# Mythological monster inverts



## Scythemantis (Mar 5, 2005)

Sorry if this is considered far off-topic, I wasn't sure where it should go.

Being as into monsters as I'm into invertebrates, I research a lot of mythological creatures, but for all the millions of dragons and goblins and vampires out there, invertebrates are remarkably absent from most ancient folklore...over years and years, I've dug up only a handful of giant insect/arachnid legends, and nearly all of them are japanese. Again, I hope this isn't too far off-topic, but I thought people might find these cool. I decided to post them because I only _just_ recently learned the details of the "Jorougumo", which had been eluding me for ages (it's only passingly mentioned in most books I've read, and the internet was no help at all)

This thread may, however, be more appropriate for the general arachnids board because virtually all of them are arachnids...

From japanese folklore:

*Mukade* - giant centipede with venomous breath, so huge and powerful that even dragons, including the local dragon king, live in fear of it. Only one hero knows Mukade's weakness to _human saliva_, and ultimately kills him with a spit-coated arrow through the eye.
Here's a GREAT illustration I've found.

*Tsuchigumo* - the "earth spider", a giant spider of semi-godly power featured in MANY different legends.
A very old depiction of Tsuchigumo vs. the legendary hero Raiko.

*Ushi-oni* - a huge, firebreathing spider with the head of a cow. Sometimes considered harmless.


*Jorougumo* - the "prostitute spider" (there's a real species with the same name, too)...appears in the form of a beautiful woman to lure men, then takes on her true spider form and devours them. Sometimes has hordes of baby spiders hidden under her robes.
This woodcut dates back centuries.

Some photos of the "real" jorougumo (some of you may know this species by another name)

From Malaysia:

*Pelesit* - a vampire cricket with a sawlike tail. It has a symbiotic relationship with the "polong", a spirit vampire resembling a tiny human woman. Together they enter human bodies as parasites and drive them insane.

From native american folklore:

*Weewilmekq* - a gigantic leech with a bright green body, red check marks all over, a pair of curving bony horns, a spear-like tail, and a serrated sucker-mouth that it could drain blood and body fluids. A good shape-changer in one story becomes a Weewilmekq to defeat an evil shape-changer who has taken on the form of a dragon.

*Tlanusi'Yi* - another giant leech, from Cherokee mythology. A red-and-white striped leech said to lurk at the base of a whirlpool. It would pull in its victims, poison them to death, and eat only their ears and noses.



There is also another japanese one, which resembles a huge mole-cricket, but I don't know its name or details.

But really, other than the kraken (which isn't exactly a myth anymore) those are the only mythological beasts based on any invertebrates at all...a bit sad. At least most of them are awesome, though.


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## thedreadedone (Mar 6, 2005)

i think that the "ancient sea monsters" were inverts - giant squids and octopus


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## Randolph XX() (Mar 6, 2005)

"The Search Of The Giant Squids"


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## Scorpendra (Mar 6, 2005)

that ushi-oni sounds cool. just googled it, but all i found was a bunch of yu-gi-oh cards by the same name. yeah, it's a shame there are so little invertebrate monsters.


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## Kid Dragon (Mar 6, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> Sorry if this is considered far off-topic, I wasn't sure where it should go.
> 
> Being as into monsters as I'm into invertebrates, I research a lot of mythological creatures, but for all the millions of dragons and goblins and vampires out there, invertebrates are remarkably absent from most ancient folklore...over years and years, I've dug up only a handful of giant insect/arachnid legends, and nearly all of them are japanese. Again, I hope this isn't too far off-topic, but I thought people might find these cool. I decided to post them because I only _just_ recently learned the details of the "Jorougumo", which had been eluding me for ages (it's only passingly mentioned in most books I've read, and the internet was no help at all)
> 
> ...


You forgot "It", the giant ant.


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## VesAn (Mar 6, 2005)

There are a number of invertebrate spirits/demons featured in chinese mythology, but none are particularly famous.  Usually they're just old spiders/centipedes that has grown old through the ages and became cognisant and acquired magical powers.  Usually minor villains who gets killed in some story about some hero.

  Giant crabs/shrimps are said to serve the various dragon kings of the oceans, majors lakes and rivers of the world, usually as generals and soldiers in their armies.


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## Randolph XX() (Mar 6, 2005)

BTW, there is a quite true myth
My grandma use to remember there's a big swamp eel(Anguilla marmorata)eating new born baby, they used to leave the babies near the drain, but they found there was a huge swamp eel eating a baby(which is quite possible cuz they eat ducks sometimes), so they never leave the babies near the drain anymore, and she is quite serious cuz one of my long lost uncle were gone that way b4 i could met him
and they are not like common eels, they are big eaters,more muscular, with short tail, and they sleep upsidedown like us!(Swamp eels are used as a noun in Taiwanese as gansters, or adjectives for discribing insolent behaves )
but as far as i know, it should be at least 2 metres(official record is like 160cm,50kg, the largest living one in Taiwan is 130cm, 20kg), which is quite possible and they are able to come up on the land for a while, but however, i had one b4, the eelings only grew like a centimeter per year, so if there's any monster that big, it's propably 100+years old, and i do believ they might have supernatural luck or skills to survive that long if there is one
well, i always believe it is true(after seeing a 2 meter snake head been fished by a dude on the local fishing magazine's cover, ya, i tried to fish the big swamp eels, too), and i've always been searching for that monster everytime i visit my grandma in the country, but however, as pollution there is getting more severe than b4, the fish and other natural fuana are disapearing everyear, and last year i couldn't even find a single fish in the drain but mosquitos..


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## Scythemantis (Mar 6, 2005)

Kid Dragon said:
			
		

> You forgot "It", the giant ant.


Nah, that's a modern movie monster (From the movie "THEM!")...I'm just talking about monsters from "ancient legends", like dragons or unicorns. If I were including movie monsters too, my post would've been thirty times longer  (my personal favorite big bug movie is the more modern "ticks". Not very good, but it gets points for choosing a unique bug to monster-ize. I'd like to see a movie about giant fleas someday)


Yeah, the kraken is an invert, but now that we KNOW there are giant cephalopods, it's not really mythological anymore. Course, it's always possible that there are much, much larger ones out there that may have _really_ inspired the kraken legend.

A lot of old texts described the kraken as everything from a lobster or cuttlefish to a giant ship-destroying _starfish_, but all were most likely mis-interpretations of giant squid.


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