Boiling lobsters alive will be banned under plans being drawn up by the government. Ministers are planning to strengthen the welfare rights of crustaceans and molluscs in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which is currently making its way through the House of Lords. The Bill only covers vertebrates – animals with a backbone – but, […]
Tag: invertebrates
New Evidence Suggests Octopuses Are Capable of Emotional Pain
Evidence from a new study suggests that octopuses experience pain emotionally, in addition, to physically; meaning that these intelligent sea creatures process pain similarly to how mammals do. While many invertebrates demonstrate a reflex response to physical stimuli, the ability to truly experience “pain” involves the emotional components of suffering and distress in addition to […]
New long-horned beetle discovered in China
Recent expeditions by the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Zoology to the Yunnan Province of China have uncovered the existence of a new species of long-horned beetle. This newly discovered beetle has a beautifully colored blue-green body with short, slender, and distinctively blue legs according to a new article in Zookeys. There are over […]
New pirate ant uses sickle-shaped mandibles to decimate rivals
A new species of ant has recently been discovered in the Hortarium of the Los Baños University in the Philippines. Scientists named it the pirate ant (Cardiocondyla pirata) due to the female’s unique pigmentation pattern: a distinctive stripe across the eyes that resembles a pirates’ eye-patch. The pirate ant belongs to a genus Cardiocondyla that […]
Pesticides decimating dragonflies and other aquatic insects
While recent research (and media attention) has focused on the alleged negative impacts of pesticides on bees, the problem may be far broader according to a new study in the Proceedings of the US Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Looking at over 50 streams in Germany, France, and Australia, scientists in Europe and Australia found that […]
Poisonous jellyfish on the rise in the Mediterranean
Scientists across the Mediterranean say a surge in the number of jellyfish this year threatens not just the biodiversity of one of the world’s most overfished seas but also the health of tens of thousands of summer tourists. “I flew along a 300km stretch of coastline on 21 April and saw millions of jellyfish,” said […]
Two new arachnids discovered in Brazilian caves (photos)
Scientists have discovered two new species of short-tailed whipscorpions (in the order Schizomida) in limestone caves in Brazil, according to a new paper published in PLoS ONE. The new species—dubbed Rowlandius ubajara and Rowlandius potiguara—add new knowledge to a group of arachnids that is little known in South America outside of the Amazon. “Schizomids occur […]
Scientists discover two mini-spiders in China (photos)
Scientists have uncovered two miniature spiders living on mountains in China’s southern region, one of which is among the smallest spiders recorded worldwide, according to a new paper in ZooKeys. Both spiders belong to the Mysmenidae family, which is made up of mini-spiders with eight eyes. “Although the family Mysmenidae is distributed worldwide, it is […]