FRONTIERS OF ZOOLOGY Dale A. Drinnon has been a researcher in the field of Cryptozoology for the past 30+ years and has corresponded with Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson. He has a degree in Anthropology from Indiana University and is a freelance artist and writer. Motto: "I would rather be right and entirely alone than wrong in the company with all the rest of the world"--Ambroise Pare', "the father of modern surgery", in his refutation of fake unicorn horns.
DISCOVERED: A New Species Of TARANTULA AS BIG AS THE HUMAN FACE [W/ VIDEO]
Scientists have discovered a new species of tiger spider living in northern Sri Lanka. Scientists have found a new species of tarantula as large as the average human face.Ranil Nanayakkara and his colleagues discovered Poecilotheria rajaei, a new species of tiger spider, in northern Sri Lanka. It was first noticed in 2009, when villagers brought a spider they had killed to researchers.
giant new tarantula species discovered
“Days of extensive searching in every tree hole and bark peel were rewarded with a female and to our satisfaction several juveniles too,” Nanayakkara and his colleagues said in a study about the spiders published in the British Tarantula Society Journal.
P. rajaei was named after a police inspector, Puraja, who helped the researchers locate the spider.
While examining the spider, the researchers noticed it didn’t look quite like any of the other tiger spiders known to live in Sri Lanka because of its markings and “other significant differences.” After further study, they were able to establish it as a new species.
Tiger spiders typically live in tree hollows, under rocks and, during monsoon season, in human dwellings that are close to forests. The Poecilotheria species exists only in India and Sri Lanka and is known for its colorful markings and remarkable speed – as well as its size.
Tiger spiders are large enough to eat birds, small snakes and mice and catch them using speed and potent venom, rather than webs.
Several species of Poecilotheria are endangered due to loss of habitat.
A photosearch turned up this photo of a large swimming water monitor in a lake in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and labelled as "The Lake Kandy Monster"
Location of Lake Kandy
This is evidently one of the creatures that Bernard Heuvelmans classified as a "Buru" only the differences in habit and habitat make this less likely. This creature looks like the standard water monitor (Varanus salvador) but there are local record sizes for the monitor at 12 feet long or longer, bigger than the Komodo dragon. In the Philippines there is a similar sort of water monitor of a simlar size and we have a photo of it. In all these cases of outsized water monitors (including also in the Meikong River) it is likely we are dealing with a larger and similar species rather than the commoner water monitor. This would be the species which Heuvelmans says can be found living in symbiosis with saltwater crocodiles. This sounds unlikely but it at least does indicate the witnesses do discriminate this species from the commoner, smaller water monitors and we are still talking about the same Cryptid category. It is also confused with the similarly-named Varanus salvadorii.
Scientists have found an enormous, previously unknown, species of
venomous spider in a remote Sri Lankan village.
The newly-found spider (Pics: British
Tarantula Society/ Ranil Nanayakkara)
The giant tarantula is as big as a human face.
Its legs, which have unique daffodil-yellow markings, span a massive 20cm
(eight inches). The arachnid also has a distinctive pink band around its
body.
The new species was found in the war-torn north of the South Asian country by
scientists from Sri Lanka's Biodiversity Education and Research (BER)
organisation.
It has been named Poecilotheria rajaei, in recognition of a senior police
officer called Michael Rajakumar Purajah, who guided the research team through a
hazardous jungle overrun by civil unrest in order to seek out the
spider. The spider is said to prefer living on old
trees
The arachnid had originally been presented to BER three years ago by
villagers in Mankulam, who had killed a male specimen.
Scientists immediately realised the dead spider was not like anything they
already knew and a group was charged with finding any living relatives.
The living Poecilotheria rajaei were eventually discovered in the former
doctor's quarters of the village's hospital.
According to wired.com, Ranil Nanayakkara, the co-founder of BER, said: "They
are quite rare. The tarantula is characterised by its yellow
legs and pink band
"They prefer well-established old trees, but due to deforestation the number
have dwindled and due to lack of suitable habitat they enter old buildings."
The website described the tarantula as "colourful, fast and venomous".
The species is said to be related to a class of South American tarantula that
includes the Goliath bird-eater, one of the world's largest spiders.
In other reports Mr Nanayakkara is quoted as saying none of the tarantulas
found in Sri Lanka have bites that are deadly to humans. However, the
Poecilotheria rajaei would be able to kill animals as large as mice, lizards and
small birds and snakes. A male member of the Poecilotheria rajaei
species
Peter Kirk, who covered the discovery for the British
Tarantula Society's journal, told Sky News: "Ranil has been working
on these spiders since 2009 out in Sri Lanka and this is the first of what is
thought to be a number of new species he has discovered in what was previously
the inaccessible northern region of the island.
"It demonstrates that wildlife continues to survive whilst we are in the
throes of conflict and that they can adapt to its changing environment - but
also highlights that we risk destroying the habitats of species new to science
and condemning them to extinction before they are even discovered."
New & recent described Flora & Fauna species
from all over the World esp. Asia, Oriental, Indomalayan & Malesiana
region
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
[Herpetology • 2013] Eight
new species of Pseudophilautus (Anura, Rhacophoridae) from
Sripada World Heritage Site (Peak Wilderness), a local amphibian hotspot in Sri
Lanka
Abstract
Eight new
species of Pseudophilautus (Pseudophilautus bambaradeniyai,
P. dayawansai, P. jagathgunawardanai, P. karunarathnai, P.
newtonjayawardanei, P. puranappu, P. samarakoon, and P.
sirilwijesundarai) were discovered as a result of a survey carried out to study the herpetofaunal
diversity with the changes in elevation in the Sripada World Heritage Site (Peak
Wilderness), Central Hills of Sri Lanka. Detailed descriptions of new species
along with colour photographs and line drawings for each species are provided
herein. The new species possess unique morphological characters and are well
distinguishable from one another that could be easily identified in the field.
The conservation status of all species described here, have been considered
Critically Endangered, except for P. newtonjayawardanei, as all
the new species are recorded from single locations, and their habitats are under
severe threat.
Keywords:
Amphibian, new species, Peak Wilderness, Pseudophilautus, Sri Lanka,
Sripada.
Wickramasinghe,
L.J.M., D.R. Vidanapathirana, M.D.G. Rajeev, S.C. Ariyarathne, A.W.A. Chanaka,
L.L.D. Priyantha, I.N. Bandara & N. Wickramasinghe. 2013. Eight new species
of Pseudophilautus (Amphibia, Anura, Rhacophoridae) from Sripada World
Heritage Site (Peak Wilderness), a local amphibian hotspot in Sri Lanka.
Journal of Threatened Taxa. 5(4): 3789–3920;
