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Aiteng Marefugitus
''Aiteng marefugitus'' is a species of fully terrestrial sea slug found only on the Ulong Island of Palau. The species name is derived from latin, meaning "fled from the sea". Description ''A. marefugitus'' is a very small slug, reaching only . It possesses a dark grey mantle on a light grey body, with two tiny black eyes. Its external anatomy is similar to other species in the genus, having neither a shell nor gills. Its excretory system is characterized by a long nephridial duct, which is assumed to reabsorb salt from the slug's urine. It lays large oocytes, which could supply its young with enough yolk to allow fully terrestrial development of the eggs. Evolution & Taxonomy ''A. marefugitus'' is a member of the order Acochlidia, of the clade Panpulmonata. Molecular analysis revealed the species as distinct from others in its genus, and showed the species split from a common ancestor of the other two species. This speciation is predicted to have occurred in the Miocene, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terrestrial Animal
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g. cats, dogs, ants, spiders), as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water (e.g. fish, lobsters, octopuses), and amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats (e.g. frogs and newts). Some groups of insects are terrestrial, such as ants, butterflies, earwigs, cockroaches, grasshoppers and many others, while other groups are partially aquatic, such as mosquitoes and dragonflies, which pass their larval stages in water. Terrestrial animals tend to be more developed and intelligent than aquatic animals. Terrestrial classes The term "terrestrial" is typically applied to species that live primarily on the ground, in contrast to arboreal species, which live primarily in trees. There are other less common terms that apply to specific groups of terrestrial animals: *Saxicolous creatures are rock dwelling. "Saxicolous" is derived from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Slug
Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary time have either completely lost their shells, or have seemingly lost their shells due to having a greatly reduced or internal shell. The name "sea slug" is most often applied to nudibranchs, as well as to a paraphyletic set of other marine gastropods without obvious shells. Sea slugs have an enormous variation in body shape, color, and size. Most are partially translucent. The often bright colors of reef-dwelling species implies that these animals are under constant threat of predators, but the color can serve as a warning to other animals of the sea slug's toxic stinging cells (nematocysts) or offensive taste. Like all gastropods, they have small, razor-sharp teeth, called radulas. Most sea slugs have a pair of rhinophores—sensory te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulong Island
Ulong is a major island and channel of western Palau. It is sometimes called Aulong and originally written Oroolong in English. Ulong is regarded by many as one of the best drift dives in the world. Geography Ngerumekaol Pass (also known as Ulong Channel) partially cuts through the reef near the Island. The channel stretches about , with an average width of and leads into a coral reef lagoon. There are sharks within the currents of the channel and Ulong Corner. The channel contains giant clams and one of the largest known patches of green lettuce coral in the world. Uruktapel is the largest island southward of Koror; at about off its western point is Ulong. Denges and Eil Malk Passages are passable, but navigation may be difficult in the lagoon between them and Ulong Island. From Ulong to Malakal Harbor, the lagoon is navigable. History Henry Wilson (1740–1810), an English naval captain of the British East India Company was aboard his packet ship ''Antelope'', when it shi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palau
Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caroline Islands with parts of the Federated States of Micronesia. It has a total area of . The most populous island is Koror, home to the country's most populous city of the same name. The capital Ngerulmud is located on the nearby island of Babeldaob, in Melekeok State. Palau shares maritime boundaries with international waters to the north, the Federated States of Micronesia to the east, Indonesia to the south, and the Philippines to the northwest. The country was originally settled approximately 3,000 years ago by migrants from Maritime Southeast Asia. Palau was first drawn on a European map by the Czech missionary Paul Klein based on a description given by a group of Palauans shipwrecked on the Philippine coast on Samar. Palau islands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acochlidiacea
Acochlidiacea, common name acochlidians, are a taxonomic clade of very unusual sea snails and sea and freshwater slugs, aquatic gastropod mollusks within the large clade Heterobranchia. Acochlidia is a variant spelling. Description These are mostly very small animals, without a shell or gills, distinguished by the visceral mass being sharply set off from the rest of the body. Being a small group with only 30 species worldwide known in 2010, and 32 species described in 2011, and 33 in 2012 (+9 undescribed ''Pontohedyle'' species), these slugs are morphologically and biologically highly aberrant and diverse, comprising a series of unusual characters (e.g. secondary gonochorism, lack of copulatory organs, asymmetric radulae). Most acochlidians live interstitially in marine sands, while some have conquered limnic systems (uniquely within opisthobranch gastropods). Taxonomy Nils Hjalmar Odhner established this taxon as a family in 1937, when he created the families Microhedylid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panpulmonata
Panpulmonata is a taxonomic clade of snails and slugs in the clade Heterobranchia within the clade Euthyneura. Panpulmonata was established as a new taxon by Jörger et al. in October 2010. The older name "Pulmonata" referred to a group of gastropods which were considered to be "air-breathers". This meaning certainly does not apply to the panpulmonate groups Acochlidia, Sacoglossa and Pyramidelloidea, and also was inaccurate when applied to some of the more traditional pulmonate taxa such as Siphonarioidea or Hygrophila, most members of which lack permanently air-filled lungs. However, the term Panpulmonata was chosen by Jörger et al. (2010) to provide some continuity in the terminology. Panpulmonata consists of following taxa: * Siphonarioidea * Sacoglossa * Glacidorboidea * Amphiboloidea * Pyramidelloidea * Hygrophila * Acochlidiacea (mentioned as Acochlidia) * Eupulmonata: Stylommatophora, Systellommatophora, Ellobioidea, Otinoidea, Trimusculoidea. Cladogram This cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant Litter
Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent nutrients are added to the top layer of soil, commonly known as the litter layer or O horizon ("O" for "organic"). Litter is an important factor in ecosystem dynamics, as it is indicative of ecological productivity and may be useful in predicting regional nutrient cycling and soil fertility. Characteristics and variability Litterfall is characterized as fresh, undecomposed, and easily recognizable (by species and type) plant debris. This can be anything from leaves, cones, needles, twigs, bark, seeds/nuts, logs, or reproductive organs (e.g. the stamen of flowering plants). Items larger than 2 cm diameter are referred to as coarse litter, while anything smaller is referred to as fine litter or litter. The type of litterfall is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aitengidae
''Aiteng'' is a genus comprising three species of sea slug, ''A. ater'' and ''A. mysticus'' being found in intertidal zones while ''A. marefugitus'' is fully terrestrial. ''Aiteng'' is the only genus in the family Aitengidae. The generic name ''Aiteng'' is derived from the name of a black puppet Ai Theng, which is one of the shadow play (Nang yai) puppets in southern Thailand. Taxonomy Swennen & Buatip (2009) tentatively classified Aitengidae within the Sacoglossa, but they noted that some characteristics of the nervous system are similar to those of the Cephalaspidea and Acochlidioidea (mentioned as Acochlidea). Aitengidae clusters within the Hedylopsacea as sister group to Pseudunelidae and Acochlidiidae or basal within Hedylopsacea. Philippe Bouchet (2010) classified Aitengidae within the superfamily Hedylopsoidea. Species Species in the genus ''Aiteng'' include: * '' Aiteng ater'' Swennen & Buatip, 2009 * '' Aiteng mysticus'' Neusser, Fukuda, Jörger, Kano & Schrödl, 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gastropods Described In 2015
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and slugs, as well as freshwater snails, freshwater limpets, and land snails and slugs. The class Gastropoda contains a vast total of named species, second only to the insects in overall number. The fossil history of this class goes back to the Late Cambrian. , 721 families of gastropods are known, of which 245 are extinct and appear only in the fossil record, while 476 are currently extant with or without a fossil record. Gastropoda (previously known as univalves and sometimes spelled "Gasteropoda") are a major part of the phylum Mollusca, and are the most highly diversified class in the phylum, with 65,000 to 80,000 living snail and slug species. The anatomy, behavior, feeding, and reproduct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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