[toadschooled]

How did the shrill whistling frog [Austrochaperina gracilipes] get it’s name? If you guessed it’s because of it’s loud and squeaky call, you are correct! These frogs can be found around around the northern tip of the Cape York region. They lay their eggs directly in the leaf litter. After about two weeks, the eggs hatch into mini-frogs, completely skipping the tadpole stage. Images by Eric Vanderduys.

[biocanvas]

The retina of a painted turtle

Birds and some reptiles are known to have the most sophisticated color vision systems of any vertebrate. In the eye, light is focused onto the retina, which contains cone cells responsible for sensing color. In this retina from a painted turtle, cone cells contain oil droplets colored with carotenoids. These droplets act like tiny lenses, filtering specific colors onto cone cells. The amount of carotenoid in each droplet determines if the cone senses red, blue, green, or ultraviolet light.

Image by Dr. Joseph Corbo, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Class Scaphopoda

(tusk shells)

Scaphopods are a group of small marine molluscs, that can be found on soft substrates worldwide. The name tusk comes from the shell that the animal excretes as it looks similar to an small elephants tusk with both ends hollowed out. Scaphopods spend most of their lives on the seafloor where they feed on zooplankton and other nutrients, in a similar fashion to a lancelet. in order to accomplish this, they burrow into the sand where water enters their body through their apical aperture, it then is rapidly expelled out to keep a continuous flow. At the bottom of the animal a number of small tentacles around the animals foot sift through the sediment and bring food back to the animal.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Mollusca-Scaphopoda

Source,Source

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Hispaniolan solenodon

(Solenodon paradoxus)

also known as the Haitian solenodon, the Hispaniolan solenodon is a species of solenodon (a group of insectivorous mammals) found on Hispaniola. Solenodons are similar in looks to a giant shrew, but solenondons are very different than shrews though, as they are one of the only venomous mammals, they have toxic saliva that is secreted in their submaxillary glands giving them a poisonous bite. They are a very secretive species and were discovered fairly recently, This is partly due to their nocturnal lifestyle which they thrive in due to their acute senses. Despite their elusiveness and dangerous bite they are listed as endangered, this is due to their evolution. the Hispaniolan Solenodon evolved on an island with no natural predators so they are very clumsy and have a hard time evading introduced animals like dogs and mongooses.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Chordata-Mammalia-Soricomorpha-Solenodontidae-Solenodon-paradoxus

Source,Source

[astronomy-to-zoology]

 Flower Hat Jelly

(Olindias formosa)

is a species of hydrozoan jellyfish (not a true jellyfish which is a scyphozoan) found in waters off of southern Japan. their small tentacles that are coiled and adhere to the rim of the jelly’s translucent bell earns this animal the name flower hat as it apparently looks like a flower wearing a translucent hat. this jelly is medium sized and can grow up to 6 inches long in diameter, their sting is non lethal but will cause pain in humans.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Cnidaria-Hydrozoa-Limnomedusae-Olindiidae-Olindias-formosa

Source,Source

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Marrus orthocanna

(no common name)

M. orthrocanna is a species of pelagic (open ocean) siphonophore found deep arctic waters. like all siphonophores M.orthrocanna is composed of arrangements of zooids that are linked together by a long stem and on said stem there are a number of nectophores which allow the colony to move through the water column. at the bottom of the animal is a short orange region called the siphosome which houses the zooids that collect food for the colony. they arent the largest of siphonophores but they can get fairly large growing up to 3-9 ft long and 20 in wide and they totally look like a rocket taking off…

Phylogeny

Animalia-Cnidaria-Hydrozoa-Siphonophorae-Agalmatidae-Marrus-orthocanna

Source

[astronomy-to-zoology]

 Lammergeier

(Gypaetus barbatus)

also known as the Bearded Vulture or the Lammergeyer, the lammergeier is a species of old world vulture found on high mountains in Europe and Asia (such as the Alps and Himalayas). They are a fairly big bird as adults can grow up to 49 in long and have a wingspan of 9 ft! One of the most interesting characteristics about this bird other than it’s size is its dietary habits, as like most vultures they feed on dead animals, but these birds almost exclusively eat bone marrow (making it the only bird to do so). now you might be thinking bone marrow is hard to get too and birds have no teeth so how does the lammergeier feed on said marrow, well the lammergeier has devised a clever plan to extract the marrow by using its alpine environment. the bird simply flies up to around 100-500 feet and drops the bone until it cracks and exposes the marrow which it then eats (they also do this with tortoises).

Phylogeny

Animalia-Chordata-Aves-Falconiformes-Accipitridae-Aegypiinae-Gypaetus-barbatus

Source,Source

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Banded Piglet Squid

(Helicocranchia pfefferi)

the banded piglet squid is a small 4in long species of squid of the family Cranchiidae (glass squids) found in the North Atlantic. This species of squid is unique in that they have a pair of small tentacles above their eyes which expose their beak, these tentacles and their exposed mouth give them the animal their name as apparently people think the squid looks like a piglet (although i don’t see it).

Phylogeny

Animalia-Mollusca-Cephalopoda-Teuthida-Cranchiidae-Helicocranchia-pfefferi

Source,Source

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Baiji

(Lipotes vexillifer)

the Baiji is a species of small freshwater dolphin found exclusively in the Yangtze River in China. Since 2006 they have been declared functionally extinct as there were no individuals left in the river. since then a large amount of conservation efforts were put in place to reintroduce captive animals back into the heavily industrialized river.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Chordata-Mammalia-Eutheria-Cetacea-Odontoceti-Plantanistodiea-Lipotidae-Lipotes-vexillifer

Source,Source

[tinsnip]

I love freshwater dolphins.