If you enjoyed the the blue cloud forest millipede I blogged about a week ago I am sure you are gonna love this new thumb-sized millipede species that was just announced:
Apheloria polychroma (credit)
The critters depicted above were discovered around the forest floor of Southwest Virginia's Cumberland Mountains by entomologist Paul Marek who described the species as Apheloria polychroma. According to Marek, the species holds the record for "millipede with most color combinations", which also explains the specific epithet "polychroma" from the greek words "poly + chroma" for "many colors".
But why is the millipede so colorful? That's a trait known as aposematism. Simply put, the colors act as a warning sign to any potential predator that this critter is not safe to eat, so better stay the fuck out buddy! Specifically, A. polychroma is covered with cyanide, enough to kill birds and other small predators.
Interestingly, in the same area there are some other millipedes that are not as toxic as A. polycroma but have a similar colorful appearance. Those rely on another, very smart tactic to avoid predation. They simply fake to be aposematic (Müllerian mimicry) so predators again have seconds thoughts about eating them!
The similarity in coloration with co-occurring species is a consequence of Müllerian mimicry. wrote Marek in the corresponding paper.
And in totally unrelated news...
A Millimiter Can Make All The Difference Between Life And Death
So, this story I am gonna talk about comes from the king of Fake News, CNN, so please take it with a grain of salt. However, it appears to be legit.
About a week ago, Darius Foreman, a teenager from Maryland fell while building a tree house. As he fell, he knocked over a wooden board with a big ass screw attached to it. The board landed on his head, nail first and the panicked parents (damn, that had to be scary!) took the boy to Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The X-ray showed that the screw had become lodged between the two halves of his brain:
I am no doctor but this doesn't look good to me! (credit)
"He was a millimeter away from having himself bleed to death." said Cohen, chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, told CNN.
But the goddess of luck ultimately decided to smile that day. Rumors say that the excellent skills of the neurosurgeons also played a small part. The screw was surgically removed and the teenager is on his way to a total recovery without suffering any serious damages :)
Crow Ears
Did you know crows have ears? No? Ok, here's how they look like:
Ok, that's all for today!