Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts

2013-05-03

OpenWorm an Open-Source Virtual Worm

BBC News - Virtual worm project wriggles into life

The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is one of the most widely studied creatures on Earth
Soon you could have an artificial creature living in your web browser.
Programmers and scientists have joined together to try to create a comprehensive computer model of the Caenorhabditis elegans nematode worm.

OpenWorm Is An Open-Source Virtual Worm, Accurate In Every Way | Popular Science

Elegant Elegans The OpenWorm 3D Browser iPhone app lets you peek into C. elegans at the cellular level. MetaCell, LLC
Predictive models are essential in engineering fields, but less common in biology, though accurate simulations of living organisms could help us understand disease, drug efficacy and neuroscience.

OpenWorm, a new open-source project devoted to creating a complete virtual model of a worm, aims to bring simulation into the living world by creating a digital organism--C. elegans, a nematode commonly used as a model organism in biology research.




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2011-12-15

The Physics Behind Great White Shark Attacks

How Great White Sharks Hide in Plain Water | Motherboard

A group led by UM assistant professor Dr. Neil Hammerschlag studied the techniques employed by the great whites in their hunting of Cape fur seals in False Bay, South Africa. The study helps confirm a notion, long held by surfers whose silhouettes look somewhat like a seal’s, that great whites always stalk their prey from below. While that in itself isn’t surprising, Hammerschlag’s research, published in Marine Biology Research, showed that the sharks camouflage themselves by taking advantage of water’s light-scattering properties. In low light conditions, when sunlight is hitting the water at a sharp angle, light does not penetrate deep into the water, and what light does is heavily distorted, essentially hiding the shark in otherwise clear water.

New Study Illustrates the Physics Behind Great White Shark Attacks on Seals | The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami

Scientists use basic principles of underwater optics, physics to understand predator-prey interactions


Sharks typically search, stalk and strike their prey from below. The vast majority of predatory strikes by sharks and Cape fur seals occur against small groups of young-of-the-year seals. Predatory activity by sharks is most intense within two hours of sunrise and quickly decreases as light penetration in the water column increases.

“Stealth and ambush are key elements in the white shark's predatory strategy,” said Hammerschlag.

Cape fur seals also have unique techniques to detect, avoid, outmaneuver and in some cases injure the white shark in order to avoid predation by sharks.

According to the authors, if a seal is not disabled during the shark’s initial shark, the small seal can use its highly maneuverable body to leap away from the shark’s jaws to evade a second strike.

Taylor & Francis Online :: Marine predator–prey contests: Ambush and speed versus vigilance and agility - Marine Biology Research - Volume 8, Issue 1

Differences in relative strengths and weaknesses between predators and prey under tactical contexts result in complex and dynamic contests between them. These contests are often brief and difficult to observe in marine systems. Here, we employ basic principles of underwater optics and physics to provide a conceptual understanding of mechanisms underlying predator–prey interactions between white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) and Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) that have been previously described at Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa.



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2011-08-21

Huge Warrior Wasp Discovered in Indonesia

UC Davis entomologist discovers wasp in Indonesia - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/19/3849100/uc-davis-entomologist-discovers.html
  • A predator wasp as long as a pinkie finger has been discovered on a remote Indonesian island by a UC Davis entomologist.
    Lynn Kimsey, affectionately known around campus as the "Wasp Woman" for her entomological expertise on the flying insect, said the male wasp she discovered is about two-and-a-half inches in length. The black wasp was found on the island of Sulawesi on a recent expedition.

  • Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis with her newly discovered species, a male warrior wasp.
Posts Tagged: warrior wasp - The California Garden Web
http://cagardenweb.ucdavis.edu/?blogtag=warrior%20wasp&blogasset=42184

  • The male's jaws "are so large that they wrap up either side of the head when closed," Kimsey says. "When the jaws are open they are actually longer than the male’s front legs. I don’t know how it can walk."



    Kimsey discovered the warrior wasp on the Mekongga Mountains in southeastern Sulawesi on a recent biodiversity expedition funded by a five-year grant from the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program.
     The insect-eating predator belongs to the genus Dalara and family Crabronidae.
UC Davis Department of Entomology - UC Davis Entomologist Discovers New Species of Wasp: Gigantic Wasp with Long, Powerful Jaws
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/news/warriorwaspnewspecies.html
  • Kimsey discovered the warrior wasp on the Mekongga Mountains in southeastern Sulawesi on a recent biodiversity expedition funded by a five-year grant from the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program.
  • Sulawesi, a large Indonesian island located between Borneo and New Guinea, is known not only for its endemic biodiversity, but its rainforest and its proximity (three degrees) to the equator.  Development threatens plant and animal life.
  • The International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program is a multi-agency program led by the National Institutes of Health with contributions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.


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2011-05-24

Tardigrades in Space

Collected from: YouTube - The Water Bear

Tardigrades: Water bears in space

Tardigrades are microscopic animals commonly known as water bears

In 2007, a little known creature called a tardigrade became the first animal to survive exposure to space.

Tardigrades join other microscopic organisms selected to be part of a project into extreme survival.

Project Biokis is sponsored by the Italian Space Agency and will investigate the impact of short-duration spaceflight on a number of microscopic organisms.

NASA - BIOKon In Space (BIOKIS)

Brief Summary

BIOKon In Space (BIOKIS) involves the investigation of seven experiments sponsored by the Italian Space Agency (ASI-Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) in the areas of cellular biology, radiation and radioprotection, aging, germination and plant growth. These experiments will aim to evaluate various biological species to determine genetic distinctions following short-duration space flight; also, BIOKIS will utilize a variety of dosimeters to monitor radiation.
[...]
BIOKIS - TARDIKISS

Since the exposure to the space environment can induce rapid changes in living systems, this study aims to define the countermeasures needed to protect sensitive organisms, including humans, which are not naturally able to withstand extreme stresses under space conditions; and for the study of future long-term explorations of the solar system.


Tardigrades In Space (TARDIS)

Tardigrades In Space or "TARDIS" is the first research project to evaluate the ability of tardigrades to survive under open space conditions. TARDIS is one of the projects within the Biopan-6 research platform provided by European Space Agency (ESA), and will be sent into space with the russian FOTON-M3 mission.

What is the aim of TARDIS?

[...]

At a more mechanistic biological level, exposure of organisms to space conditions will reveal how living cells react to the potentially very stressful impact of space parameters. And organisms that can handle the damaging space parameters will be important sources of knowledge for how to generate the space ecosystems that will be necessary for the more permanent human establishments in space that is envisaged today.

The TARDIS experiment consists of two sets of samples: one set exposed to both space vacuum and solar radiation, and another set exposed to space vacuum only. All tardigrade specimens included in the study are in a dry, anhydrobiotic state. Species included are: Richtersius coronifer, Milnesium tardigradum, Echiniscus testudo, Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri. These are all known to be very tolerant to desiccation.

Once on the ground again, these samples will be analysed for survival and reproductive potential, and for damage on DNA.

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2011-02-17

Bladderworts Ultrafast Suction Trap Killer Plant

Utricularia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Utricularia, commonly and collectively called the bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of approximately 227 species (precise counts differ based on classification opinions; one recent publication lists 215 species).[1] They occur in fresh water and wet soil as terrestrial or aquatic species across every continent except Antarctica. Utricularia are cultivated for their flowers, which are often compared with those of snapdragons and orchids, and among carnivorous plant enthusiasts.


Utricularia, Carnivorous Plants Online - Botanical Society of America


Utricularia - The Bladderwort

TRAP TYPE: Suction Trap
Currently 220 listed species occupying temperate and tropical habitats throughout the world--the most diverse and widespread genus of carnivorous plants.
Utricularia (bladderwort, Figure 2), a plant named for its tiny bladders, or utricles. Unlike the other carnivorous plants discussed here, Utricularia often lives in open water, but again where the nutrient concentration is relatively low. One common habitat is in the nutrient-poor bog lakes. In the open water, it supplements its nutrients by trapping insects in a bladder that is like a suction bulb (Figure 1, Figure 4, and Figure 5). Tiny hairlike projections at the opening of the bladder are sensitive to the motion of passing organisms like Daphnia (water fleas). When they are stimulated, these hairs cause the flattened bladder to suddenly inflate, sucking in water and the passing animal and closing a trap door after it.





Discovery News

Killer Plant Sucks in Prey at Record Speed


THE GIST
  • Bladderworts have just been named the world's fastest trapping carnivorous plants.
  • These aquatic meat-eaters suck and trap prey in less than a millisecond.
  • The sucking and trapping mechanism is among the fastest movements in the entire plant kingdom.


Carnivorous Bladderworts Suck Up Prey - Science News

Carnivorous bladderworts trap prey with speed that would make a Bond villain shudder in gleeful envy.

Using high-speed cameras, researchers have gotten the first good look at how these underwater plants spring their ambushes. Bladderworts sport trap doors that buckle in with a tiny nudge, creating a whirlpool that sucks in wee critters — all in about half a millisecond. That’s some of the fastest plant action on Earth, a French and German team reports online February 15 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
[...]
Small or not, the traps are masterpieces of suction. Pumped nearly dry, the chambers set up a pressure difference between the plant’s innards and the water outside. When swimmers brush up against a series of hairs along the trap door, the door bursts open and sucks water and crustaceans alike in.

Despite decades of interest in these nefarious plants, botanists couldn’t say for sure how the traps worked. Bladderworts were just too quick for old-school cameras. But with fancy new high-speed cameras, biologists can get their close-ups, says Adamec.
[...]

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2010-11-23

Flying Snakes

How flying snakes glide from tree to tree by 'slithering' through the air | Mail Online



Scientists have discovered how a certain species of snake is able to ‘fly’ by appearing to slither while in the air.

Five related species of tree-dwelling snakes found in Southeast and South Asia are able to 'fly' by flinging themselves from their nest and gliding to a branch on another tree.

The discovery may one day have implications for new technology for military drones or aircraft as the latest research was sponsored by the US Defence Department.


YouTube - Gliding snake

Compilation of high-speed video's of flying snakes Chrysopelea paradisi


Collected from: YouTube - Gliding snake

YouTube - Flying Snakes Caught on Camera


Five related species of tree-dwelling snakes found in Southeast and South Asia may just be the worst nightmares of ophidiophobes (people who have abnormal fears of snakes). Not only are they snakes, but they can "fly"--flinging themselves off their perches, flattening their bodies, and gliding from tree to tree or to the ground.



When Snakes Fly : Discovery News

THE GIST
  • Video footage and a new mathematical model explain how five snake species achieve gliding flight.
  • The snakes stay in the air for up to 79 feet because the upward component of the aerodynamic force is greater than the snake's weight.
  • Future studies on the snakes and other animal gliders could lead to more energy-efficient flying vehicles.


Collected from: Flying Snake Home Page

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2010-08-08

Caterpillar Crawl Could Inspire Robots Design

As worms move, so might robots

Scientists scrutinize their locomotion with an eye toward making soft-bodied mechanical beings for sophisticated tasks in tough spots



Tufts University researchers are studying tobacco hornworm caterpillars for clues about how to build robots inspired by nature.

[...] a paper published online in Current Biology described the use of powerful X-rays of a caterpillar crawling on a treadmill to reveal that, bizarrely, a caterpillar’s innards thrust forward before the rest of its body when it crawls, perhaps helping it to move.


Discovery News 

Caterpillars Move Guts-First

  • Caterpillars crawl using a "two-body" system of locomotion never seen before.
  • Caterpillar guts slide forward before other parts of the insect move.
  • This form of locomotion is inspiring new designs for soft-bodied robots.

Caterpillars move gut-first, new X-ray research shows.


Trimmer Laboratory for Neurobiology and Neuromechanics

Research

The neural control of soft-bodied locomotion

Most of our understanding of animal movements is based on creatures with stiff skeletons such as humans, dogs, birds and cockroaches. However many animals do not have hard skeletons and we know relatively little about how they control their bodies. Our model system is the caterpillar, Manduca sexta which does not have joints to restrict movements. They can crumple, compress and rotate body parts with virtually unlimited freedom. We are trying to understand how the nervous system interacts with tissues to controls these complex movements.

Using these findings we are also designing and building new types of flexible robots. The challenge is to create a comprehensive set of engineering tools so that soft materials can be controlled reliably in any moving device.

This is new field of Soft Material Robotics. Such robots could be used to navigate through pipelines or intricate structures such as blood vessels and air tubes. Learn more >



Visceral-Locomotory Pistoning in Crawling Caterpillars

Current Biology, 22 July 2010

Authors

Michael A. Simonsend, William A. Woods, Yevgeniy V. Serebrenik, Sharotka M. Simon, Linnea I. van Griethuijsen, John J. Socha, Wah-Keat Lee, Barry A. Trimmer

Highlights
  • The gut in crawling Manduca sexta caterpillars moves independently of the body wall
  • This visceral-locomotory pistoning offers evidence for a nonlinear elastic gut
  • This two-bodied biomechanical system is a novel finding in animal locomotion


Sources
As worms move, so might robots - The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/07/26/as_worms_move_so_might_robots/
YouTube - Science Nation - Creeping, Crawling Caterpillars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM0crDOGm2w&feature=related
Caterpillars Move Guts-First : Discovery News
http://news.discovery.com/animals/caterpillar-locomotion-crawl.html
Trimmer Laboratory: Neurobiology and Neuromechanics - Tufts University
http://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/trimmer/research/
YouTube - Visceral-Locomotory Pistoning in Crawling Caterpillars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auiVLqaIJbo
Current Biology - Visceral-Locomotory Pistoning in Crawling Caterpillars
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(10)00807-9

Related
Trimmer Laboratory: Neurobiology and Neuromechanics - Tufts University
http://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/trimmer/
Caterpillar Crawl Could Inspire New Robots | Science and Technology | English
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/Caterpillar-Crawl-Could-Inspire-New-Robotic-Designs-99545754.html
Gut Check: How Do Caterpillars Walk? : NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128695206
Gut movements in caterpillars inspire soft-body robot design (w/ Video)
http://www.physorg.com/news199007129.html
Observatory - New Insight Into a Caterpillar’s Crawl - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/science/27obslither.html?_r=2
How Did the Caterpillar Cross the Road?
http://www.aps.anl.gov/News/APS_News/Content/APS_NEWS_20100727.php

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2010-07-20

'Thinking' Plants

Can Plants Think?

In a new study, scientists have found a cabbage relative capable of remembering and responding to information

A Polish study showed plants send electrochemical signals in a way that can be likened to an animal nervous system. This image shows chemical reactions in leaves that were not exposed to light; they are reacting to a chemical signal from a leaf that was exposed.



Plants 'can think and remember'

The scientists discovered the "nervous systems" of Arabidopsis plants

Plants are able to "remember" and "react" to information contained in light, according to researchers.

Plants, scientists say, transmit information about light intensity and quality from leaf to leaf in a very similar way to our own nervous systems.

These "electro-chemical signals" are carried by cells that act as "nerves" of the plants.

In their experiment, the scientists showed that light shone on to one leaf caused the whole plant to respond.

And the response, which took the form of light-induced chemical reactions in the leaves, continued in the dark.

This showed, they said, that the plant "remembered" the information encoded in light.
The researchers used fluorescence imaging to watch the plants respond

Thinking plants
 
What was even more peculiar, Professor Karpinski said, was that the plants' responses changed depending on the colour of the light that was being shone on them.

[...]

"So the plants perform a sort of biological light computation, using information contained in the light to immunise themselves against diseases that are prevalent during that season."




The Laboratory of Physiomics and Crop Design

Discovery of light (quantum) memory and photoelectro physiological signalling in plants


Evidence for Light Wavelength-Specific Photo-Electro-Physiological Signaling and Memory of Excess Light Episodes in Arabidopsisa

Magdalena Szechyńska-Hebda, Jerzy Kruk, Magdalena Górecka, Barbara Karpińska and Stanisław Karpiński*

SYNOPSIS
This work examines light-wavelength specific electro-physiological signaling and cellular light memory in Arabidopsis. Animals have their network of neurons, synapses, electro-physiological circuits and memory, but plants have their network of chloroplasts (connected by stromules), photo-electro-physiological signals transduced by bundle sheath cells, and cellular light memory.


Sources
Can Plants Think? | Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/study-unveils-plant-nervous-system-illuminating-how-plants-remember-and-react
BBC News - Plants 'can think and remember'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10598926
Discovery of light (quantum) memory and photoelectro physiological signalling in plants (Szechyńska-Hebda et al., Plant Cell 2010, 22: in press). More info on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10598926 | The Laboratory of Physiomics and Crop Design
http://lfmbr.sggw.pl/?q=en/node/32

Related
Observations: Plants cannot 'think and remember,' but there's nothing stupid about them: They're shockingly sophisticated
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=plants-cannot-think-and-remember-bu-2010-07-16
Tags: science, SU
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http://www.sggw.pl/?lang=en
Team | The Laboratory of Physiomics and Crop Design
http://lfmbr.sggw.pl/?q=en/node/10
Evidence for Light Wavelength-Specific Photoelectrophysiological Signaling and Memory of Excess Light Episodes in Arabidopsis -- Szechynska-Hebda et al., 10.1105/tpc.109.069302 -- THE PLANT CELL
http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/content/abstract/tpc.109.069302v1
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2010-03-07

Mycoremediation -- Using Fungi to Improve the Environment

Clipped from: Mycroremediation | How Fungi Can Restore Our Habitats - D.U.S. - Design Under Sky

Mycroremediation | How Fungi Can Restore Our Habitats


[Electron Micrograph showing the 'internet' of mycelium]

 
[Paul Stamets and giant fungi]

Mycelium, as Stamets says in his 2008 TED talk are the ultimate soil builders. The mother of trees. We are more closely related to fungi then any other kingdom. They are external neurological membranes, and this microbial universe gives rise to a plurality of other organisms. It is earth's natural internet, highly branched with alternative paths that cling to soil, decomposing matter and creating stability.



Clipped from: Mycoremediation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mycoremediation

Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation, the process of using fungi to return an environment (usually soil) contaminated by pollutants to a less contaminated state. The term mycoremediation was coined by Paul Stamets and refers specifically to the use of fungal mycelia in bioremediation.
 [...]


Mycofiltration is a similar or same process, using fungal mycelia to filter toxic waste and microorganisms from water in soil.

Clipped from: Fungi Perfecti: Mushrooms and the ecosystem
 


Helping the Ecosystem
through Mushroom Cultivation



Growing Mushrooms=Creating Fertile Soils

 


Mycoremediation
From a piece of tissue the size of one tenth of your little fingernail, what we call a clone, cells can be grown exponentially into millions of pounds of mushrooms in as little as several months. More than 10% of the growing medium or "substrate" (straw, sawdust, compost, most agricultural and forest debris) can be converted into a protein- and vitamin-rich food. Not only are these mushrooms nutritious, they have demonstrated abilities in enhancing the human immune system, and they produce a slew of natural antibiotics. Yet it is the residual mycelium in that substrate that holds the greatest potential for ecological rehabilitation.


Clipped from: Mycoremediation Technologies

Mushrooms:
Higher Macrofungi to Clean Up the Environment

Potential applications for mycoremediation technologies include:
  • Agricultural waste reduction
  • Creation of buffer zones
  • Nonpoint source pollution reduction in watersheds
  • Contaminated sediment cleanup
  • Reduction of material relegated to confined disposal facilities
  • Decontamination
  • Minimization of contaminants from road runoff


Clipped from: Fungi Perfecti: road restoration and mushrooms
MYCOFILTRATION:
A NOVEL APPROACH FOR THE BIO-TRANSFORMATION
OF ABANDONED LOGGING ROADS


 
The Problem: Logging road networks such as this site in Northern California channel silt into salmon streams and impedes habitat restoration. Such roads are slow to recover. (Amaranthus & Trappe, 1993.)


 
Overlaying wood chips with wheat straw, after inoculation with mycelia. Note active siltation flow on right road surface. 


 Pleurotus ostreatus, the Oyster Mushroom, fruiting from mycoblanket four weeks after overlaid upon road surface at the Tahuya site.


After three years, an inspection of the reclaimed road showed a mantle of nearly contiguous mycelium at the wood chip/gravel interface, holding the sub-moraine together. One hypothesis is that the mycelium became resident in this zone, feeding upon the sheet flow of nutrified water along this interface. This photo shows an overturned rock which had beneath it a bed of mycelium. This sheath of mycelium extended for meters in all directions, securing the gravel in its grip.

Sources:
  1. Mycroremediation | How Fungi Can Restore Our Habitats - D.U.S. - Design Under Sky
  2. YouTube - Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
  3. Mycoremediation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  4. Fungi Perfecti: Mushrooms and the ecosystem
  5. Mycoremediation Technologies
  6. Fungi Perfecti: road restoration and mushrooms
Related:
  1. Paul Stamets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. Mycofiltration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. Fungi Perfecti: the finest mushroom products for home and garden, farm and forest, people and planet
  4. Battelle: Product Development, Research & Commercialization, Energy, Health & Life Sciences, National Security, Laboratory (Lab) Management, FutureGen & Safety Pharmacology
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2010-01-27

Photosynthetic Sea Slug makes Food out of Sunlight

Clipped from: CBC News - Technology & Science - Leaf-like sea slug feeds on light
CBCnews

Leaf-like sea slug feeds on light




A green sea slug found off North America's east coast not only looks like a leaf, but can also make food out of sunlight, just like a plant.

U.S. researchers have found that the sea slug Elysia chlorotica can photosynthesize, using energy from light to convert carbon dioxide into sugars.

"If you shine light on these slugs, they fix carbon dioxide and make oxygen just like a plant," Sidney Pierce of the University of South Florida told CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks.

Clipped from: Surprising Sea Slug Is Half-plant, Half-animal | LiveScience
LiveScience

Surprising Sea Slug Is Half-plant, Half-animal


The sneaky slugs seem to have stolen the genes that enable this skill from algae that they've eaten. With their contraband genes, the slugs can carry out photosynthesis — the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy.
[...]
The sea slugs live in salt marshes in New England and Canada. In addition to burglarizing the genes needed to make the green pigment chlorophyll, the slugs also steal tiny cell parts called chloroplasts, which they use to conduct photosynthesis. The chloroplasts use the chlorophyl to convert sunlight into energy, just as plants do, eliminating the need to eat food to gain energy.
Clipped from: YouTube - Elysia chlorotica - photosynthetic sea slug movie 1

Elysia chlorotica - photosynthetic sea slug movie 1





Clipped from: YouTube - Elysia chlorotica - photosynthetic sea slug movie 2

Elysia chlorotica - photosynthetic sea slug movie 2





Sources:
  1. CBC News - Technology & Science - Leaf-like sea slug feeds on light
  2. Surprising Sea Slug Is Half-plant, Half-animal | LiveScience
  3. | LiveScience.com
  4. YouTube - Elysia chlorotica - photosynthetic sea slug movie 1
  5. YouTube - Elysia chlorotica - photosynthetic sea slug movie 2
Related:
  1. USF :: Department of Integrative Biology
  2. The Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences (MBS) -- University of Maine
  3. Green sea slug makes chlorophyll like a plant
  4. Sea Slugs Generating Green Energy
  5. Green Sea Slug Is Part Animal, Part Plant | Wired Science | Wired.com
  6. Green sea slug is half animal, half plant
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2009-10-22

World's Largest Web-Spinning Spider

clipped from www.heute.at
clipped from www.youtube.com

'Giant' orb web spider discovered

National Geographic

Largest Web-Spinning Spider Found

Meet the newest odd couple of the animal kingdom: the giant female and tiny male of the largest web-spinning spider known to science: Nephila komaci.


The female of the species has a leg span of up to 5 inches (12 centimeters), while the male—which spends much of its time clambering on its partner's back—barely reaches an inch (2.5 centimeters), a new study says.

clipped from en.wikipedia.org
Nephila komaci

Nephila komaci is a member of the golden orb-web spider group and is the largest web-spinning spider known.[1] Few specimens have been found in South Africa and Madagascar. N. komaci females are the largest Nephila yet discovered. Its tip-to-tip leg span is about 12 centimetres, and spins a web that is equally impressive in size, measuring more than a metre in diameter. (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091020/science/science_giant_spider)

clipped from www.plosone.org

Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila

clipped from www.plosone.org

blog it

Sources:
  1. Madagaskar-Spinne webt metergroße Netze - Heute.at - Kurioses
  2. YouTube - 'Giant' orb web spider discovered
  3. Largest Web-Spinning Spider Found
  4. Photo: Largest Web-Spinning Spider Found
  5. Nephila komaci - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  6. PLoS ONE: Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila
  7. PLoS ONE : accelerating the publication of peer-reviewed science
Related:
  1. BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | 'Giant' orb web spider discovered
  2. Arachnophobics beware: Researchers identify giant new spider species - Yahoo! Canada News
  3. Scientists Discover Largest Orb-weaving Spider
  4. Scientists discover largest orb-weaving spider
  5. Largest web-spinning spider on record found in South Africa - Times Online
  6. Nephilidae.com, a web resource for nephilid spiders, by Matjaz Kuntner
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