OH MY FUCK
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Shychemist
RSSPosts tagged with "spider"
A new species of Ant-mimic Jumping Spider, discovered on a recent expedition to Mount Kinabalu, in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, in the Indonesian Archipelago.
(photo:Peter Koomen)
Aussie wasp on the hunt for redback spiders
A redback spider-hunting wasp dragging its paralysed prey back to its nest. Credit: Florian and Peter Irwin.
The wasp (Agenioideus nigricornis) was first described scientifically in 1775 by Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius, thanks to samples collected in Australia during Captain Cook’s first great voyage (1768-1771).
“Since then, scientists have largely forgotten about the wasp,” says Professor Andy Austin from the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity. “It is widespread across Australia and can be found in a number of collections, but until now we haven’t known the importance of this particular species.”
The wasp is now being dubbed the “redback spider-hunting wasp” after a family in Beaconsfield, Western Australia, discovered one of them with a paralysed redback spider in their back yard.
[…]
With a body less than a centimetre in length, an adult redback spider-hunting wasp is no bigger than its prey. It stings and paralyses the redback spider and drags it back to its nest, where the wasp lays an egg on it. The spider remains alive but is paralysed. Once the egg hatches, the larval wasp feeds on the spider.
Click title to read more.
(photo by scientistintraining)
This is for Hexpoda, or anyone else that wants to help ID this sucker. My dad caught a spider in a urine collection cup (yes, we have those lying around our house) and put it on my desk and told me to identify it since he paid for me to be a biologist, I’ll just forget to remind him I’m a microbiologist, not an arachnologist.
Itsy bitsy spider…
Came down the daisy petal?
Just for size comparison the spider is less than the width of a push pin. I love this macro lens. I’d have gotten a better focus if I had a tripod set up.
Cropped a bit. Taken July 22nd, 2009 on Denman Island, BC, Canada.
Via TheKoopaBros (me)
Bizarre Assassin Spiders Discovered in Madagascar (2006)
by Blake de Pastino
With its fearsome appearance, poisonous bite, and deadly hunting skill, this newly discovered creature lives up to its name: assassin spider.
Researchers working in Madagascar recently discovered this and eight other species of assassin spiders—a family of arachnids that feast on other eight-leggers—during a four-year survey of the island nation’s forests. Assassin spiders have been known to live in Australia and South Africa. But the new find, made by biologists from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, nearly doubles the number of known species.
What’s more, the scientists say these newfound spiders are exquisitely evolved—if grotesque-looking—killers. The spiders stab their prey with their giant jaws, which are barbed at the ends with venomous fangs. To be able to lift their outsized jaws, the assassins evolved elongated necks, giving the spiders a unique ability to strike from a distance.
But arachnophobes can relax: Assassin spiders are a mere 1/8 of an in (2 mm) long and are harmless to humans.
(via: National Geo) (photo: Jeremy Miller/CAS)
About Shychemist
This is mostly a science themed blog.
Other things I will blog about:
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If you're only interested in science, please click on the link below titled "Only the #Science!". I also have dedicated links for music, my photography and my personal life.
I am Canadian; 24 years old and live near Vancouver, Canada.
Photography is a hobby of mine. I'm shy and don't have many friends but I do enjoy talking to people. I'm friendly so send me a message. :)
I've graduated from a 2-year program called Chemical and Environmental Technology at BCIT.
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