Tag: meet the

Meet the Solenodon: Another weird, wonderful, venomous mammal!

Solenodon
paradoxus

While totally sounding like a sci-fi planet, Solenodons are actually just insectivores. In the family Solenodontidae, there is only one genus-Solenodon and just two species. Yes, solenodons come in just two flavors the Hispaniolan (Solenodon paradoxus) and the Cuban (Solenodon cubanus). These shrew-like looking creatures have a venomous bite that emanates from a groove in their second incisors. Solenodons are reported to eat plants, insects, small invertebrates, but also reptile, amphibians, and rodents. They kill prey larger than themselves most likely after inflicting a fatal bite. The toxin blarina produces a peptide called bradykinin and this bite then leads to paralysis and convulsions.
Continue reading “Meet the Solenodon: Another weird, wonderful, venomous mammal!”

Meet the Pselaphinae

A Snapshot of Pselaphine Beetle Diversity: plates from Raffray’s Étude sur les Psélaphides (1890)

Guest post by Joseph Parker, Coleopterist, Columbia University.

If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to walk through a rainforest, you’ll probably have noticed huge numbers of ants patrolling the ground at your feet. Ants dominate forest environments, dismembering other arthropods, harvesting honeydew from plant sucking bugs, and waging war on neighbouring colonies.

But amongst the ants exists another, far more poorly known group of creatures… a group of beetles called Pselaphinae (SEH-LA-FIN-EE). In terms of species richness they rival—and may even surpass—ants. These beetles are remarkable, being one of the most morphologically diverse groups of organisms out there, with a seemingly endless range of bizarre body forms. Continue reading “Meet the Pselaphinae”

Meet the Sea Spider

Sea spiders are a class of marine arthropods called Pycnogonida that are found nearly everywhere in oceans from deep to shallow ranges. They are not arachnids, but considered chelicerates even though this fact may be debated. They feed on ocean invertebrates using a proboscis and suction feeding.

Sea spiders use external fertilization and interestingly the male provides care to the young.

Watch the sea spider video below!

To learn more check out this 2009 article in Science Magazine complete with a slideshow of deep sea spiders feeding!

“Meet the…” is a collaboration between The Finch & Pea and Nature Afield to bring Nature’s amazing creatures into your home.

Meet the Sea Pig

The name “sea pig” conjures up many images, but probably not that of a deep-sea holothurian echinoderm. There are three species of sea pigs all in the genus Scotoplanes. They inhabit deep sea floors often high densities and are thus sensitive to deep sea trawling. Continue reading “Meet the Sea Pig”

Meet the Pig-Nosed Turtle

photo from austinsturtlepage.com

The fly river turtle or pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) is found in the freshwaters of New Guinea and Australia. These turtles are so unique that they are the only living member of the family Carettochelyidae.

Check out the video from “Life in Cold Blood” with David Attenborough below.

If you want to learn more check out this website: http://www.carettochelys.com

“Meet the…” is a collaboration between The Finch & Pea and Nature Afield to bring Nature’s amazing creatures into your home.