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Replica of the M. ohioensis holotype
Replica of the M. ohioensis holotype

Megalograptus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods, containing five species, all based on fossil material found in the United States: M. alveolatus, M. ohioensis (pictured), M. shideleri, M. welchi and M. williamsae. They were predators, with the largest and best-known species, M. ohioensis, growing to 78 centimeters (2 ft 7 in). The two most distinctive features of Megalograptus were its massive and spined forward-facing appendages, and its sharp spike-shaped telson (the last division of the body). Attached beneath the non-venomous telson were a pair of rounded blade-formed lobes which made it capable of grasping. Researchers have been able to infer the coloration that specimens might have possessed in life, believed to be brown and black, with M. ohioensis being darker than the others. Megalograptus lived in near-shore marine environments, where it used its large appendages to capture prey. The predator may have been cannibalistic at times, like many modern chelicerates. (Full article...)

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David Cortés
David Cortés

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Hurricane Julia making landfall in Nicaragua on 9 October
Hurricane Julia impacting Nicaragua

On this day

October 17: Shemini Atzeret (Judaism, 2022)

Lake Burley Griffin
Lake Burley Griffin
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The title of Best in Show is awarded annually to the dog chosen as winner of the dog show Crufts, according to conformation show rules. This title was first awarded in 1928, the initial winner being Primley Sceptre, a fawn Greyhound. Previously, Crufts had used the title of Best Champion, sponsored by the Illustrated Kennel News and awarded from 1905 to 1914. The most successful breed in the modern era since the title of Best in Show was introduced has been the English Cocker Spaniel. Of the breed's seven show titles, all but one of them were owned and bred by H. S. Lloyd from the "of Ware" kennel. Only four dogs have won Best in Show on more than one occasion, and on three of these occasions they were English Cocker Spaniels owned by Lloyd. The fourth occasion was a Labrador Retriever named Bramshaw Bob, owned by the second-most successful breeder in the show's history, Countess Lorna Howe. (Full list...)
Purple roller

The purple roller (Coracias naevius), also known as the rufous-crowned roller, is a medium-sized species of bird in the family Coraciidae widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. Compared with other rollers its colours are rather dull and its voice rather harsh and grating. Its preferred habitat is dry thornveld, where it spends long periods perched at the top of thorn trees or poles, watching for food items such as insects, spiders, scorpions and small lizards on the ground. It rocks to-and-fro about its longitudinal axis during display flights, calling raucously all the while; starting from above the treetops it plummets towards the ground in rolling flight. The species is territorial, and during the breeding season it will drive off other rollers, small hawks, and crows. This purple roller, of the subspecies C. n. mosambicus, was photographed in Etosha National Park, Namibia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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