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WILDTOMORROWFUND/L
UKEVERBURGTKARL SHUKERgreets two new species that have eluded scientific observation –until nowAFISHYFACE-HUGGER
Media accounts are not unknownfor
spouting forthsometortuoustaxonomic
claimswhen reportingthe discovery of
new animals,but this latestexample
is pa rticularly notable.InDecember
2019,numerousaccounts appeared
onlineregardingasupposed fish named
after the face-huggingxenomorph
entitythat appeared in the sci-fi/horror
movieAlien(1979). Closerinspection
soon revealed that saidxenomorph
lookalikeisnot afish at all ,nor even a
vertebrate,but ratheranew species of
sea anemone,i.e.belonging toagroup
of invertebrates closely allied to corals,
jellyfishes andhydrozoans.
Discovered at depthsof250-
1100m (820-3,600ft)in thePacific
Ocean off Japanand Australia,ithas
been formally dubbedEpizoanthus
xenomorphoideus,and attaches itself
to ahermitcrab. It thensecretes a
pseudo-shell known asacarcinoecium
aroundthecrab, whichgrows as the
crab itselfgrows (thereby saving the
latter from needing to findanempty
shell or some otherobject touseas
ashell), so establishingasymbiotic
relationship with thecrab .University of
the Ryukyusresearcher Dr Hioki Kise
has suggestedthat thi svery intimate
relationship betweensea anemone
andhermit crab,tot he extent of the
anemone constructingaprotectiveshell
for the crab,may have evolved in order
to adapt to theextreme environments
of th edeepsea.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/
story/6554174/face-hugger-fish-found-
in-aussie-waters/?cs=14231 20 Dec;
https://7news.com.au/technology/
science/terrifying-alien-fish-discovered-in-
aussie-waters-c-615789 20Dec2019.PURPLE EGGS AND SCARLET
SCREAMS
Itnever failsto intriguemehow eye-
catchingspecies can remainhidden
in plain sight fromhuman scrutiny for
lengthy periods of time,but it certainly
does happen,and here isyetanother
example. December2019saw the
official descriptionand naming in
the journalZootaxaofLatrodectus
umbukwane–anew species of South
Africanforest-dwelling widow spider(or
button spider,ascommonlyreferred
to in that country).Visually, it is highly
distinctiveand conspicuousforthree
very differentreasons.Firstly ,its
sizeablefema les may be thebiggest
on recordfor an ywidowspider species.
Secondly,they possessavivid vertical
scarlet streak running down theirback,
which, in combination withaseries of
whitesquiggle-likemarkings surrounding
it, creates the unexpected image of
ascreaming human face(morethan
alittle reminiscen t, in fact, ofEdvardMunch’s famous ‘The Scream’), and
very eye-catching.So much so that
this characteristic is what inspired
its species name–umbukwaneis
an isiZulu word for something so
noticeable that it simply cannotbe
walked past.Thirdly ,they laybright
purple eggs.
So how hassuchaspideravoided
discovery for so long?Remarkably,
and unlikemostanimals,this spider
is sosecretive,staying concealed in
tree hollowsinquite inaccessible,
critically endangered sand forests,
that it has even remained hidden from
local communities, letalone scientific
observation. It onlycame to light in
2014, whenaspecimen spottedinan
elephantreser ve wasbroughttot he
attention of entomologist BarbaraWright
andcolleagues at theWild Tomorrow
FundinKwa-Zulu NatalProvince. Rather
than collecting it, theychose to leave
it ali ve and on-site withinthetree
hollowthat itwasinhabiting, but they
visitedit re gularly to study it there,
and eventually it laidasac ofpurple
eggs, finally dyingofold agetwo years
after ithadbeenfound. Searches then
revealed additional specimensint he
area, andanalysisofDNA samples
confirmedthat they representedanew,
hithertoundocumentedspecies,now
dubbedthePhindawidowspiderafter
the nature reservewhere it is known
to exist.
https://gizmodo.com/newly-discovered-
widow-spider-lays-bright-purple-
eggs-184026417 49 Dec2019.ALIEN ZOO NEWS FROM THE CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL GARDENLEFT:Notanalien,notafish,butanew
species ofseaanenomedubbedEpizoanthus
xenomorphoideus.BELOW:The Phindawidow
–anextremelynoticablespiderthatwent
unnoticed byscienceuntil 2 019.