#tepui

[diemelusine]

View from Mount Roraima, Brazil.

[wenbochenphoto]

Orectanthe sceptrum, endemic to the Guiana Shield, grows on wet rocks and rocky terraces. Striking perennial subshrub up to 2 m tall, with densely crowded, glaucous leaves resembling a pineapple and blooms with bright yellow flowers.

[artstationable]

Jakub Cervenka

Just 25 years old guy

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[stephenmalkmus]

Summit of the Auyan tepui in Venezuela.

[alvarejo]

Roraima Tepui or Mount Roraima is the highest of the Pakaraima chain of tepui plateau in South America. It was first described by the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh...

[carnivorous-pants]

Heliamphora pulchella (churi tepui)

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

Research in a special place: the Roraima tepui in South America! Biologist Philippe Kok found that larvae of a firefly species prey on a small toad that is supposed to be their predator. Interestingly, the larvae have stopped glowing. In this way, they can better ambush the toad.

Do you have this romantic view of glowing fireflies enchanting your summer nights with their unceasing ballet? This story might make you change your mind. Firefly larvae are much less romantic than the adults, being venomous and voracious predators that usually feed on snails, slugs and other soft-bodied invertebrates.

A team of scientists led by Philippe JR Kok (@vubrussel, @rbinsmuseum) reports in Current Biology on a very rare role reversal predation: the larva of an unknown firefly species living on the summit of the Roraima-tepui shifted its diet from soft-bodied invertebrates to a small endemic toad species supposed to be its (potential) predator. And that firefly larva stopped glowing, which seems unique in the firefly family. Firefly larvae are unpalatable and glow to deter potential predators, but what’s the point to deter a predator you want to prey upon? The victim here is a toad named Oreophrynella quelchii, which is only found on the summit of two neighbouring tepuis. Tepuis are Precambrian sandstone tabletop mountains reaching up to ca. 3,000 m in elevation and are found in northern South America. Their highest summits are isolated from the surrounding uplands savannah and lush tropical rainforest by sheer cliffs and face particularly hostile, challenging environmental conditions. These isolated tabletop mountains inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his famous novel The Lost World, populated with dinosaurs and an ancient civilisation. Philippe Kok (ca you find him in the last picture?) is a specialist of the evolution of vertebrates in these remote areas and spent close to 300 days on tepui summits.

[earthstory]

Cerro Sarisariñama Located in the remote Venezuelan wilderness, hundreds of miles removed from the closest roads, is a Tepui, or a tabletop mountain. This mountain is home to a vast array of plant and animal species, but is renowned among the scientific community for its four giant sinkholes. The largest of these sinkholes, called Sima Humboldt, is over 350 meters wide and 315 meters deep. It is suspected that the sinkholes were shaped over time by the erosional forces of groundwater as it percolated downwards. KKS Read more: http://bit.ly/1HMLLoC http://bit.ly/1D8Ij2d Photo courtesy of Robert Harding and Atlas Obscura