05 April 2011

Tuesday Crustie: Smash!


The colours on this particular stomatopod (Neogonodactylus oerstedii) make me think of The Hulk. The Hulk is, of course, not only known for his classic green colour, but for smashing things. This stomatopod is also a smasher. In case you haven’t see how truly superhuman these animals are, get over and watch Sheila Patek’s great TED talk on the subject.

Not all members of this species are this particular shade of green, though. Michael Bok writes more about this species here at the Arthropoda blog.

Photo by Mike Bok of Flickr; used under a Creative Commons license.

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