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wtf_nature
Nightmare Fuel Redux
I expect that at least some of you are familiar with Velvet Worms, or Onychophorans - the old, old, old walking 'worms' with the hydrostatic bodyshape, live young, and such honourable ancestors as the bizarre Hallucigenia of the Burgess Shales.
Australian species use dagger and axe-shaped appendages on their heads to position their skin-dissolving sperm-packages.
But added to such charming habits are these, are those enjoyed by Euperipatoides rowelli that I learned of just today, at the Zoologger entry Judge Dredd worm traps prey with riot foam.
"Not only do they live in groups, they hunt in packs. Their usual victims are small insects like termites, but they sometimes go for animals much larger than themselves, such as grasshoppers... When it comes to the main course, there is a strict feeding hierarchy, with the dominant female feeding alone for the first hour. Then other females are allowed to chow down, and finally the males and juveniles."
Oh, and the riot foam they use to immobilise prey before they inject saliva and tear it apart? It sets into a glass.
Unky Dave on Velvet Worms, with footage of the riot foam in action
Australian species use dagger and axe-shaped appendages on their heads to position their skin-dissolving sperm-packages.
But added to such charming habits are these, are those enjoyed by Euperipatoides rowelli that I learned of just today, at the Zoologger entry Judge Dredd worm traps prey with riot foam.
"Not only do they live in groups, they hunt in packs. Their usual victims are small insects like termites, but they sometimes go for animals much larger than themselves, such as grasshoppers... When it comes to the main course, there is a strict feeding hierarchy, with the dominant female feeding alone for the first hour. Then other females are allowed to chow down, and finally the males and juveniles."
Oh, and the riot foam they use to immobilise prey before they inject saliva and tear it apart? It sets into a glass.
Unky Dave on Velvet Worms, with footage of the riot foam in action
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