Creatures Large & Small

Attack of the Entomopathogenic Fungi

2010-03-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

When I was younger I used to follow my mom to the Chinese Medical Hall to get her strange and bizarre herbs and medicinal supplies. There was this particular root that looked so much like a caterpillar that I thought it amazing how closely it resembles a larva with the segments, legs and folds. I innocently asked my mom if it was indeed a caterpillar and she asked the shop owner if it was. He said no, so my mom naturally said no as well.

And all these years I thought it was just a tree root that mimicked the likes and looks of a caterpillar until I stumbled onto a website that said otherwise. When I found out how mercilessly the caterpillar died due to the fungal infection of Cordyceps I was intrigued and repulsed at the thought that I used to play with it thinking it was a harmless looking root. My aversion for gooey, spongy, soft and squashy larva remains till today.

Cordyceps are basically entomopathogenic fungi and cordycep sinensis being the better known species that invade the ghost moth larva.

http://listverse.com/2009/08/17/top-10-incredible-funguses/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps

The Goonch is Gonna get ya!

2009-03-11T06:53:00.001-07:00

This 6 footer 161 pounder mutant catfish found in the Indian river was believed to have developed a taste for human flesh. Biologist Jeremy Wade is told by the locals the gigantic fish grew larger than usual from feeding on partially burnt corpses and was the monster than killed two teenage boys in separate occasions by dragging them down into the water. (October 2008)

Yet nothing could beat the world's largest recorded freshwater fish caught in Thailand measuring at 9 feet long and 646 pounds.

Welcome to the World of the Magnapinna Squid

2008-12-04T23:38:00.000-08:00

Identified as the magnapinna or big fin squid, this amazing alien looking creature was first discovered in 1988 and then also in 1992, 1998, 200o and 2001 but Michael Vecchoine and Richard Young were the first to document the magnapinna in 1998.

Found from 4000 feet and below the surface of the ocean, they still baffle scientists with their tentacles hanging at right angles that look like arms jutting out of its body.

Fishing Like A King: The Kingfisher

2008-08-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Kingfishers are beautiful small colorful birds which can be found just about anywhere in the world. Unmistakable with other birds, they are squat looking with prominent beaks and usually lustrous colors that can't be missed.

The three families include Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). Although its name suggests royalty or the best in fish catching it is however obscure in its origin.

This particular white-throated Kingfisher, sometime two of them, hangs around my backyard and picks up small lizards and bugs every now and then. It is magnificent in colors and a real sight to see.

The Case of the Case Bearing Moth Larva

2008-07-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Pictures taken from http://www.whatsthatbug.com/clothes.html

My greatest nemesis in the bedroom are those case bearing moth larva or sometimes called 'household casebearer' and 'plaster bagworm' (Phereoeca uterella). Although they are harmless, to humans anyway, I find them quite filthy with the sacks made up from the scrap that they feed on.

You can find them practically everywhere from sticking to the walls, in between the furniture and under the covers. When I first encountered this odd fusiform case I thought they were seedlings that must have flown in from the garden. Looking very much like pumpkin seeds they can be easily overlooked and ignored but it becomes obvious only when they begin to crawl away.

The female moth may lay up to 200 eggs within a week and they are deposited in all the crevices and slits in the walls and floors. The case is constructed even at the earlier stage of the first instar and gets enlarged as it grows. The pupation takes place in the same case which the larva attaches both ends with silk up on the wall.

Although I have an aversion to things slimy, squirmy and squishy I can't but help myself from admiring these amazing creatures. They are considered as pests since they feed on pet hair, clothes, furniture, carpet and other kinds of wastes.

A Beautiful Picture Of Death: Death's-head Hawkmoth

2008-06-19T07:05:00.001-07:00

I couldn't believe it when I saw the Death's-head Hawkmoth stuck in the net in my garden. This is the first time I am seeing the real thing after being introduced to it in The Silence Of The Lambs. When I tried to free it, it gave out a loud squeak and started fluttering. The wings opened up to a very brightly colored back and that was when I knew it was the Death's-head because of the horizontal markings on the abdomen and the skull on the thorax.

I left it on a green plant but it flew onto the tree bark a little later to camouflage itself. These creatures are known to raid beehives for their honey and they are unharmed because they can mimic the scent of bees.

They lay single eggs which grow into stocky larvae that has a tail. When they are ready to metamorphose they will bury themselves underground and pupate and emerge later as a fully grown adult moth.

The Naughty Boy Flower

2008-05-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

This bizarre looking Anthurium is found in the gardens of the Johor Bungalow in Fraser's Hill. Although they are commonly found in the tropical jungles as well as in homes, this particular plant has quite an unusual looking spadix. Also known colloquially as the naughty boy for obvious reasons, when in full bloom, they can be quite a spectacular sight to see.

There are at least 800 - 100 species which belong to the arum family. The spathe comes in various colors from yellow, green, white, burgundy, red or multicolored.

Caterpillars

2008-05-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

I shot this at Fraser's Hill, Pahang. Don't really know which species it belongs to but it's a beautiful creature to admire.

Those Morbid Coffin Flies

2008-03-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

Coffin Fly. Photo: G. Gowing

I read about the coffin fly once a long time ago but I could never find them listed in any books or dictionary or encyclopedia until now. It is the most bizarre and morbid fly I have ever read about and it also reminds me of one of the stories my cousin told me when I was a kid. It was a horror story about scientist's discovery that the flies that crawl out of a dead person has always been there even when he was alive (could have been one of the Pan Book of Horror Stories collection).

The coffin fly is from the Phoridae family that looks like a hunchback with epilepsy. They can be easily identified with their peculiar fidgety running mannerisms, thus their second moniker the scuttle fly. These bizarre looking flies can be found in human corpses after one year of burial and they are known to dig for days through the crevices of the soil to reach their host. Because of their outré habit they are relevant to forensic entomology to solve crimes.

Once in the ground they can also complete a life cycle of a few generations without having to surface above. Other than the human body they can also be found in faeces, fungi and other decaying organic matters, which makes them carriers of disease causing organisms.

The female can lay up to 100 eggs at a time and over 750 eggs in her lifetime. From egg to adult it takes about 25 days to metamorphose depending on the species. The larvae will emerge from the egg within 24 hours, feed for 8 to 16 days and then pupate into an adult anywhere from 14 to 37 days.

One of the most amazing features of the phorid flies, from the genus Pseudacteon or ant-decapitating fly, is the ability it has to control fire ants by laying eggs in the ant's thorax where the first instar of larvae migrates to its head. By devouring the hemolymph, muscle and nervous tissues of the ant's head two weeks later the larvae will cause the ant's head to fall off. Horrific as it may sound the fly continues to pupate in the dome for another two weeks before emerging.

References:
http://www.deathonline.net/decomposition/corpse_fauna/flies/coffin.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoridae