March 26, 2012

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Spiders in Borneo: Leeches and eyeballs

By Wayne Maddison

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Yesterday afternoon I felt something smooth and cool wriggling around my belly button, so I lifted up my shirt. There was a big leech, maybe 4 cm long, loping along like an inchworm on my tummy. I thought, "Oh, that's good. It hasn't started sucking yet." but then I noticed the still-bleeding round spot on my skin, and the blood on the top edge of my pants. The leech had, in fact, just finished eating. They use an anti-coagulant, so the wound tends to bleed for a while.

Some of the leeches here hurt when they bite, but mine was stealthy. These are not the aquatic leeches familiar to those of us in Canada, but are terrestrial. They inch along on the ground or vegetation, reaching out for something, someone, to latch onto.

Here's a little one on a log, just reaching upward. I had just been sitting there, and it could probably smell me, and so it reached, waving blindly: "I know he must be here somewhere". Edy has named the terrestrial leeches her number one annoyance on this trip (mine, I will mention in a later post). She's had 12 on her; I've had 9; Alex stopped counting.

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We encountered these leeches at Camp 1, a beautiful spot we've been at for the last 4 days. It's a 3 hour hike away from Park Headquarters. Despite the leeches, we will remember Camp 1 fondly. I will mention three highlights. First, of course, the jumping spiders. Lots of species, including some new to us. Here is one that surprised us, a long flat one from tree trunks (salticid geeks: probably a baviine).

Of course, we can't help but notice other forest life. On the forest floor, peeking out from between the dead leaves, are gelatinous masses I call "eyeballs of the forest". They're about eyeball size, clear jelly on the outside with a white mass visible within.

Andy Laman, the local guide helping us, tells us that this is a fungus, and the jelly protects the mushroom within until it is ready to emerge. He says that if you're thirsty, you can consume the jelly. We didn't try.

But what we might remember most about Camp 1 is the bathing facility -- a pool in a clear mountain stream tumbling over rocks, in the midst of the rainforest. We'd be bathing in the cool water, look up to the stunning strength and peace of the forest and stream, and think: Amazing. This is Borneo.

Previously in this series:

Spiders in Borneo: Introduction

Spiders in Borneo: Undiscovered biodiversity

Spiders in Borneo: The guests of honor: Salticidae

Spiders in Borneo: Team Salticid

Spiders in Borneo: Mulu National Park

Spiders in Borneo: Dreaming about salticid spiders

Spiders in Borneo: Jumping spiders in the forest

Spiders in Borneo: Beating around the bushes

Spiders in Borneo: Spiders in leaf litter

Spiders in Borneo: A Vertical Life

Text and images © W. Maddison, under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC-BY)

Wayne Maddison is a biologist who studies the diversity and evolution of jumping spiders. When he was thirteen years old in Canada, a big jumping spider looked up at him with her big dark eyes, and he's been hooked ever since. Jumping spiders hunt like cats, creeping and pouncing, and the males perform amazing dances to females. His fascination with the many species of jumping spiders led to an interest in their evolutionary relationships, and then to methods for analyzing evolutionary history. He received a PhD from Harvard University. He is now a Professor at the University of British Columbia, and the Scientific Director of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. He has taken it as his mission to travel to poorly known rainforests to document the many still-unknown species before they are gone, and to study them and preserve them in museums for future generations.

More by Wayne Maddison

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