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Caminalcules, Snouters and Other Unusual Creatures
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Caminalcules |
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The creatures evolving on the left are Caminalcules, named in honor
of their creator Joseph H. Camin. Camin was interested in the methods used
by taxonomists to determine the evolutionary relationships among species.
To this end, he generated these creatures from a simple predecessor in a
process that simulated evolution. The result was an evolutionary tree with
many branches consisting of 29 recent and 48 "fossil" species. The animated
GIF on the left follows one branch of the Caminalcule evolutionary tree and
includes 13 species.
Pictures of the Caminalcules were first published in their entirety after
Camin's death by Robert R. Sokal
(1983a) in the journal Systematic Zoology (now
Systematic Biology).
In a
My interest in Camin's creatures lies in their usefulness for teaching the principles of classification and evolution. I have written a laboratory exercise which we use in our introductory biology classes at I.U.P. If you download the lab you will find pictures of additional Caminalcules. I have also created a movie version of the animated GIF which uses morphing technology to create a smooth transition between species. The pictures of the Caminalcules are copyrighted by Systematic Biology and Robert R. Sokal. They are displayed here with permission. |
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The Snouters are an unusual group of mammals characterized by remarkably
diverse nasal adaptations, such as the jumping appendage seen in
Hopsorrhinus aureus above. They were discovered by the Swede Einar
Pettersson-Skämtkvist who, while escaping from Japanese imprisonment
in 1941, was shipwrecked on the island of Hy-dud-dye-fee in the Pacific
archipelago of Hy-yi-yi. In the decade following the war a number of scientists
began to elucidate the evolution, physiology and morphology of the Snouters.
Unfortunately, all this came to an end when a secret atomic test 125 miles
away triggered a tectonic disaster, causing the archipelago to sink beneath
the sea. Compounding the tragedy was the fact that at the time an international
meeting was being held at the Darwin Institute of Hi-yi-yi. All the major
experts in the field, along with most of their research material, were lost.
One of the few remaining manuscripts was a short monograph by Harald
Stümpke: "The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades." This was
first published in 1957 and is reproduced here in part with permission of
the publisher.
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 The Snuffling Sniffler, Emunctator sorbens,
lives along the banks of slowly flowing brooks. There it clings to the stalks
of plants that rise above the surface. Its manner of obtaining nourishment
is most peculiar: from the elongate snout it blows long, fine prehensile
threads that hang down into the water and to which little aquatic animals
get stuck. The prey is in part ingested choanally by pulling up the slimy
threads, and is in part licked off the snout by the extremely long tongue.
The sluggish dull animals possess, as a means of defense, a long, very mobile
tail with a poison gland at the tip; the toxin is secreted into a hollow
claw derived from modified hairs. Since Emunctator lives in small
groups, the rat-sized creatures can protect one another by mutual tail-wagging.
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 The Earwing, Otopteryx volitans, is the only
Snouter capable of flight thanks to its enormously enlarged ears and its
nasarium which functions as a steering tail. The strangest thing about
all this is that Otopteryx flies backward, though this too is
comprehensible when one recalls that the flight of Otopteryx has been
derived from the gliding of the hopsorrhines, that leap backward (see animation
above). Especially peculiar and characteristic is the take-off and landing
of the Earwings. The animal, standing on its flexed snout, first "cocks"
its ears vertically then leaps upwards by extending the deutonasal joint.
Shortly before the jump reaches peak height, the ears are powerfully depressed.
The fully extended snout is spread wide and the animal flies. Great distances
can be traversed at blinding speed, with the ears beating uninterruptedly
at a rate of 10 strokes/sec. Along the slopes, in the usually breezy island
winds, Otopteryx also is able to soar at length.
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 Members of the suborder Polyrrhina such as
Tyrannonasus imperator, and its usual prey, Nasobema lyricum,
are unique among the vertebrates in having multiple snouts. Because they
are not particularly swift on nose and because they give out a whistling
hiss when walking, Tyrannonasus is unable to creep silently upon its
victims. Tyrannonasus often must trail the intended prey for hours
in order to catch up. Even when the predator has come very near the object
of his pursuit, Nasobema often employs its tail successfully as a
last resort; hanging by the tail from a branch, it swings back and forth
in circles or with broad pendular movements close above the ground until
the predator, in his constant efforts to grab the prey, finally gets dizzy
and throws up. But once Tyrannonasus has taken hold of his victim
the latter has no hope of escape: by means of the toxic claw he is poisoned
and soon collapses in tears, while the predator gives him the coup de
grâce, hauls him to a shady spot, and there devours him down to
the larger bones.
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| To learn more about the Snouters get a copy of The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades by Harald Stümpke. This english translation of Bau und Leben der Rhinogradentia (1957) is copyright © 1967 by Bantam Doubleday Dell and published by the University of Chicago Press. Pictures and text are reproduced here with permission. | |||
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Fauna of the Ugly Islands |
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 The
bombat, is one of many species endemic to the
Ugly Islands.
The bombat is apparently a highly intelligent animal. Its method of catching
food is so unusual that many television film crews have visited the Ugly
Islands, trying to catch them in action, but the shy bombats are wary of
cameras, apparently mistaking them for guns. So while all of the Ugly Islanders
are familiar with the bombats, very few outsiders have actually seen them
hunting.
Up to twenty bombats can sometimes be seen working together to carry large boulders out over a large school of fish, but only at the time of a full moon. The bombat was named by Grue as Clava cadens. He was unfamiliar with bat taxonomy, and not a very good Latin scholar. |
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References
Sokal R.R. 1983a. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. I. The data base. Systematic Zoology 32:159-184. Sokal R.R. 1983b. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. II. Estimating the true cladogram. Systematic Zoology 32:185-201. Stümpke, H. 1967. The Snouters. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. |
companion
paper Sokal (1983b) used the Caminalcules to compare different methods of
numerical taxonomy.
Rhinolimacius conchicauda exemplifies the trend among
many genera for the "nasarium" to become adapted for locomotion while
the hind appendages degenerate. Mating behavior in this species is particularly
interesting. The male dashes in tight curves around the female, who also
is rotating. The affair has a grotesque resemblance to the dancing of a human
couple on ice skates. The act of mating lasts but a few seconds, and then
the partners forsake one another, going very rapidly in opposite directions
with a sound as of gentle nose-blowing. After gestation of 26 months the
female bears a single offspring that already resembles the parents in all
details and that, without further dependence on them, undertakes a life of
its own.
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[Site Map] |
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Send comments to:
Robert P. Gendron Biology Department Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA 15705 rgendron@iup.edu Caminalcules copyright © Systematic Biology and Robert R. Sokal Snouter pictures and text copyright © Bantam Doubleday Dell Bombat picture and text copyright © Peter Macinnis Copyright © 1997-2008, Robert P. Gendron, Revised January 31, 2008. |