Date: February 28, 2019
Source: University of Michigan
Warning
to arachnophobes and the faint of heart: This is the stuff of nightmares, so
you might want to proceed with caution.
A
University of Michigan-led team of biologists has documented 15 rare and
disturbing predator-prey interactions in the Amazon rainforest including
keep-you-up-at-night images of a dinner plate-size tarantula dragging a young
opossum across the forest floor.
The
photos are part of a new journal article titled "Ecological interactions
between arthropods and small vertebrates in a lowland Amazon rainforest."
Arthropods are invertebrate animals with segmented bodies and jointed
appendages that include insects, arachnids (spiders, scorpions, mites and
ticks) and crustaceans.
The
article, scheduled for online publication Feb. 28 in Amphibian &
Reptile Conservation, details instances of arthropod predators -- mostly large
spiders along with a few centipedes and a giant water bug -- preying on
vertebrates such as frogs and tadpoles, lizards, snakes, and even a small
opossum.
"This
is an underappreciated source of mortality among vertebrates," said
University of Michigan evolutionary biologist Daniel Rabosky. "A
surprising amount of death of small vertebrates in the Amazon is likely due to
arthropods such as big spiders and centipedes."
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!