HORG

Coronaspinus chaos

Coronaspinus chaos

“Chaotic crown of thorns”
Kingdom
Microsynthera
Phylum
Plasticae
Class
Occlupanida
Order
Orthogonidectes
Family
Novenocentridae
Genus
Coronaspinus
Species
chaos
External morphology

Thick integument, lateral palps. 43 mm x 33.5 mm.

In the frenetic days just before the shelter-in-place orders of 2020, panicked shoppers swarmed into grocery stores before they and other businesses shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19. In between all the jostling shopping carts piled high with baking good and toilet paper, occlupanologists L. Swehla and C. Ebert noticed this huge occlupanid lurking suspiciously on the floor of a Berkeley produce market. Hypnotized by their find, they brought it to HORG. Whatever hapless host organism that was held in its unrelenting oral groove is, at the moment, unknown.