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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Monday, November 01, 2010

ROBERT SCHNECK: Extinction is forever, thank God.

OK, I don't really mean that, but if Labidura herculeana (Fabricius, 1798) were still alive it could escape from the island of St Helena and show up at your house.

The Giant Earwig of St. Helena - The Dodo of the Dermaptera

Labidura herculeana (Fabricius, 1798), a real giant with up to 80mm body length, is sometimes called the Dodo of the Dermaptera. This is because, much like the Dodo, this endemic species lived on a very confined area on a small island in the Atlantic Ocean, St Helena. You could not find it anywhere else on the world.

According to Ashmole & Ashmole (2000), Labidura herculeana (Fabricius, 1798) could be extinct due to the clearing of the gumwood forest where the species lived (in the area of Horse Point), another cause of the alleged extinction could have been the competition with the introduced centipede Scolopendra morsitans.

As it seems, it is now extinct - at least there was no sighting for a considerable time and therefore it is category 'CR B1+2a' in the IUCN Red Lists.

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