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Real Cryptids in Zoology and the Dim Effect

According to cryptozoologists crytpids can be creatures that were known to have existed at one time, considered extinct and subsequently rediscovered like the coelacanth. Creatures that are thought to exist but not confirmed such as North American Apes (Napes), better known as Sasquatch and Bigfoot, lake monsters, and the gamut of other mystery monsters. And creatures that were completely unknown or not considered before their discovery.

The following animals, discovered recently and added to the zoological record, may thus be considered real cryptids if you'd like, but note that the term cryptid is not used in practice in zoological sciences, and you should imagine quotes around the word wherever I use it below.

On to the Real Cryptids.

A South African Sleeper Ray photographed in 1984 turned out to be a new genus dubbed Electrolux. No, it's not a vacuum, the name was given to reflect the electrical qualities of the ray. The species name is addisoni, for the man who captured the first specimen in 2003, shark diver Mark Addison of Blue Wilderness dive charters in Widenham, a small village on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of Africa. Learn more about this shocking discovery at East Coast Fish-Watch Project.

Pink Dragon Millipede. Talk about hot pink. Found in Thailand's Uthaithani province the bright pink coloration of this specimen stands out enough from other millipedes of the same genus to earn its own species name Desmoxytes purpurosea. This spiny, toxic critter deters predators because of its bright color and almond-like aroma, which indicate that it would be a rather unpleasant snack. Some more info on the Shocking Pink Dragon Millipede can be found at the International Institute for Species Exploration.

Next up! The Sri Lanka Shrub Frog. The Oriental shrub frog genus comprises most of the 100 new species of amphibians found in Sri Lanka between 1994 and 2003 during a research project headed by Rohan Pethiyagoda of the Wildlife Heritage Trust. The interesting thing about this genus is that they completely bypass the tadpole stage during development. The Oriental shrub frogs lay eggs on the moist forest floor or on trees, not in water. The eggs develop directly into metamorphosed imagos or froglets (reference: Meet The Common Shrub Frog, a great Blogspot article by Amila Salgado).

The Central Ranges Taipan. Some of you may have noticed that the most intriguing cryptids are those which seem to greatly stray from the norm. Common adjectives used by witnesses in their descriptions of Sasquatch, for example, might be large, huge, massive, or gigantic. Lake monsters tend to be long, undulating creatures, giant serpents! Well, there are real cryptids fitting this description. One is the recently discovered Central Ranges Taipan, which is not only a rather large snake, ranging in size from about 7 to 12 feet long, but one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Is that enough to attain cryptid status?

The Central Ranges Taipan, Oxyuranus temporalis, was discovered in the central desert of Western Australia and ranks fifth in the top ten species of 2008 by the International Institute for Species Exploration. Learn more about Taipans at Wikipedia or www.kidcyber.com.au.

Now for the creepier cryptid, the Mindoro Stripe-Faced Fruit Bat. This large Philippine fruit bat is a newly discovered species of stripe-faced fruit bats, different from its Indonesian cousin of the same genus (Styloctenium) because of it's unusual multicusped upper and lower canine teeth.

This creature was originally known only through anecdotal tales told by locals, a common prerequisite for a cryptid. Researchers were skeptical, but eventually a live specimen was captured, accidentally entangled in a net being used to survey local fauna in barangay Batong Buhay, Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro. More info at Wikipedia.com.

Malo kingi Jellyfish. Not all cryptids need to be huge to be mind-boggling. The Malo Kingi is roughly the size of a peanut, but it's venom is fatal. This new species is named for Robert King, a 44-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, who died when a sting from this Jellyfish brought on a rapid increase in heart rate and blood pressure resulting in a cerebral haemorrhage. He had been diving the Barrier Reef off northern Queensland, Australia.

Note: According to the International Institute for Species Exploration, who lists the Malo Kingi as their 8th in the top 10 new species for 2008, this jellyfish is "the second known species of the dangerous box jellyfish genus Malo, one of several genera of irukandji jellyfish." This is contradictory to an entry I found on Wikipedia which states that the irukandji jellyfish should not be confused with the Box Jellyfish. Someone needs to do some checking there.

When Pixar was creating characters for A Bug's Life they developed a little critter named Dim, a rhino beetle with a single horn on his head. Little did they know that nature would soon reveal an almost exact match to their clever digital 3D artistry, sans the happy smile. The discovery of this creature led to the coining of the term "the Dim Effect," the phenomenon in which nature mimics art.

Rhinoceros Beetles are in the family of scarab beetles, and most have multiple horns. The most popular of these is the Hercules beetle, exhibiting a long horn protrusion which extends out over the head from the thorax, sometimes at a length longer than that of the beetle's body, and an upward curved horn extending from the head which creates the impression of huge pincers. They can lift up to 850 times their own weight and male Hercules beetles can grow to a length of nearly 7 inches. Quite impressive.

What sets this newcomer apart from his rhino cousins is a single horn found on the head. There has been only one specimen found of this beetle, so it remains unclear whether this single horn is just an odd mutation on a regular rhino beetle, or if the beetle is in fact a new species. See a comparison between Dim and his real-life counterpart at the IISE.

Drew Vics — July 19, 2008