China Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Plate-sized spider found in Mekong December 15, 2008 Article from: The Times STRIPED rabbits, bright pink millipedes laced with cyanide and a spider bigger than a dinner plate are among a host of new species discovered in a remote wildlife hotspot. The Greater Mekong is described as one of the last scientifically unexplored regions of the world and it abounds in life seen nowhere else in the world. So little is known about the ecology of the region that previously unknown animals and plants have been turning up at a rate of two a week for a decade. At least 1,068 new species were identified in the Greater Mekong from 1997 to 2007 along with several thousand tiny invertebrates. Annamite striped rabbits, Nesolagus timminsi, with black and brown fur, were discovered in Vietnam and Laos in 2000 and are only the second species of striped rabbit to be identified. The other is in Sumatra, the two sharing a common ancestor that lived several million years ago. Among the most bizarre to be discovered was a hot-pink, spiny dragon millipede, Desmoxytes purpurosea. Several were found simultaneously in Thailand as they crawled over limestone rocks and palm leaves. To defend themselves from predators the millipedes have glands that produce cyanide. Scientists believe that the shocking-pink colouration is to signal to predators that they would make a fatal snack. "They would do well to heed this warning," concluded a WWF report on the Greater Mekong discoveries. A huntsman spider, named Heteropoda maxima, measured 30cm across and was found in caves in Laos. It was described as the "most remarkable" of 88 new species of spider located in Laos, Thailand and the Yunnan province of China. The Greater Mekong comprises 600,000 square kilometres of wetlands and rainforest along 2,800 miles of the Mekong River in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and China. Wars, internal problems and the remoteness of the region kept most international scientists away for decades but in the 1990s it began to be surveyed extensively for its wildlife. Click on the link for the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 link doesn't work China- (I was hoping to see a picture) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 Link is fixed. There are no pictures at the link but here are some of the animals: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 Ah, I found more. Here's a link to many pictures of what they found: http://www.inquisitr.com/12068/greater-mekong-new-species-heteropoda-maxima/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateCitySkin Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 dear god that one animal looks like a mutant monkey on drugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFromYellowstone Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 There have to be many more species to be discovered there. I love reading about unknown and undiscovered things like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsfan07 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 here's the spider....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpillian Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 That looks to be a very large spider. I will now cower and weep in my cubicle. Can you imagine being the poor sap who stumbled across those things in a Laotian cave?!?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 are there any pictures of that spider that show size relative to its surroundings? Is it deadly? agressive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakkhim Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I Hate Spiders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 In before clock spider. (google it yourself - I don't wanna see it again) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BALLz Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I'm guessing that pink thing is the cyanide laced centipede. When is the guy who eats all those strange foods gonna try one of those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redd Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 That's one badass looking snake. I would cry like a little girl if I ever ran into one of those spiders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 very vivid/bright colors are kind of natures way of saying "do not touch". Ever notice that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xameil Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 are there any pictures of that spider that show size relative to its surroundings?Is it deadly? agressive? article said it was a type of huntsman spider...I don't think they are deadly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dictator Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I would stomp on that millipede until my leg hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeGreen Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 article said it was a type of huntsman spider...I don't think they are deadly. It also said its legs can reach to a diameter of about 11.8 inches across. If one of those dropped beside me I do believe I'd have to scream like a girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiLfan Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 In before clock spider.(google it yourself - I don't wanna see it again) as you requested, govenah: (i'll leave the rest to the imagination...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#98QBKiller Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 very vivid/bright colors are kind of natures way of saying "do not touch". Ever notice that? Yep. Coral Snakes, Poison Dart Frogs, Black Widows all have very conspicuous markings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkFan8 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 China's spider thread to non-spider thread ratio is quite unbalanced I hate that clock picture so much, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zguy28 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpvpmonyaYE&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonOfWashington Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 as you requested, govenah: (i'll leave the rest to the imagination...) So much for that clock on my wall. *smash* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanCollins Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 here's the spider....... given that the spider is 11", that photo is about to scale on a 19" display :ahhhhh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateCitySkin Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 eh spiders don't bother me... i dunno why people freak out... now rats i dun like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedskinDaddy Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 article said it was a type of huntsman spider...I don't think they are deadly. No, but you can bet your tuckus it's fast. In the Hawaiian islands there are cane spiders, so named because -- duh -- they like to hang out in the sugar cane fields. I have pretty big hands, and I've seen these suckers as large as my hands with the fingers spread out. They're also hunters, rather than web-builders, and they move UNBELIEVABLY fast. It's genuinely scary to see one of those suckers haul ass down a wall, or across a floor. Brrrr... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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