Devon: 1:01

Hey, it's Kingdom Animalia, and it's the time you've all been waiting for—reveal time. So I'm your host, Devon,

Chet: 1:07

Chicka We're your co-hosts, Chicka Chet,

Cap: 1:09

Chicka And Cap,

Devon: 1:10

And today on Kingdom Animalia - A Zoology Podcast for Kids, "Trick or Treat 2026 - The Big Reveal." Did you guess it right? It is time for the moment of truth. Chet, you know what to do.

Chet: 1:38

Chicka One day I'll get a robot to do your stupid Chicka drumrolls.

Devon: 1:43

There were four animals, the Leapfrog Crab, Chinese Muntjac, Red-lipped Batfish, and Emerald Cockroach Wasp. And the fake animal that just made up was the… Leapfrog Crab. That's right, the fake animal that I just made up was the Leapfrog Crab, Almakavori ranax. There is no such thing as sea spiders that jump over each other to fight over territory. That means that the Chinese Muntjac, Red-lipped Batfish, and Emerald Cockroach Wasp are all real. Once again, there were unfortunately no guesses sent in. Perhaps we can change that for April Fools' this year? I promise I won't publicly shame you if you guess it wrong. I can't, however, promise the same for Chet and Cap

Chet: 2:19

Chicka A healthy amount of humility is necessary for personal Chicka growth.

Devon: 2:23

You are not helping, Chet.

Chet: 2:24

Chicka Why should I? Chicka It's not my fault that your listeners are Chicka ghosting you. Chicka Seriously, people, literally nobody is Chicka emailing us. Chicka This is not a huge podcast. Chicka We want you to Chicka contact us.

Devon: 2:36

Wait, whose side are you on?

Chet: 2:39

Chicka I just want the stinkin' listeners to send in questions for us to answer on"Ask the Chickadee Brothers" by Chicka going to kapods.org/acb! Chicka Is that too much to Chicka ask for?! Chicka Just ask us questions! Chicka Anything! Chicka Just do it!

Devon: 2:53

I'm sorry, what? What is "Ask the Chickadee Brothers"?

Chet: 2:58

Chicka Forget I said anything.

Devon: 3:01

I guess we'll come back to that later. So, anyway, while Leapfrog Crabs aren't real, sea spiders are, and so is the taxonomic family Pycnogonidae. Once again, their scientific name is based on actual Latin and Greek, so Almakavori and ranax really do mean "jumping crab" and"frog-like," respectively. And before we go, there are a few things about the Emerald Cockroach Wasp that I wanted to mention in the full episode, but I ended up cutting. First off, something I was going to put in the segment about cockroach zombification, a little explainer on insect brains because as it turns out, they're very different from ours. While insects technically have only one main brain, their nervous system is very much not the same as that of a vertebrate like us. In each segment of an insect's body (the head, thorax, and abdomen) there is a main bundle of nerves called the ganglion, which controls that segment of the insect's body. Each ganglion can operate separately—this is the reason that insects can survive for a little while without their head (though they do eventually die of starvation because they do need their head for, you know, eating). Throughout insect evolution, they've gained and fused several body segments. For this reason, insects have six ganglia (the plural of ganglion) in their head, which are remnants of past body segments. These ganglia are fused together, making up the insect's brain. This "brain" has dominance over the entire insect.(It feels kind of weird saying it that way.) So that's insect brains. And the second thing I wanted to talk about is that Emerald Cockroach Wasps aren't the only species of wasp that make zombies. In fact, they're only one in hundreds of thousands of wasps that do this. They zombify a whole range of arthropods, including ants, caterpillars, and spiders. And many species do more than simply paralyzing their hosts. Some turn their host caterpillars into bodyguards that protect the same larvae that are eating them from the inside out from danger. There are even some wasps, such as those in the genus Lysibia, that are what are called hyperparasitoids. Lysibia wasps will seek out caterpillars zombified by other wasps so they can lay eggs on the other wasp's larvae. That's a wasp larva inside a wasp larva inside a zombified caterpillar. And sometimes these chains can go on for even longer! It's essentially a Russian nesting doll of grossing out your parents. And speaking of grossing out your parents, if you want to learn more about real-world zombification, there's a whole book about it! It's called "Rise of the Zombie Bugs" by Mindy Weisberger. It's available wherever books are sold, and it will be the perfect book for your parents to read to you at night. Trust me, parents, you'll love it. You can find the transcript, sources for the full episode, and sweet bedtime story in the show notes and at kapods.org/trickortreat26reveal. You can also see the transcript in your podcast app if you're using an app like Apple Podcasts or Pocket Casts. You can send in questions, comments, episode suggestions, or just a "hello" to animals@kapods.org (that's also in the show notes). I don't get very much contact from listeners like you, so it's very much appreciated. If you can afford it, I'd also really appreciate it if you became a member of Kingdom Animalia Podcasts Plus. It's having a sale of 30% off of your first month through the end of this month. All members get my immense gratitude, as well as one week early access to "Where Are the Chickadee Brothers?" and a shout out in the outro. Help fund what I do by going to plus.kapods.org or clicking the link in the show notes. Again, that's plus.kapods.org, 30% off of your first month through January 31st. The opening theme of this episode was "Sweet Little Lullaby" by Darren Curtis, and this outro theme is"All The Way Up" by eddie. There's no riddle for the next episode because it will be the triumphant return of our game show, Animalia Fake!, and the episode after that will be a Podcasthon special. So, until next time, beware the zombifying wasps, and keep exploring this amazing kingdom Animalia. Bye!

Chet: 6:45

Chicka Bye!

Cap: 6:46

Chicka Later! Chicka Brains…