FUNQUIZ
MAYANGLAMBAM OJIT KUMAR SINGH
Several new species were discovered recently. Can you idenfy some of them?
1. Considered to be one of the species of Antarcca’s “lost world”,
this unnamed crab was discovered near
hot, mineral-rich hydrothermal vents in the
oceans off Antarcca. It belong to a new
species of
A. Ye crab
B. Blue crab
C. Dungeness Crab
D. Horseshoe crab
6. This translucent species, Illacme plenipes, is the world’s leggiest
animal which features up to 750 legs and may make its own silk
“clothing.” It lives in the foggy, oak-forested outskirts of Silicon
Valley, just south of
A. New York
B. California
C. San Francisco
D. San Diego
7. Discovered from one of the world’s
biodiversity hotspots, Tanzania’s Eastern Arc
Mountains, the new species Crurifarcimen
vagans holds a new record as the largest
A. Porifera
B. Millipede
C. Arachnid
D. Cenpede
2. Pictured guarding a brood of eggs in its nave northeastern
state of India (Manipur), these animals are neither worms
nor snake. Christened Chikilidae, this newly discovered soilburrowing, limbless amphibians belong to
a mysterious group of animals called
A. Annelida
B. Caecilians
C. Orthoptera
D. Crustacean
8. It is a large rainforest insect that looks just like a dead leaf, but
if threatened suddenly reveals a pair of bright eye spots and starts
jumping excitedly which gives the impression of a giant head of
a bird suddenly pecking at the a2 acker.
Pterochroza oc ellata is found across the
Guiana Shield in lowland undisturbed
rainforests. Give the popular name of this
insect.
A. Peacock katydid
B. Dancing Katydid
C. Pigeon Katydid
D. Paradise Katydid
3. This sll unnamed day-flying moth
possibly mimics Bhutan Glory bu2erfly
and thus shares the same habitat. Name
the state of India from where this moth
was discovered last year
A. Manipur
B. Mizoram
C. Arunachal Pradesh
D. Nagaland
4. Euryplatea nanaknihali is a newly discovered species of fly and
has the rather unsavory habit of bing off the
heads of ants. At just 4 millimetres in length,
the fly is 15 mes smaller than the normal
housefly. Name the country from where it was
discovered recently.
A. Vietnam
B. Cambodia
C. Laos
D. Thailand
9. Pterinopelma sazimai
is an
iridescent breathtakingly beauful
blue tarantula. This new animal
species is from
A. Brazil
B. Argenna
C. Uruguay
D. Paraguay
10. Theraphosa blondi is the largest (by mass) spider in the world,
reaching a weight of 170 g and a leg span of 30 cm. Observed in
Guyana, it lives in burrows on the floor of lowland rainforests.
When threatened, they rub their abdomen with their hind legs and
release hairs that are a severe irritant
to the skin and mucous membranes.
What is the common name of this giant
spider?
A. Giant huntsman spider
B. Goliath bird eang spider
C. Goliath human eang spider
D. Giant bird killer
5. With a length of just 0.02 inches (0.5 millimetres), these
ny nematodes are the deepest terrestrial
mulcellular organisms on Earth. Discovered
at a depth of nearly a mile (1.3 kilometres)
in a South African gold mine, the species was
named Halicephalobus mephis to. What is its
common name?
A. Spirit worm
B. Ghost worm
C. Scary worm
D. Devil worm
SCIENCE REPORTER, SEPTEMBER 2013
58
FUNQUIZ
11. What is the common name of this species of Box jellyfish
scienfically called Tamoya ohboya which was formally described
in 2011? More than 300 entries were submi2ed in an online
compeon to name this strikingly beauful but venomous box
jelly and hundreds of votes were cast to select “ohboya” as the
winner, a name suggested by high school biology teacher Lisa Peck
who presumed people must exclaim “Oh Boy!” when they first
encounter this amazing jelly.
A. Lisa Banded Box Jelly
B. Jennifer Banded Box Jelly
C. Bonaire Banded Box Jelly
D. Pecky Banded Box Jelly
12. This newly discovered caJ ish living in deep well was named
Horaglanis abdulkalami in honor of former president of India, Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The newly discovered caJ ish can travel between
wells through interconnected water
channels through the laterite rocks.
The species was discovered from
the Southern state of
A. Andhra Pradesh
B. Tamil Nadu
C. Karnataka
D. Kerala
13. This rare fish have ny eyes and lack ribs. It was caught 1.7
miles (2.3 kilometres) underwater. Name the region from where
this unknown species of flabby whalefish was recently hauled up.
A. North of New Zealand
B. West of New Zealand
C. South of New Zealand
D. East of New Zealand
14. Recently discovered on a reef about 200 feet (60 metres)
underwater, Pteropsaron longipinnis is a delicate, beauful li2le
fish. The males have very elongate pelvic fins that they can use as a
tripod to prop themselves above the
sand. What is the popular common
name of this fish?
A. Tripedal Fish
B. Three winged Fish
C. Tripod Fish
D. Bipid Fish
15. Etheostoma obama , a newly idenfied fish named aMer the
American President Barack Obama, because of his work in the
areas of clean energy and environmental protecon. This fish
belongs to the species
A. Marine Fish
B. Freshwater darte
C. Reef building Fish
D. Estuarine Fish
16. Diasporus citrinobapheus is a frog nave to the Cordillera
Central of western Panama. First described in 2012, its yellow body
colour dyes one’s fingers yellowish. The frog is commonly called
as the
A. Yellow dyer rainfrog
B. Yellow colouring rainfrog
C. Yellow washing rainfrog
D. Yellow bathing rainfrog
17. This new lizard called Cordylus marunguensi has been
discovered in a war-torn area of the Democrac Republic of the
Congo (DRC). It was found hiding under a rock in the high grasslands
of the Marungu Plateau, an
area known for landmines.
Cordylus commonly means
A. Girdled Lizard
B. Jewelled Lizard
C. Armoured Lizard
D. Spiny Lizard
18. This unique blind creature, Atretochoana eisel, was found
aMer engineers drained a hydroelectric dam. Despite looking
like snakes, they aren’t reples and are more closely related
to salamanders and frogs.
Commonly it is dubbed as the
penis snake or
A. Violet snake
B. Blind snake
C. Amazon snake
D. Worm snake
19. This newly discovered New World snake called Imantodes
chocoensis from the Chocoan forests in northwestern Ecuador has
a very thin body and lives in trees and hunts frogs and lizards at
night. This snake belongs to
A. Blunt-headed garter snake
B. Blunt-headed spider snake
C. Blunt-headed vine snake
D. Blunt-headed fruit snake
20. This colourful fruit-eang bird with a
black mask, pale
belly and scarlet breast is called Capito fi tzpatricki. Now named
Sira Barbet, the new bird species has been discovered by Cornell
University graduates following an
expedion to the remote
A. Guam Island
B. Equadorian forests
C. Colombian Forests
D. Peruvian Andes
21. Sciensts from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have
discovered this new bird on the Great Nicobar Island. It is the first
report of a new bird by ZSI sciensts since Independence.
What
p
common name has been given to this sll
scienfically unnamed species?
A. The Giant Nicobar Crake
B. The Lesser Nicobar Crake
C. The Car Nicobar Crake
D. The Great Nicobar Crake
Answers:
1(A)
8(A)
15(B)
2(B)
9(A)
16(A)
3(C)
10(B)
17(A)
4(D)
11(C)
18(B)
5(D)
12(D)
19(C)
6(C)
13(D)
20(D)
7(B)
14(C)
21(D)
Contributed by: Dr Mayanglambam Ojit Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor in
Zoology, Ramjas College, Maurice Nagar, University Enclave, Delhi University,
Delhi-110007; Email: [email protected]
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SCIENCE REPORTER, SEPTEMBER 2013