24 ALIEN ZOO
NEWS FROM THE CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL GARDEN KARL SHUKER greets two new species that have eluded scientific observation – until now
A FISHY FACE-HUGGER
Media accounts are not unknown for spouting forth some tortuous taxonomic claims when reporting the discovery of new animals, but this latest example is particularly notable. In December 2019, numerous accounts appeared online regarding a supposed fish named after the face-hugging xenomorph entity that appeared in the sci-fi/horror movie Alien (1979). Closer inspection soon revealed that said xenomorph lookalike is not a fish at all, nor even a vertebrate, but rather a new species of sea anemone, i.e. belonging to a group of invertebrates closely allied to corals, jellyfishes and hydrozoans.
Discovered at depths of 2501100m (820-3,600ft) in the Pacific Ocean off Japan and Australia, it has been formally dubbed Epizoanthus xenomorphoideus, and attaches itself to a hermit crab. It then secretes a pseudo-shell known as a carcinoecium around the crab, which grows as the crab itself grows (thereby saving the latter from needing to find an empty shell or some other object to use as a shell), so establishing a symbiotic relationship with the crab. University of the Ryukyus researcher Dr Hioki Kise has suggested that this very intimate relationship between sea anemone and hermit crab, to the extent of the anemone constructing a protective shell for the crab, may have evolved in order to adapt to the extreme environments of the deep sea. www.canberratimes.com.au/ story/6554174/face-hugger-fish-foundin-aussie-waters/?cs=14231 20 Dec; https://7news.com.au/technology/ science/terrifying-alien-fish-discovered-inaussie-waters-c-615789 20 Dec 2019.
PURPLE EGGS AND SCARLET SCREAMS
It never fails to intrigue me how eyecatching species can remain hidden in plain sight from human scrutiny for lengthy periods of time, but it certainly does happen, and here is yet another example. December 2019 saw the official description and naming in the journal Zootaxa of Latrodectus umbukwane – a new species of South African forest-dwelling widow spider (or button spider, as commonly referred to in that country). Visually, it is highly distinctive and conspicuous for three very different reasons. Firstly, its sizeable females may be the biggest on record for any widow spider species. Secondly, they possess a vivid vertical scarlet streak running down their back, which, in combination with a series of white squiggle-like markings surrounding it, creates the unexpected image of a screaming human face (more than a little reminiscent, in fact, of Edvard
Munch’s famous ‘The Scream’), and very eye-catching. So much so that this characteristic is what inspired its species name – umbukwane is an isiZulu word for something so noticeable that it simply cannot be walked past. Thirdly, they lay bright purple eggs.
So how has such a spider avoided discovery for so long? Remarkably, and unlike most animals, this spider is so secretive, staying concealed in tree hollows in quite inaccessible, critically endangered sand forests, that it has even remained hidden from local communities, let alone scientific observation. It only came to light in 2014, when a specimen spotted in an elephant reserve was brought to the attention of entomologist Barbara Wright and colleagues at the Wild Tomorrow Fund in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province. Rather than collecting it, they chose to leave it alive and on-site within the tree hollow that it was inhabiting, but they visited it regularly to study it there, and eventually it laid a sac of purple eggs, finally dying of old age two years after it had been found. Searches then revealed additional specimens in the area, and analysis of DNA samples confirmed that they represented a new, hitherto undocumented species, now dubbed the Phinda widow spider after the nature reserve where it is known to exist. https://gizmodo.com/newly-discoveredwidow-spider-lays-bright-purpleeggs-1840264174 9 Dec 2019.