#parasite

#parasite

New Species of Tarantula-Killing Parasite Worm is Named after Actor Jeff DanielsYou haven’t really made it in Hollywood until a tarantula-killing worm is named after you. That’s a distinction that The Newsroom actor Jeff Daniels can now brag about.UC Riverside parasitologists named a newly-found parasite Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi. The worms, known to infect tarantulas, are named so because Jeff Daniels played a guy who fought a deadly infestation of spiders in the 1990 film Arachnophobia. The parasitologists discovered the lethal worm through a report filed by a wholesale tarantula breeder. After analyzing the odd white mass found around the specimen’s mouth area, they quickly realized they were dealing with nematodes, more commonly known as worms. Once the eight-legged creatures get infected by this worm, they begin developing strange behaviors like walking on tiptoe and not eating. Over time, inability to eat would kill the arachnid. It literally is the spider killer, just like Daniels’ character.Image: Adler Dillman/UCR#parasite #worm #nematode #tarantula #JeffDaniels #Archnophobia

Image Competition Winners Show the Diversity of Ecological ScienceThe image above by Kristen Brown shows a school of jackfish swimming in a spiral at the Great Barrier Reef. It was the overall winner in the 2021 photo competition from the scientific journal BMC Ecology and Evolution. The picture also won in the category Conservation Biology. The competition attracted entries from researchers all around the world eager to use their creativity to highlight their work and capture the diversity of the planet's flora and fauna. BMC Ecology and Evolution invited anyone affiliated with a research institution to submit to one of the following six categories: ‘Conservation Biology', 'Evolutionary Developmental Biology and Biodiversity', 'Behavioural Ecology', 'Human Evolution and Ecology', ‘Population Ecology' and 'Ecological Developmental Biology'.Our Senior Editorial Board Members lent their expertise to judge the entrants to the competition, selecting the overall winner, runner up and best image from each category. The board members considered the scientific story behind the photos submitted in addition to their artistic judgement (Fig. 1).#jackfish #fish #biology #photography #photocompetition