Welp, it’s October, and as the weather gets colder in the Northern hemisphere, Halloween draws closer. In honor of spooky season, what are some organisms with a spooky color scheme, spooky name, or spooky behavior?
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Some of my favorites include the Halloween Pennant, Hell Hollow Salamander, Baltimore Oriole, and Fruit-Piercing Moths.
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Humans are beyond spooky.
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Found this aboreal termite nest on my property in Queensland Australia. The holes have been drilled by kingfishers or kookaburras, sometimes they lay their eggs in these. Maybe the birds have been reading Phantom comics.
https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/203789129/large.jpg
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Um, minor nitpick Mackieroni. The weather is getting colder in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Western Hemisphere it depends on which side of the Equator you are on
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The hellbender: (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/26804-Cryptobranchus-alleganiensis)
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I’ve heard Melibe colemani colloquially called the “skeleton nudibranch” by divers and I think it definitely lives up to the moniker
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The Jack-o-Lantern mushroom glows less brightly than the ghost fungus but the name and color are spookier. Plus obvious ones like spiders, bats, black cats of all species, and toads.
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Locally we have the Executioner Paper Wasp, Polistes carnifex. They are huuuuuuuge, like 25 - 30 mm.
edit: Goodness, Marina. I keep replying to you instead of to the topic. Please forgive my message board idiocy.
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No worries.)
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In my opinion, Moleromans are pretty spooky
Common Moleroman
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I think iNatter are some of the most open-minded people, who enjoy and appreciate species that many people dislike. However, the most horrid and offensive of these is obviously this one:
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It’s both horrible and kinda funny due to how inaccurate it is.
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Ghost Spiders, Goblin Spiders, Pirate Spiders, Ogre Faced Spiders
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Xylaria polymorpha, dead man’s fingers
Clathrus archeri, devil’s fingers
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Heliophanus lineiventris jumping spiders have white markings on their legs and body that make it look like they’re wearing a skeleton suit on their exoskeleton: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/11145686
Apparently in some regions of the USA mantids are colloquially known as devil’s horses.
The magnolia fruit I came across last month also looked suitably spooky in a ‘the trees are watching me’ sense:
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