Entomological Discoveries (Warning: Creepy Crawlies)

[Recusant]

Though I imagine there have been others in the past few months, these two recently discovered species are particularly impressive and/or intriguing.

"Chinese bug declared world's longest insect" | PhysOrg

Phryganistria chinensis Zhao

A bug over half a metre long discovered in southern China has been declared the world's longest insect, Chinese state media says.

A stick insect measuring 62.4 centimetres found two years ago in the southern province of Guangxi has broken the record for length amongst the world's 807,625 known insects, the official Xinhua agency said Thursday, citing the Insect Museum of West China.

The previous record-holder was a Malaysian 56.7-centimetre-long stick insect discovered in 2008 and now on display in London's Natural History Museum.

Tipped off by locals about a huge beast half a metre long but as thick as a human index finger, scientist Zhao Li had been on the hunt for the bug for six years before he finally glimpsed and captured one.

[Continues . . .]

Xinhua press release

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" 'Horrific' First Amphibious Centipede Discovered" | National Geographic

Scolopendra cataracta

George Beccaloni of the Natural History Museum in London was on his honeymoon in Thailand in 2001. And like any good entomologist, he was looking for bugs.

"Wherever I go in the world, I always turn over rocks beside streams, and that's where I found this centipede, which was quite a surprise," says Beccaloni.

"It was pretty horrific-looking: very big with long legs and a horrible dark, greenish-black color," he says.

When Beccaloni lifted the rock it was hiding under, the centipede immediately escaped into the stream, rather than into the forest. It ran along the stream bed underwater and concealed itself under a rock.

With some difficulty, Beccaloni captured the centipede and later put it in a large container of water. He says it immediately dove to the bottom and swam powerfully like an eel, with horizontal undulations of its body. When he took the centipede out of the container, the water rolled off its body, leaving it totally dry.

[Continues . . .]

[gentle_dissident]

Thank you for the awesome addition to my day. The centipede VS grasshopper mouse video is an amazing story.

[xSilverPhinx]

Argh!