Coconut Crab (Unbelievable Pictures) - Animal of the Week



From www.cryptomundo.com

 This amazingly large alien-like creature is this week's Animal of the Week.  According to wikipedia:

The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper size limit of terrestrial animals with exoskeletons in today's atmosphere. The species inhabits the coastal forest regions of many Indo-Pacific islands, although localized extinction has occurred where the species lives in proximity to humans. Generally nocturnal, they remain hidden during the day and emerge only on some nights to forage. Their body is divided into four regions; the cephalic lobe, forepart, trunk, and opisthosoma. It is a highly apomorphic hermit crab and is known for its ability to crack coconuts with its strong pincers to eat the contents. It is the only species of the genus Birgus.

Here's some more information from wikipedia about the crab's size:

Reports about the size of Birgus latro vary, but most references give a body length of up to 40 cm (16 in), a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb), and a leg span of more than 0.91 m (3.0 ft), with males generally being larger than females. There have been reports in the literature of specimens measuring 6 feet (1.8 m) across the thorax and weighing 30 pounds (14 kg). They can live more than 30 years. 

Here are some other pictures from around the web:



From www.cryptomundo.com



 

http://www.cuteandweird.com



New Species of Giant Crayfish Found in Tennessee

Reuters

Biologists Chris Taylor from the University of Illinois and Guenter Schuster of Eastern Kentucky have recently discovered a new species of crayfish (commonly called crawdads or crawfish) in Tennessee.  The uniqueness of the species comes from the size of the creatures - about twice as big as other crayfish in the area. According to the Reuters article,

"This isn't a crayfish that someone would have picked up and just said, 'Oh, it's another crayfish,' and put it back," said University of Illinois aquatic biologist Chris Taylor, one of the researchers.

"You would have recognized it as something really, really different and you would have saved it," Taylor added in a statement.

The new species, Barbicambarus simmonsi, is about 12 cm (5 inches) long and most specimens are recovered under large rocks in deep areas on creeks. Read more here.