A planthopper and a gynormous snake

October 17, 2013 • 8:01 am

Well, I’m not sure this first species really is new to science; it’s one of 20 species depicted in a Salon gallery called “Rainforst yields new discoveries.” But many of these species were already known, like the margay cat of Central and South America (Leopardus wiedii).

So it’s not clear whether the planthopper shown below—in the order Hemiptera, or “true bugs”—is a previously unknown species, but it’s certainly weird. Some of the most bizarre-looking insects in the world are found among the planthoppers and their close relatives, the treehoppers (see photos here). Salon gives a caption:

Many planthopper species exude waxy secretions from the abdomen, and these sometimes form long strands, such as can be seen in this photo. The long waxy strands may provide protection from predators – it could be that they fool a predator into attacking the wrong part of the insect, and the wax breaks off while the insect jumps to safety.

Note that the front is to the right, where you can see the eye.

planthopper
Photo credit Trond Larsen/Conservation International

And look at this monster snake from Phil Torres’s Twitter feed, forwarded by Matthew Cobb:

Screen shot 2013-10-17 at 5.07.00 AM

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This one is probably the green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, perhaps the heaviest snake or “squamate” (scaled reptile) in the world. Wikipedia notes the following, but also includes a long discussion (not given here) of the difficulties of determining the size of these snakes:

The green anaconda is the world’s heaviest and one of the world’s longest snakes, reaching more than 6.6 m (22 ft) long. More typical mature specimens reportedly can range up 5 m (16 ft), with the females, at around a mean length of 4.6 m (15 ft), being generally much larger in adulthood than the male, which averages around 3 m (9.8 ft). Weights are less well studied, though will reportedly range from 30 to 70 kg (66 to 150 lb) in an average-range adult. It is the largest snake native to the Americas. Although it is not as long as the Reticulated python, Eucentes murinus is probably the heaviest extant species of snake or squamate in the world, perhaps only rivaled by the Komodo dragon.

Can a green anaconda kill a human? There are records of two attacks, but neither was successful. But they’re big enough to kill deer, capybaras (the world’s largest rodents) and caimans. Regardless, I wouldn’t get as close to the snake as the people in the photo above!

h/t: Peter

67 thoughts on “A planthopper and a gynormous snake”

  2. I wouldn’t get as close to the snake as the people in the photo above!

    I would…if separated by 1/2″ plate glass….

    And…typo in title? One too many “m”s in “planthopper”?

    b&

    1. When that came through in email it changed the whole word for me & I spent a few seconds wondering what a “plan-thop-erm” was.

          3. Not me! She was already in her office the Copper Dome when I got here.

            Still, I’d pick her over Slimington or Brewer or Mecham…we don’t have an especially good record with governors here….

            b&

    2. I agree…I also wouldn’t go in that water – I bet there are leeches in there.

  3. Isn’t the usual spelling “ginormous”?

    Doesn’t “gynormous” sound a bit like, erm, something else being large? Ahem.

      1. [/takes out notebook: “E.A. Blair bears a ginormous hate. Do not mention!”]

          2. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching the relevant documentaries, it’s that only those who wear red shirts are ever actually eaten by the monsters in strange new worlds or shot by those in newly-found civilizations.

            So, unless he was later stupid enough to go out at a later date wearing a red shirt, I have no doubt but that he’s just fine.

            b&

      2. Those guys are nuts!!! I’ve seen a 26′ anaconda SKIN in Canaima, Venezuela, and that was scary enough. The people said they had to kill it because it was swimming near the children. D’ya think??

    2. So it really is alive? Tell us the story!!! How could they get so close? Was it in the act of eating so it was wrapped up in its own business and didn’t care about the guys?

      1. Surely it must be one of those!

        I love how the toucher is sorta holding on to his friend, as if the latter could save him if necessary…

        1. It was the least I could do. Trigger warning below, though.

          It is a wonderfully detailed macro photo. He doesn’t say, but I think it was the one he raised himself, so to speak.

          Apparently the fly lays its eggs on the underside of a mosquito which will drop them off on the skin of a human (how do they know this?). They hatch and eat their way in, leaving a hole they breath through. Finally they eat their way back out and drop off to pupate.

  8. If what we see here is supposed to be the regular diameter of the snake, its weight would by far exceed 70kgs. 700 kg rather. What we observe the guy touching must be a bulge with something recently eaten in it, with the rest of the snake being much thinner. What do you think?

    Also, I think it’s spelled *gignormous*,
    with the second “g” usually silent 😀

    1. I notice off to the lower left what seems to be a quite thin anaconda body segment . Also off to the upper right, as the body goes under water, it shrinks by at least 50%. I saw an anaconda maybe 15 feet long eating a collared peccary once, and its belly was inflated to triple its normal diameter. The fattest part of the belly might have been almost as big as the snake in the picture. That snake was very docile and timid, it just sat around digesting. And it would not have posed a major threat to a human.

      1. My friend Pete Oxford was with me and took a picture of the anaconda I just described, shortly after it had swallowed the peccary (our guides had arrived on the scene just after it had killed the peccary, and this scared it away. It later came back to eat its prey, and had swallowed it by the time we got there). You can see it at http://www.arkive.org/green-anaconda/eunectes-murinus/image-G53484.html

        The snake in Jerry’s post must have swallowed something even bigger than a collared peccary.

        1. Wow, kudos for getting the picture taken, and also, how comparably small the peccary looks inside the snake!

    2. And I usually see it with only one “g.” But here we are, discussing the roolz of slang…

      😀

  9. I don’t see how that snake could be only 150 lbs! It’s bigger in diameter than either of those guys and much longer.

  10. That planthopper looks like a cross between the imaginations of Dr. Seuss and Hieronymus Bosch. I just know I’m gonna have strange dreams tonight!

  11. Those of a certain age will vividly remember the episode from “Zoo Parade” where Marlin Perkins single handedly wrestles with a 20 foot long anaconda. The snake almost won. I’ve always wondered why the crew stood idly by as the snake nearly got poor old Marlin.

  12. One time in Colombia we went to stay at a ranch on the banks of a lake, where we would collect fish. When we got there, we saw a deer in a fairly large enclosure. People told us there had been two deer. Two large anacondas came out of the lake. One caught and ate the missing deer. The people caught that one and killed it. They showed us the head. The other one got away, back into the lake.

    It took us a little while to get settled, so it got dark. We put on our headlights and made a seine collection in waist deep water, about where the anaconda went back in the lake. We collected around there for about two weeks, but never encountered an anoconda. In fact, I have never seen one in the wild.

  13. That is definitely not the actual diameter of that snake. We’re looking at the snake’s last meal, which was sizable.

  14. I love planthoppers. I watched a really good documentary on them (I think it was on Oasis) and they had recorded the sounds they make to communicate to each other.

    1. I was sent the planthopper photo to identify. If you think that looks strange, watch the documentary “Aliens of the Amazon: Treehoppers,” originally aired in the US on Discovery Science Channel (it also includes audio of some of the calling behavior).

      1. Yes! I think that was the one I watched! I loved that show. I’ve seen it twice now. 🙂

  15. That has got to be a meal. I can clearly make out a smaller portion of the anaconda to the lower left of the photo, and a murky narrow section just underwater, mid way on the right of the photo.

  17. I don’t think I’d want to get any closer than viewing the picture. Although not venomous, I have heard (mostly from people with first-hand experience) that their bite is among the most painful of all snakes. I imagine that their size has a lot to do with it.

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