(Fuente: scottpommier, vía sins1987)
(Fuente: brianstorey)
(vía thesetamalesaregood)
A Look at Orchid Mantes by Scott Cromwell
In the first three images [found here] Scott Cromwell skillfully captures an “ignorant fruit fly” perched upon a pink Orchid Mantis’ leg before being grabbed up and eaten. In the last image [found here] a white Orchid Mantis is seen trying to intimidate and threaten it’s own recently molted exoskeleton.
Probably one of my favorite pictures of all time, Saturn V rocket getting arranged on the launch pad, nine of these took us to the moon, in the 1960’s and 70’s with primitive computers and most math skills being done purely from the operator’s own heads, this one pictured here was actually for the launch of Apollo 13, the recovery of which should definitely go down as a miracle of human spirit and history
C/2012 S1 (ISON) is a sungrazing comet discovered on 21 September 2012 by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok. The comet will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 28 November 2013 at a distance of 0.012 AU (1,800,000 km; 1,100,000 mi) from the center point of the Sun.
Between 5 June and 29 August 2013, comet ISON will have an elongation less than 30 degrees from the Sun. The Spitzer Space Telescope may observe the comet on June 13 and help estimate carbon dioxide production. Around September 2013, it should become bright enough to be visible through small telescopes or binoculars. But the comet is not expected to reach the naked eye magnitude of 6 until November.Assuming it survives perihelion passage, it should be visible to the naked eye until early January 2014.
In October, the comet will pass through the constellation Leo, passing near Leo’s brightest star Regulus and then passing near Mars in the night sky, and these brighter objects might make the comet easier to locate. STEREO should be able to view ISON around 10 October. In November, when the comet is brighter, it will sweep past another bright star in our sky, Spica in the constellation Virgo, and another planet, Saturn. SOHO will be able to view ISON starting 27 November. Around the time the comet reaches its perihelion on 28 November, it may become extremely bright if it remains intact, probably reaching a negative magnitude. It may briefly become brighter than the full Moon.
It is expected to be brightest around the time it is closest to the Sun; however, it may be less than 1° from the Sun at its closest, making it difficult to see against the Sun’s glare. In December, the comet will be growing dimmer, but, assuming that it remains intact, it will be visible from both hemispheres of Earth, possibly with a long tail.
Bringing Back the Dead
Once native to the wet and temperate climate of Queensland, Australia, the extinct gastric-brooding frog is different from most other frogs. For starters, it gives birth from its mouth, swallowing eggs to hide in its stomach until they’re ready to hatch. Secondly, all of the frogs have been dead since 1979, likely due to deforestation and pollution.
Now, scientists working on a de-extinction program, called the Lazarus Project, want to bring the baby-belching amphibian back to life. In a new experiment presented in front of the National Geographic Society, researchers successfully re-constructed the gastric-brooding frog’s embryos by combining its DNA with the eggs of a related species.
10 insects that look like they belong in an alien world. [Click images to enlarge & for descriptions.]
10. Puss Moth Caterpillar
With their soft bodies and high protein content, caterpillars are usually incredibly vulnerable. To fend off predators, they often resort to scare tactics. Sometimes it’s in the form of bright, flashy colors; sometimes it’s in the form of mimicry—looking or acting like another, more dangerous insect. The Puss Moth caterpillar opts for mimicry, forming a bizarre looking “face” that resembles a vertebrate face scary enough to send most curious predators the other way.
The caterpillars are bright green and will often have a row of white spots on either side of their body. On the head is a pair of black “eye spots”—directly above a gaping “mouth” through which the true head of the caterpillar protrudes. The effect is startling, but it’s even creepier in action: if the caterpillar is touched anywhere on its body, it will instantly turn its “face” directly towards the attacker. Touch it somewhere else, and the head follows you, like a Mona Lisa from hell.
And if that doesn’t work, it can always spray out a mist of formic acid from the two horns on its back.
9. Devil’s Flower Mantis Idolomantis Diabolica
One of the largest types of praying mantis, the Devil’s Flower Mantis is also one of the strangest. And that’s saying a lot when you’re talking about praying mantids. Females of the species can measure up to 5 inches (13 cm) long, and have developed a range of natural coloring that allows them to mimic the Devil’s Flower, a type of orchid.
Mantids are predators, and their hunting style usually involves sitting motionless until their prey comes within reach, and then whipping their forearms out at lightning speed to snag flies, beetles, even, in some cases, birds. The Devil’s Flower Mantis uses color patterns that mimic a flower to actually lure its prey within reach.
8. Brazilian Treehopper
The image shown here is a model created by Alfred Keller, a German sculptor, in the 1950′s. But don’t let the fact that it’s a model fool you—the Brazilian Treehopper is definitely a real insect, and it’s barely even the strangest looking member of the treehopper family.
Similar to cicadas, treehopper insects are sort of like the Addams family of the insect world. Many of them sport some sort of odd structure on their backs, and we’re still not sure what the point of most of them are. In the case of the Brazilian Treehopper, the ball-like appendages are hollow chitin, and may be for the sole purpose of making it harder to eat.
7. Extatosoma Tiaratum
Anybody who’s ever seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom should instantly recognize this monstrosity, commonly referred to as the Giant Prickly Stick Insect. As the largest known stick insect, the extatosoma tiaratum can reach lengths of 8 inches (20 cm) and is usually covered with large thorny spikes, which double as both camouflage and defensive armor.
Most of the time this insect attempts to blend in with its surroundings, but if it feels threatened it will rear up on its hind legs and spread out its front legs, like a scorpion. Interestingly enough, it also releases a chemical that is meant to scare away predators. To humans, it smells like peanut butter.
6. Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar
The Pipevine Swallowtail is a beautiful fluorescent blue butterfly that’s commonly found in North and Central America. Its larvae, on the other hand, is an armored congealed-blood-red caterpillar with tinted visor shades for eyes and a quadruple row of blunt horns running across its body.
The caterpillars live in groups while they are young, but over time they will wander off on their own before entering the chrysalis stage. They also change color as they grow, shifting from red to black, while their horns take on a bright orange hue. The bright colors are a warning—Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars feed primarily on the Pipevine, a poisonous plant, and retain the toxins from the leaves in their own bodies.
5. Atlas Moth
Most of the time, it’s the caterpillar of a moth species that looks the strangest, while the moth itself is drab and uninteresting. Apparently, the Atlas moth didn’t get the memo. With a 10 inch (25 cm) wingspan, Atlas moths are believed to be the largest moth species on the planet. They also have a very unique trait—the front tips of their wings almost perfectly resemble a snake head poised to strike.
Nicknamed the Cobra moth for obvious reasons, Atlas moths are found in Southeast Asia, where they’re farmed for their silk.
4. Tailed Emperor Butterfly Caterpillar
Take a trip to the east coast of Australia around March or April and you might run into one of these strange creatures. The caterpillar of the Tailed Emperor butterfly looks pretty normal—from the neck down. Its head, though, definitely secures it a spot on this list.
From a broad, armor-plated forehead extend four bizarre horns that would be more at home on a dinosaur than anything from this millenium. The butterflies lay their eggs in groups, usually on Illawarra Flame trees, and the alien caterpillars emerge sometime around late March.
3. Spiny Flower Mantis - Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi
Another incredible looking mantis, the Spiny Flower Mantis (Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi) is, again, a flower mantis, pulling its bizarre ornamentation from the appearance of a flower. This mantis is very small, measuring only 1.5 inches (38 mm) and is found in select locations in Southern Africa.
And like most mantids, the Spiny Flower Mantis is a voracious cannibal, and the older they get the more likely they will be to eat other mantids that come across their path. Another interesting fact is that the female’s egg sac can be nearly three time larger than its own body.
2. Scorpionfly
While this insect looks like the result of some bizarre genetic experiment that spliced a scorprion stinger onto a wasp, that “stinger” is actually something much more innocuous: the fly’s genitals.
Nevertheless, it makes for a bizarre looking creature. Scorpionflies, or mecoptera, can be found all over the world, and have been around since the Mesozoic age. In fact, they’re believed to have been the forerunners of most of our modern moths and butterflies, collectively grouped in the Lepidoptera order.
1. Calleta Silkmoth Caterpillar
If Jackson Pollock and God had a design meeting, they would probably come up with something similar to the Eupackardia calleta larva, also known as the Calleta silkmoth caterpillar. With a massive color range and dangerous looking barbs, the Calleta silkmoth caterpillar is something most predators stay away from.
The moth is found in the Southern US, and the color pattern of the caterpillar changes based on age and environmental factors. It feeds mostly on the Mexican jumping bean, a plant found throughout Mexico, Texas, and Arizona.
