New Millipede!!! Sphaerobelum turcosa is a newly discovers species of pill millipede that was recently discovered in the Loei province of Thailand. A team of researchers were doing field work in the Phu Pha Lom Forest when they discovered fourteen of these brightly colored millipedes. Due to their stunning coloration these pill millipedes were nicknamed “The Jewel of The Forest”.
Pill millipedes have convergently evolved a body structure similar to that of isopods (aka roly polies) and have comparatively shorter bodies than other species of millipedes, and like roly polies they will roll themselves into a ball when they feel threatened.
The bright turquoise color of Sphaerobelum turcosa helps warn predators that they are poisonous and not to eat them. This millipede also has tan markings on its exoskeleton that form a mask-like marking that helps to scare off potential predators.
4K notes
·
View notes
See the New ‘Enchanting’ Electric Blue Tarantula Discovered in Thailand
Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature, but this arachnid achieves the bright hue through special structures in its hair
Researchers have discovered a new species of tarantula with a rare and “enchanting” coloration: Parts of its back, legs and mouthparts are an iridescent, electric blue-violet.
The spider, named Chilobrachys natanicharum, is the only tarantula ever found in a Thai mangrove forest. The team described the arachnid in a paper published last month in the journal ZooKeys.
“During our expedition, we walked in the evening and at night during low tide, managing to collect only two of them,” co-author Narin Chomphuphuang, a researcher at Khon Kaen University in Thailand, says in a statement. “These tarantulas inhabit hollow trees, and the difficulty of catching an electric-blue tarantula lies in the need to climb a tree and lure it out of a complex of hollows amid humid and slippery conditions.”
In addition to its coloration, C. natanicharum stands out among tarantulas because of its ability to live in both arboreal and terrestrial burrows in evergreen forests. The new research discovered the electric blue creatures live in mangroves, too, where they mostly stick to tree hollows because of the tides, per the statement...
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-new-enchanting-electric-blue-tarantula-discovered-in-thailand-180983022
photograph by Narin Chomphuphuang
1K notes
·
View notes
"This decade has been one of the most positive for news about tiger conservation of any since conservation science began in earnest, and a highlight must be this mother tiger and her two cubs sighted in Western Thailand, the first such sighting in more than 10 years of close monitoring.
Tigers are stable or increasing across their entire remaining strongholds, including China, Russia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and now Thailand—the only Southeast Asian country to see measurable increases in tiger population over the last 12 years.
There may now be as many as 190 tigers in the country, up from 46 logged in a population survey in 2007.
The sight of the mother and her cubs, in the Salak Phra Wildlife Sanctuary, part of the sprawling Western Forest Complex of Thungyai–Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries that stretch across 2,400 square miles, is a sign that Thailand’s conservation efforts are really working; not only are tigers breeding outside of core areas, but that must therefore mean there is enough large game, like sambar deer, to feed them.
“This is a big news for us,” said Rattapan Pattanarangsan, the conservation program manager at the Thai chapter of Panthera, a renowned wildcat conservation NGO. “…now we are the source, we can produce tigers from our place. That means our place is safe enough, and has enough prey for the mothers to eat and breed.”
Neighboring Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam haven’t been able to make meaningful progress in restoring their tigers, and if they ever needed a few individual animals, Thailand now has a stable, growing population that is adapted to similar forest conditions.
Pattanarangsan told The Guardian that creative efforts to stop poachers, such as by working together with ranchers to place early warning cameras on forest trails have worked significantly.
Reductions in commercial bamboo harvesting have also reduced human-tiger conflict, and the animals look poised to continue flourishing in the western rainforests of the country."
-via Good News Network, January 8, 2024
847 notes
·
View notes
Dusky Leaf Monkey (Trachypithecus obscurus) in Ban Don Sai, Changwat Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand
77 notes
·
View notes
A camera trap snaps a photo of a Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) hunting at night near Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Thailand.
Contributed by Danielle Garbouchian (Photo: Sebastian Kennerknecht/Panthera)
75 notes
·
View notes
Wallace's flying frog, Rhacophorus nigropalmatus, Khao Sok National Park, Thailand
photograph by Rushen | Flickr CC
533 notes
·
View notes