Organisms
pharyngula | April 7, 2010Pterocarya fraxinifolia
The common name of this tree is the Caucasian Wingnut.
pharyngula | April 2, 2010Sepia officinalis
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 30, 2010
This is quite possibly the most awesome biology photo ever taken. It is two blind-folded crayfish battling each other in clouds of fluorescent green urine. It's a good thing it's just a picture, because if it were a video, in 3D, with the Star Trek fight music playing in the background, every science nerd in the world would have to lie down and die in ecstasy. Don't click on the little arrow below it! I won't be responsible for the consequences! (Fortunately, I can't put it into 3D motion, so I won't be slaughtering my readership here.)
Star Trek Fight Music sound bite Star Trek sound…
pharyngula | March 29, 2010Acanthoplus discoidalis
But there's something really special about this insect.
To become unpalatable, the insects squirt toxic blood out of gaps in their body and make themselves sick by throwing up food they've just eaten.
Isn't that neat-o?
(via Colin Hanbury)
pharyngula | March 26, 2010Uroteuthis chinensis
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 24, 2010Epipogium aphyllum
Find out more about the Ghost Orchid.
(Mary bobs a curtsy to SEF for finding this one)
pharyngula | March 22, 2010I'm home at last, after about 48 hours of airports and airplanes and long drives. I haven't slept at all except for these peculiar intermittent blackouts, I'm flat-out exhausted, I've got this +5 Flaming Rod of Lancing Agony in place of a spine, and the Trophy Wife™ (who is at work, so I haven't even seen her yet) sends me an email with this picture, suggesting that it hints where I ought to go next.
I guess she didn't mind my absence that much.
pharyngula | March 12, 2010Enteroctopus dofleini
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 11, 2010We don't have a good name for this abomination. It's not bestiality, since it is cross-phylum, cross-kingdom lasciviousness.
Although, I do have to admit…that is one smokin' hot orchid.
pharyngula | March 8, 2010I'm glad I won't be looking for a date while I'm in Australia. Although now I'm a little concerned that if I get a little beer froth on the moustache, I might drive the ladies wild.
pharyngula | March 8, 2010I'm flying off to Australia tomorrow! Unfortunately, I'm leaving Mary behind — she's got a job, you know, and needs to continue slaving away to keep me in the style to which I am accustomed. But she's not bitter about it, no, not at all. See? She sent me this cheery little ditty about the Australian fauna!
pharyngula | March 5, 2010Sepioteuthis sepioidea
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 3, 2010Weep with me.
You know, the rotten little crunchy, jointed thing wouldn't have stood a chance if he'd been fighting within his own weight-class. I found this video on a blog called Arthropoda — a clearly biased advocacy site for violence on molluscs by the world's dominant, bullying metazoans.
Here's what happens when the odds aren't stacked against the cephalopod.
Although…notice the bit near the end where the narrator refers to "a mere invertebrate"? I think that guy at Arthropoda and I would team up to thump him for that.