyes and small distal webs. The mantle-funnel locking apparatus is a major diagnostic feature of this taxon. It consists of knob-like cartilages in the mantle and corresponding depressions in the funnel. Argonauta species lack water pores.
Argonauts use tentacles to grab prey and drag it toward the mouth. It then bites the prey to inject it with poison from the salivary gland. They feed on small crustaceans, mollusks, jellyfish and salps. If the prey has a shell, the argonaut uses its radula to drill into the organism, then inject the poison.
Argonauts are capable of altering their color, blending in with their surroundings to avoid predators. They also produce ink when the animal is being attacked. This ink paralyzes the olfaction of the attacker, providing time for the argonaut to escape. The female is also able to pull back the web covering of her shell, making a silvery flash, which may deter a predator from attacking.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_%28animal%29
Other posts:
Malaysian Green FLOWER BEETLE
Thaumastopeus pugnator
© emblatame (Ron)
genus: THAUMASTOPEUS Kraatz 1885
species: pugnator Heller 1899
origin: Malaysia
wild imago size: 30-35 mm
sexual dimorphism males with abdominal groove on sternits
note: I`ve obtained some imago of this species, however these soon deceased and didn`t lay any eggs. Therefore I do not know much about their breeding habits. Species is supposed to be somewhat easier to breed regarding to the general higher difficulty of keeping all asian cetoniinae.
Fact Source: http://www.flower-beetles.com/thaumastopeus.html
Other posts:
GURNEY’S PITTA
Pitta gurneyi
Posted by birds.littlepuffin.net/
Gurney’s Pitta is endangered. It was initially thought to be extinct for some time after 1952, but was rediscovered in 1986. Its rarity has been caused by the clearance of natural forest in southern Burma and peninsular Thailand.
Its population was estimated at a mere nine pairs in 1997, then believed one of the rarest bird species on earth. A search for it in Burma in 2003 was successful and discovered that the species persisted at four sites with a maximum of 10-12 pairs at one location. This granted the species a reassessment from the IUCN, going from Critically Endangered to Endangered. Later on, further research completed in Burma by 2009 provides strong evidence that its global population is much greater than previously estimated, owning to the discovery of several new territories in this country.
This rare and spectacularly-colored bird was recently voted the “most wanted bird in Thailand” by bird watchers visiting that country.
The Gurney’s Pitta diet is slugs, insects, and earthworms
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney%27s_Pitta
Other posts:
COUGAR CUBS
Puma concolor
© ZUMA Press
In October 2008, five hunters in Pope Valley, Calif., came across a female mountain lion and her three cubs and began shooting at them. The mother was killed, one cub was never seen again, and the two survivors were taken to the Sonoma Wildlife Rescue. One of the cubs had a broken leg that required his paw to be amputated, and the other had a minor fracture, but today both are alive and well. The hunters were charged with 22 counts of crimes, including animal cruelty, to which they pled no contest in 2010. They each paid $10,000 in restitution to cover veterinarian costs and were sentenced to 30 days of service at the wildlife center. Kyla and Kuma will remain at Sonoma Wildlife Rescue for the rest of their lives because California law prohibits releasing them into the wild once they’ve been in captivity.
Source: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos
Other posts:
BOHEMIAN WAXWING
Bombycilla garrulus
© Sigurjón Einarsson
The Bohemian Waxwing is a member of the waxwing family of passerines. A sleek bird, 18–21 cm long with a smooth pointed crest (which in this case is unusually messed up and Don King-ish), it travels in large, nomadic groups with a strong, direct flight. It breeds in coniferous forests throughout the most northern parts of Europe, Asia and western North America. As the Cedar Waxwing inhabits only North America and the Japanese Waxwing only Asia, the Bohemian Waxwing is the only member of this family whose range circumnavigates all the continents just below the sub-Arctic latitudes.
Its English name refers to the bright red bead-like tips of the secondary feathers on its wings, which look like drops of sealing wax, while ‘Bohemian’ refers to the Romani (gypsies), with a comparison to this bird’s wandering, or to its (presumed) origin from Bohemia (at the time, a relatively unknown “distant, eastern” place to most English speakers). The generic name Bombycilla, from Latin Bombyx (silk / silk moth) + Scientific Latin cilla (tail), is a direct translation of the Swedish name ‘Sidensvans’, silk-tail, and refers to the silky-soft plumage of the bird; the species name garrulus means ‘talkative’ and refers to a resemblance to the European Jay, Glandularius garrulus
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Waxwing
Other posts:
