Starfish by the starfish in an escape response. The loss of parts of the body is achieved by the rapid softening of a special type of connective tissue in response to nervous signals. This type of tissue is called catch connective tissue and is found in most echinoderms. An autotomy-promoting factor has been identified which, when injected into another starfish, causes rapid shedding of arms. The lifespan of a starfish varies considerably between species, generally being longer in larger forms and in those with planktonic larvae. For example, "Leptasterias hexactis" broods a small number of large-yolked eggs. It has an adult
Tuft-tailed spiny tree-rat (), meaning "hair". "Lonchothrix" is a member of the Echimyini clade of arboreal Echimyidae rodents. The closest relative of "Lonchothrix" is "Mesomys", reflecting the fact that these taxa have once been classified in the same subfamily (Eumysopinae). These two genera share phylogenetic affinities with several taxa and clades: (i) "Echimys", "Phyllomys", "Makalata", "Pattonomys", and "Toromys" ; (ii) the bamboo rats "Dactylomys", "Olallamys", "Kannabateomys" together with "Diplomys" and "Santamartamys" ; and (iii) "Isothrix". Tuft-tailed spiny tree-rat The tuft-tailed spiny tree rat ("Lonchothrix emiliae") is a spiny rat species from South America. It is known from Brazil south of the Amazon River,