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| Obscure Taxa; For interesting or obscure organisms you'd like to share. | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 14 2016, 09:46 PM (48,929 Views) | |
| kusanagi | Aug 11 2017, 06:56 PM Post #511 |
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Adolescent
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No but the weird chimaerism is of interest to the insect illuminatus guy, who still loves me at least. He was interested in chimaerism as regards the tunicates. Well Rhombozoa are more definite yet far wierder. And that is where they come in as some of the oddest organisms. Rhombozoa are probably the wierdest animals with only Trichoplax coming close. They have a weird mixture of ciliate protozoan, spiralian and hypothetical basal metazoan traits in a combination that makes no sense. Spiral cleavage is not unique to spiralia but is nephrozoan, the diploblasty is secondary in orthonrctids and if pristine would likely drag Rhombozoa out of eumetazoa, and the protist total group of animals were flagellates and not ciliates so they are not primitive nor throwbacks in that regard. Besides the LCA of rhombozoans has to postdate the cephalopods. Besides you can't consider an organism without its phylogeny: in a way it is the same thing as its form and function - matters of genetic inheritance contra apomorphy. It is the weird combination of traits from kingdoms that makes the rhombozoans so bizarre and amazing. Edited by kusanagi, Aug 11 2017, 07:02 PM.
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| Archeoraptor | Aug 11 2017, 08:32 PM Post #512 |
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"A living paradox"
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I agree and offer my help,we should classify them by group and show which species are extinct in each groupif needed since some fossil taxa was shown,I can offer my help |
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Astarte an alt eocene world,now on long hiatus but you never know Fanauraa; The rebirth of Aotearoa future evo set in new zealand after a mass extinction coming soon......a world that was seeded with earth´s weridest and who knows what is coming next........... " I have to know what the world will be looking throw a future beyond us I have to know what could have been if fate acted in another way I have to know what lies on the unknown universe I have to know that the laws of thee universe can be broken throw The Spec I gain strength to the inner peace the is not good of evil only nature and change,the evolution of all livings beings" " Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| HangingThief | Aug 11 2017, 08:33 PM Post #513 |
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ghoulish
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Time for a few random bugs Purseweb spiders (Atypidae) are a slightly weird (some would say...atypical) group of mygalomorphs recognizable by their ridiculously oversized fangs. ![]() Their distribution penetrates further north than any other group of mygalomorphs, with one North American species reaching Canada. Adult males can be found wandering around, but the fat, short legged females and juveniles rarely of ever leave their shelter. Said shelter consists of a burrow from which a sock- like silken tube protrudes. It usually has no openings. When an insect crawls on the tube, the spider uses its oversized fangs to rip the tube open from the inside and drag the prey in. After feeding it repairs the tube. ![]() Often, the tube is positioned vertically against a tree trunk or similar object and covered with soil to camouflage it as a branch or something. Some of these pictures even seem to show moss growing on the tube... perhaps the spider placed it their, but since mygalomorphs live quite a long time it's not inconcievable that it could be growing there, especially since the silk structure would be repaired and maintained from the inside. ![]() Triangle spiders (Hyptiotes) are small spiders belonging to the orbweaver family Uloboridae. Uloborids have a major difference from most if not all other spiders: they lack venom. Instead, they kill their prey solely with the use of silk, wrapping it in layer after layer until it's suffocated or crushed to death. ![]() Though they are somewhat triangle shaped, the name comes the form of their web, which looks rather like a section of a typical orb web. But it has a slightly different function. ![]() Rather than sit in the middle of a large web and hope to reach prey before it struggles free, Hyptiotes has made its web into a more interactive trap. The spider builds the main connecting thread with a bit of slack and pulls on it until it's stretched taught. When something hits the web, it releases the thread and the whole web folds in half, hopelessly ensnaring whatever flew into it. These are very tiny spiders (4 mm) but I've found that the distinctive shape of their web makes them easy to locate. I usually find them on dead branches in the woods, but like many spiders they turn up around porches and other artificial light sources too. They're found throughout North America and there's a European species too. Brunneria borealis, the brunner's stick mantis or northern grass mantis, is native to the southeastern US. It's the only member of its genus in North America and the longest mantis species in the region. ![]() Due to its body shape and winglessness, it's often mistaken for a phasmid stick insect. While certainly no leaf eater, it isn't quite as formidable a predator as most other mantids, lacking their cannibalistic habits and preferring relatively small prey. This might be related to its frail build, which helps it remain camouflaged in tall grass. It does have another similarity with the insects it's often confused with. The brunner's mantis is entirely parthenogenic, like many phasmids and unlike all other mantids. No male specimens have been found. This means that the species is an evolutionary dead end, and since its nearest relatives are found in South America its extinction will likely mark the end of the genus Brunneria on the continent. |
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Hey. | |
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| IIGSY | Aug 11 2017, 08:39 PM Post #514 |
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A huntsman spider that wastes time on the internet because it has nothing better to do
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Why did they loose it? |
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Projects Punga: A terraformed world with no vertebrates Last one crawling: The last arthropod ARTH-6810: A world without vertebrates (It's ded, but you can still read I guess) Potential ideas- Swamp world: A world covered in lakes, with the largest being caspian sized. Nematozoic: After a mass extinction of ultimate proportions, a single species of nematode is the only surviving animal. Tri-devonian: A devonian like ecosystem with holocene species on three different continents. Quotes Phylogeny of the arthropods and some related groups In honor of the greatest clade of all time More pictures Other cool things All African countries can fit into Brazil
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| HangingThief | Aug 11 2017, 09:09 PM Post #515 |
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ghoulish
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I imagine they just became accustomed to wrapping prey tightly in silk without bothering to bite it. |
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| IIGSY | Aug 11 2017, 10:17 PM Post #516 |
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A huntsman spider that wastes time on the internet because it has nothing better to do
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But how would that make them loose venom? Wouldn't normal venemous spiders still pass on their genes? |
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Projects Punga: A terraformed world with no vertebrates Last one crawling: The last arthropod ARTH-6810: A world without vertebrates (It's ded, but you can still read I guess) Potential ideas- Swamp world: A world covered in lakes, with the largest being caspian sized. Nematozoic: After a mass extinction of ultimate proportions, a single species of nematode is the only surviving animal. Tri-devonian: A devonian like ecosystem with holocene species on three different continents. Quotes Phylogeny of the arthropods and some related groups In honor of the greatest clade of all time More pictures Other cool things All African countries can fit into Brazil
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| HangingThief | Aug 11 2017, 10:38 PM Post #517 |
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ghoulish
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Yes, but the difference is that spiders with weaker venom would also pass on their genes. Use it or lose it. |
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| Rodlox | Aug 11 2017, 11:06 PM Post #518 |
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Superhuman
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actually, not the point of this thread; an organism's uniqueness can be phylogenic, but doesn't have to be. |
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.---------------------------------------------. Parts of the Cluster Worlds: "Marsupialless Australia" (what-if) & "Out on a Branch" (future evolution) & "The Earth under a still sun" (WIP) | |
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| kusanagi | Aug 11 2017, 11:21 PM Post #519 |
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Adolescent
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Not true: nothing can be unique or different (ie. apomorphic) without a reference point. |
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| IIGSY | Aug 11 2017, 11:37 PM Post #520 |
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A huntsman spider that wastes time on the internet because it has nothing better to do
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I guess that's also why troglobites loose their eyes. |
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Projects Punga: A terraformed world with no vertebrates Last one crawling: The last arthropod ARTH-6810: A world without vertebrates (It's ded, but you can still read I guess) Potential ideas- Swamp world: A world covered in lakes, with the largest being caspian sized. Nematozoic: After a mass extinction of ultimate proportions, a single species of nematode is the only surviving animal. Tri-devonian: A devonian like ecosystem with holocene species on three different continents. Quotes Phylogeny of the arthropods and some related groups In honor of the greatest clade of all time More pictures Other cool things All African countries can fit into Brazil
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| Rodlox | Aug 12 2017, 12:47 AM Post #521 |
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Superhuman
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maybe you should scroll through a few pages of this thread, then say that. |
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.---------------------------------------------. Parts of the Cluster Worlds: "Marsupialless Australia" (what-if) & "Out on a Branch" (future evolution) & "The Earth under a still sun" (WIP) | |
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| LittleLazyLass | Aug 12 2017, 12:51 AM Post #522 |
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Proud quilt in a bag
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Which doesn't have to be classification? Look at my yapok post - it's obviously unique because I state it's the only living marsupial with these features, which is purely about anatomy, and because people know that mammals don't have six digits. In that latter case common knowledge itself is the reference point. |
totally not British, b-baka! You like me (Unlike)I don't even really like this song that much but the title is pretty relatable sometimes, I guess. Me What, you want me to tell you what these mean? Read First Words Maybe | |
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| HangingThief | Aug 12 2017, 01:13 AM Post #523 |
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ghoulish
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The thread is "obscure taxa", not "unique taxa". Anything that's interesting enough to write a post about is fair game, and I don't consider something to be automatically uninteresting just because it doesn't technically have any major traits that aren't shared by similar groups or species. Every organism is a combination of features that make it something unique. |
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| Sphenodon | Aug 12 2017, 01:56 AM Post #524 |
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Calcareous
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The freshwater mussels of the family Unionidae are found throughout the world in a variety of riverine habitats. While fairly ordinary in most aspects to other freshwater bivalves, unionids are particularly interesting with regards to their reproductive habits. Alongside the European pearl-making Margaritiferidae, their first developmental stage, known as a glochidium, is a piscine parasite; latching on to a host fish using their hook-tipped shells (most commonly the gills, though fin membranes and soft areas of skin are acceptable targets), they are summarily enveloped in a cyst as a result of the fish's immune response, within which they develop for the next several weeks to months before rupturing their fleshy container and falling to the sediment, during that time feeding off of broken-down tissue within their cyst. ![]() Microscopic image of a unionid glochidium. Most species that go through a glochidial stage opt to simply release their offspring into the water en masse and rely upon chance encounters between current-drifted larvae and suitable fish, but a few types have developed some rather ingenious methods of more reliably implanting their young on a suitable host. One of the more common routes used is simple attraction of hosts to the mussel's glochidia-bearing gills to more directly spray them with a cloud of larvae. In species targeting larger host species, this is typically accomplished through lures derived from extensions of the mantle and moved to simulate the motions of a prey organism; one species mimics the limbs of crayfish, while a variety of others mimic small minnows. A different, more active rendition of this strategy is practiced by the snuffbox mussel (Epioblasma triquetra). While its luring methods are negligible, its reaction to a fish's presence is not: when an attracted specimen bumps its nose against the open shell of a female, the mussel slams it shut - with the mollusc's shells bearing dozens of sharp denticles around their rims (a trait exclusive to females of the species), the fish is firmly held in place by its skull while the snuffbox expels glochidia from her gills, ensuring that it breathes some in before being released. This species is specialized towards only a single host, the common logperch (Percina caprodes) - being a fairly robust fish, it is able to reliably survive having its head clamped between the snuffbox's shells, whereas the crania of smaller fish tend to be mortally crushed by the force. ![]() ![]() Left: denticle-bearing shell of a female E. triquetra. Right: living E. triquetra displaying signature reproductive behavior on an unfortunate logperch. Other species opt to instead produce masses of glochidia within mucus known as conglutinates, excreting these packages as lures in and of themselves. Most of these merely resemble worms trailing from their mother, but the lure of the orange nacre mucket (Lampsilis perovalis) takes the process a step further, packaging its glochidia in a superficially fish-like, two-row packet at the end of a transparent mucus string that in rare cases can reach up to a meter in length. Most complex of all, the kidneyshells of the genus Ptychobranchus cover their conglutinate packets with a membranaceous fleshy layer patterned in mimicry of a fish fry or aquatic invertebrate; these packets are released from the mother's gills through her siphon, floating in the currents before adhering to a solid surface by way of mucous lines trailing behind them and, with luck, being seen and consumed by an unwitting fish. ![]() ![]() Left: Group of fish-mimicking conglutinate packets of the Ouachita kidneyshell (Ptychobranchus occidentalis). Right: Conglutinate packet of the fluted kidneyshell (Ptychobranchus subtentum), a mimic of common blackfly larvae. Note the adhesive mucous tail. Edited by Sphenodon, Aug 12 2017, 02:02 AM.
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We have a Discord server! If you would like to join, simply message myself, Flisch, or Icthyander. Some of my ideas (nothing real yet, but soon): Refugium: A last chance for collapsing ecosystems and their inhabitants. Pansauria: A terraforming project featuring the evolution of exactly one animal - the marine iguana. Mars Renewed: An insight into the life of Mars thirty million years after its terraforming by humankind. Microcosm: An exceedingly small environment. Alcyon: A planet colonized by species remodeled into new niches by genetic engineering. Oddballs: Aberrant representatives of various biological groups compete and coexist. ..and probably some other stuff at some point (perhaps a no K-T project). Stay tuned! | |
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| kusanagi | Aug 12 2017, 05:59 AM Post #525 |
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Adolescent
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The yapok is only odd because its a didelphid and "only living marsupial" makes a taxonomic statement. Its "sixth digit" is widespread among mammals - porcupines, giant panda , ailurids. Were its phylogeny unknown one could infer yapok ancestors as arboreal by comparative anatomy.As far as unionid bivalves go I wonder how far they could go through progenesis to becoming obligate internal parasites through their lives. Edited by kusanagi, Aug 12 2017, 10:07 AM.
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Were its phylogeny unknown one could infer yapok ancestors as arboreal by comparative anatomy.
7:22 PM Jul 10