A shrimp that dwells in trees

November 21, 2023 10:35 PM

A shrimp that dwells in trees in the Cyclops Mountains, in the Indonesian province of Papua, on the island of New Guinea. In a patch of forest toward the top of the Cyclops Mountains, the researchers found an unusual type of shrimp, slightly larger than grains of rice. These crustaceans were all over the place, including in trees, moss, rotting logs and even under rocks, said Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou, the expedition's lead entomologist who works at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. "It's a very weird creature," Davranoglou said, adding that it's able to leap three or four feet in the air to escape predators. "We were quite awe-struck, really." There are about nine other species of terrestrial shrimp, all of which live by the shore and are known as beach hoppers. "Our species definitely hops, but it lives nowhere near a beach," Davranoglou quipped.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (13 comments total)

You can't say Kate Bush didn't warn us.
posted by fairmettle at 10:46 PM on November 21, 2023

CONTENT WARNING FOR EYEBALL LEECHES in other reports of this expedition. Don't say I didn't warn you!
posted by cstross at 2:37 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Now that they've been discovered, they'll be advertised in the back of comic books, where they'll be portrayed frolicking in their castles. And they shall be called: Tree Monkeys.
posted by mittens at 4:21 AM on November 22, 2023 [9 favorites]

Wow, India Times, just go around calling mountains “treacherous” and echidnas “bizarre,” while letting birds off with “lively.” Those mountains didn’t promise you anything! echidnas are beautiful just as they are!
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:23 AM on November 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

A "tree dwelling shrimp"? That also just happens to live outside of trees, in moss, rotting logs, and under rocks?

C'mon, guys. This is a cockroach with a publicist.

And the "unique egg-laying mammal" in the article headline? A turkey who's just trying to make it to Black Friday. And has the same publicist. A very, very good publicist.
posted by PlusDistance at 4:24 AM on November 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

*Occupied West Papua
posted by 1adam12 at 5:29 AM on November 22, 2023

You're telling me a shrimp climbed this tree?
posted by Flashman at 7:12 AM on November 22, 2023

Shrimps is bugs.
posted by emjaybee at 7:12 AM on November 22, 2023

That's fine, but: allow me to introduce you to the lawn shrimp of North Carolina. And possibly your area too.
posted by amtho at 7:14 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Amphipods! Related to shrimp, in that they're crustaceans, but they aren't shrimp!
posted by fnerg at 9:20 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

After encountering tiny lobsters in a forest in Ontario, I don't know what to believe any more.

(They were woodland crayfish, and they can live in muddy/boggy woods as well as streams)
posted by scruss at 10:03 AM on November 22, 2023

Well, now I have an idea what the Pacific Northwest tree octopus has been feeding upon.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 11:56 AM on November 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

Also: "I'm a KING PRAWN!"
posted by amtho at 3:44 PM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]