animal kingdom geek-out

So between my job and my friends, I've spent most of today looking at weird creatures.

Researching for Shadow Unit (with a big assist from matociquala ), I learned about the Chinese bird spider, which rejoices in the appellation of "earth tiger," and the katipo, whose name is a Maori word meaning "night-stinger." I also learned the difference between neurotoxin and hemotoxin venoms, and that the species of black widow indigenous to the American southeast, Latrodectus mactans , is the only specie...