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Black-winged Lapwing
The black-winged lapwing or greater black-winged lapwing (''Vanellus melanopterus'') is an east African species that is found from the Ethiopian highlands in the north to central Kenya (race ''V. m. melanopterus''), and again at middle to coastal elevations in eastern South Africa (race ''V. m. minor''). It is a habitat specialist of short grass in well-watered temperate grasslands. They may move about locally to find ideal situations, often at night. In their tightly grouped flying flocks they resemble plovers. Description A black breast band separates the lapwing's grey head and neck from the white underside. The wing coverts are brown. It has a variable but prominent white forehead patch similar to its near relative, the Senegal lapwing, but in contrast shows a prominent white wingbar in flight, bordered by black remiges. The two species are also separated by their respective habitat preferences, the Senegal lapwing preferring lower, mostly drier locations. Habits and breed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar
Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar (11 June 1786 – 4 May 1845) was a German physician and natural science, natural scientist. Cretzschmar was born at Sulzbach, Hesse, Sulzbach and studied medicine at the University of Würzburg. He taught anatomy and zoology at the Johann Christian Senckenberg, Senckenberg Medical Institute of Frankfurt.translated biography NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie Cretzschmar was the founder and second director of the Senckenberg Museum, Senckenberg Natural History Society in 1817.Senckenberg Gesselschaft fur Naturforschung Cretzschmar-Medaille One of the founding members of the society was Eduard Rüppell, and the two men coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattodea (along with cockroaches). Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from cockroaches, as they are deeply nested within the group, and the sister group to wood eating cockroaches of the genus ''Cryptocercus''. Previous estimates suggested the divergence took place during the Jurassic or Triassic. More recent estimates suggest that they have an origin during the Late Jurassic, with the first fossil records in the Early Cretaceous. About 3,106 species are currently described, with a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called "white ants", they are not ants, and are not closely related to ants. Like ants and some bees a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Sub-Saharan Africa
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. Birds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanellus
''Vanellus'' is the genus of waders which provisionally contains all lapwings except red-kneed dotterel, ''Erythrogonys cinctus''. The name "''vanellus''" is Latin for "little fan", ''vanellus'' being the diminutive of ''vannus'' ("Winnowing#In Greek culture, winnowing fan"). The name is in reference to the sound lapwings' wings make in flight. Description These long-legged waders mostly have strongly patterned plumage. Although the most familiar Eurasian lapwing, ''Vanellus vanellus'' (northern lapwing), has a wispy Crest (feathers), crest, only two other species do so. Red or yellow facial wattle (anatomy), wattles are a more typical decoration. Only northern, sociable, white-tailed, grey-headed and brown-chested lapwings are truly bird migration, migratory species. The Andean lapwing moves downhill in winter. Spur-winged, blacksmith, river, southern, Andean and pied lapwings are boldly patterned, red-eyed species with a spurred carpal (wrist) joint. Many species have wattle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AEWA
The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convention on Migratory Species. It was founded to coordinate efforts to conserve bird species migrating between European and African nations, and its current scope stretches from the Arctic to South Africa, encompassing the Canadian archipelago and the Middle East as well as Europe and Africa. The agreement focuses on bird species that depend on wetlands for at least part of their lifecycle and cross international borders in their migration patterns. It currently covers 254 species. Parties Meetings The Parties meet every few years. So far there have been seven meetings: * 7–9 November 1999 in Cape Town, South Africa * 25–27 September 2002 in Bonn, Germany * 23–27 October 2005 in Dakar, Senegal * 15–19 September 2008 in Antananarivo, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Endangered Species
On 29 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 5220 (2754 animals, 1 fungus, 2464 plant, 1 protist) endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations. For IUCN lists of endangered species by kingdom, see: *Animals (kingdom Animalia) — IUCN Red List endangered species (Animalia) **Amphibians — List of endangered amphibians **Birds — List of endangered birds **Fish — List of endangered fishes **Invertebrates — List of endangered invertebrates ***Arthropods — List of endangered arthropods ****Insects — List of endangered insects ***Molluscs List of endangered molluscs **Mammals — List of endangered mammals **Reptiles — List of endangered reptiles *Fungi (kingdom Fungi) — IUCN Red List endangered species (Fungi) *Plants (kingdom Plantae) — IUCN Red List endangered species (Plantae) *Protists (kingdom Protista) — IUCN Red List endangered species (Protista) References * IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Mobbing Behavior
Mobbing in animals is an antipredator adaptation in which individuals of prey species mob a predator by cooperatively attacking or harassing it, usually to protect their offspring. A simple definition of mobbing is an assemblage of individuals around a potentially dangerous predator. This is most frequently seen in birds, though it is also known to occur in many other animals such as the meerkat and some bovines. While mobbing has evolved independently in many species, it only tends to be present in those whose young are frequently preyed upon. This behavior may complement cryptic adaptations in the offspring themselves, such as camouflage and hiding. Mobbing calls may be used to summon nearby individuals to cooperate in the attack. Konrad Lorenz, in his book ''On Aggression'' (1966), attributed mobbing among birds and animals to instincts rooted in the Darwinian struggle to survive. In his view, humans are subject to similar innate impulses but capable of bringing them u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mealworm
Mealworms are the larval form of the yellow mealworm beetle, ''Tenebrio molitor'', a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Larvae typically measure about or more, whereas adults are generally between in length. Reproduction The mealworm beetle breeds prolifically. Males insert sperm packets with their aedeagus. Within a few days the female burrows into soft ground and lays eggs. Over her lifespan, a female will, on average, lay about 500 eggs. After 4 to 19 days the eggs hatch. During the larval stage, the mealworms feed on vegetation and dead insects and molt between each larval stage, or instar (9 to 20 instars). After the final molt, they pupate. The new pupa is whitish and turns brown over time. After 3 to 30 days, depending on environmental conditions such as temperature, it emerges as an adult beetle. Sex pheromones A sex pheromone released by male mealworms has been identified. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenebrionidae
Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae. The number of species in the Tenebrionidae is estimated at more than 20,000 and the family is cosmopolitan in distribution. Taxonomy ''Tenebrio'' is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles in his ''10th edition of Systema Naturae'' 1758-59. The word means "seeker of dark places" (or figuratively a trickster); an English language analogy is "darkling". Numerous Tenebrionidae species do inhabit dark places, however, there are many species in genera such as ''Stenocara'' and ''Onymacris'', which are active by day and inactive at night. The family covers a varied range of forms, such that classification presents great difficulties. These eleven subfamilies were listed in the 2021 review by Bouchard, Bousquet, ''et al.'', updating a similar catalog from 2005.Bouchard, Patrice. Lawrence, John F. Davies, Anthony E. Newton, Alfred F. Synoptic Classification of the World Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lapwing Black-winged 2011 07 24 10 45 22 1094
Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A group of lapwings is called a "deceit". The traditional terms "plover", "lapwing", and "dotterel" do not correspond exactly to current taxonomic models; thus, several of the Vanellinae are often called plovers, and one a dotterel, while a few of the "true" plovers (subfamily Charadriinae) are known colloquially as lapwings. In general, a lapwing can be thought of as a larger plover. In Europe's Anglophone countries, ''lapwing'' refers specifically to the northern lapwing, the only member of this group to occur in most of the continent and thus the first bird to go by the English name ''lapwing'' (also known as ''peewit'' or ''pyewipe''). Systematics While authorities generally agree that there about 25 species of Vanellinae, classificat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area.Sayre, April Pulley (1999), ''Africa'', Twenty-First Century Books. . With billion people as of , it accounts for about of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, behind Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, tribalism, colonialism, the Cold War, neocolonialism, lack of democracy, and corruption. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and the large and young population make Afr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crowned Lapwing
The crowned lapwing (''Vanellus coronatus''), or crowned plover, is a bird of the lapwing subfamily that occurs contiguously from the Red Sea coast of Somalia to southern and southwestern Africa. It is an adaptable and numerous species, with bold and noisy habits. It is related to the more localized black-winged and Senegal lapwings, with which it shares some plumage characteristics. Taxonomy The crowned lapwing was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected in the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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