Three New Species Discovered in 2011 That You Don’t Want To Meet
In a world which the naive believe we have tamed and fully understood, we are discovering new species every year. It is estimated that the oceans could contain a whopping 750,000 undiscovered species, many of which we make cause to go extinct before we’ve even discovered them.[Telegraph] Here is a selection of three of the nastiest discoveries made so far in 2011, taken from the Top Ten List provided by the International Arizona State university’s Institute for Species Exploration. The sort that you may want to admire from afar, but probably not come into direct contact with.
Darwin’s Bark Spider
If you suffer from even the slightest arachnophobia, the Caerostris darwini, is certain to leave you feeling faint. The spider is HUGE!! But even more creepy – or wondrous, depending on your worldview – are it’s webs. It builds the largest orb-style wbs known to science. They have been found spanning rivers, streams and lakes. It’s bridgelines can reach up to 25m in length, connecting a total websize reaching up to 2.8 m2. Sounds like something from shelob’s layer, if your a “Lord of the Rings” fan. Also impressive is the sheer strength of the silk used to spin them.
It has an average toughness of 250MJ/m3 with the highest measured at 520MJ/ m3. This makes it, “the toughest biological material ever studied, over ten times stronger than a similarly-sized piece of Kevlar” and more than two times stronger than any other known spider silk. The unusual behaviors of this new species will allow us to understand size dimorphism, mate guarding, and self castration (among others). Also discovered in association with Darwin’s bark spider was an undescribed symbiotic fly species.[ASU]
Darwin
Source: http://mrbarlow.wordpress.com/
Jumping Cockroach
I don’t like encountering into cockroaches at the best of times – even less when they can jump like grasshoppers. To be fair,Saltoblattella montistabularis – the only cockroach able to jump in the world, has been described by South African scientist Mike Picker who discovered it (in the middle of Cape Town’s Table Mountain National Park) as a delicate creature just a centimeter (less than a third of an inch) long with specially adapted powerful hind legs and bulging eyes. It could endear itself even to those who recoil at the thought of a household cockroach. Not so nasty, then.
South Africa
King Tyrant Leech
Finally, and most gruesomely of all, is the Tyrannobdella rex, or King Tyrant Leech. Aptly named because the size of its teeth are unusual for a leech with a single armed jaw. And what are those teeth used for? Attaching itself up the nose and drinking your blood. This T. rex leech was found on the nasal mucous membrane of a girl in Peru. Nauseus a bit?
Tyrannobdella rex found on the nasal mucous membrane of a girl in Peru.
