Video: Bolivia Bug

Traumatic Insemination

The Turbellaria flatworm was one inspiration for the post Sugar Bugs, and also for the mated pair forming the 'gy' in the site logo.

Many other species engage in this practice.

"The evolutionary origins of traumatic insemination are disputed. Although it evolved independently in many invertebrate species, traumatic insemination is most highly adapted and thoroughly studied in bedbugs, particularly Cimex lectularius. Traumatic insemination is not limited to male-female couplings, or even couplings of the same species. Both homosexual and inter-species traumatic inseminations have been observed. Traumatic insemination has been likened to human sadomasochism, stabbing, and rape behaviors. However, such coercive sex practices are common in nature and provide sperm competition, enable bypassing the mating plug, and overcome female resistance to being mated." -Wikipedia

Earth's strangest looking animals - A list of the creepy and beautiful. It gives you some idea of how diverse the output of evolution can be.

Basic Anatomy

Simply lovely

"Anchored to the cerebral keel in the pectoral armature, the “vertebrate” brain is actually made up of two separate organs that work in tandem. One of these is a more-or-less “ordinary” brain, made up of a dense knot of fibrous nerves. The other is a maddening structure known as the worm basket; a sac filled with an extremely convoluted bundle of microscopic tubules. Within these tubes lies a series of millions of glands and vesicles that seem to communicate with each other with a cryptic alphabet of chemicals and protein equivalents. Scans have revealed that the tubes in the worm basket squirm, twist, corkscrew and coil against themselves when Snaiadi “vertebrates” are dreaming, or engaging in intellectually demanding tasks."

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the ship, once landed, would never rise again

I present to you a disturbing account of a failed early colonization attempt.

Blue Dragon

The Strangest Thing in the Ocean
a pelagic sea slug, Glaucus Atlanticus
by the doubtful guest

Xenobiology Now Available On Lulu!

Here it is!

You can get it as a slim but punchy paperback, or an equally punchy but non-corporeal download for only a dollar.

Of course you can also get it from scribd. But the Lulu version of Xenobiology is lots better.

It's been modified slightly for speling, better sign-offs, and trimmed down to story-relevant comments. Are you in the comments? You should buy a copy and see! (and thanks!)

It also includes the Doctor Glycine children's stories with illustrations at no extra charge. The lovely green and white eyripsisian cover would look delightful under any Christmas tree or Festivus pole.

Buy it!

-James Andrix