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Brace's Emerald
Brace's emerald (''Riccordia bracei'') is an extinct species of hummingbird which was endemic to the main island of the Bahamas, New Providence. Description Its size was 9.5 cm, the wing length 11.4 cm and length of the tail 2.7 cm. The black bill was slightly curved and conical pointed. The feet were black. The back exhibited a bronze green hue with a golden gleam. The head was similarly coloured to the back, with the absence of the golden gloss. Directly behind the eyes was a white spot. The throat gleamed in magnificent blue green colour hues. The abdomen had green feathers with ash-grey tips. The wings exhibited a purplish hue. The rectrices were greenish. The crissum (the undertail covert which surrounded the cloacal opening) was grey with a faint cinnamon hue at the edges. Status and extinction For more than a hundred years, Brace's emerald was only known by the type specimen, one single male which was shot by bird collector Lewis J. K. Brace on July 13, 18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Newbold Lawrence
George Newbold Lawrence (October 20, 1806 – January 17, 1895) was an American businessman and amateur ornithologist. Early life Lawrence was born in the city of New York on October 20, 1806. From his youth, Lawrence was a lover of birds and spent much of his spare time studying their habits. At sixteen years of age, he became a clerk in his father's business, becoming a partner in his father's house by age twenty. Career Lawrence conducted Pacific bird surveys for Spencer Fullerton Baird and John Cassin, and the three men co-authored ''Birds of North America'' in 1860. He sold his collection of 8,000 bird skins to the American Museum of Natural History in 1887. Fellow ornithologists honored him by naming one bird genus and 20 species after him, including both the scientific and common name of the Lawrence's goldfinch, first described by Cassin in 1852. Personal life Lawrence died on January 17, 1895 in New York City. His funeral was held at his residence, 45 East 21st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxa Named By George Newbold Lawrence
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular ranking, especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established. It is very common, however, for taxonomists to remain at odds over what belongs to a taxon and the criteria used for inclusion. If a taxon is given a formal scientific name, its use is then governed by one of the nomenclature codes specifying which scientific name is correct for a particular grouping. Initial attempts at classifying and ordering organisms (plants and animals) were set forth in Carl Linnaeus's system in ''Systema Naturae'', 10th edition (1758), as well as an unpublished work by Bernard and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. The idea of a unit-based system of biological classification was first made widely available in 1805 in the intro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Described In 1877
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. Bird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Extinctions Since 1500
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. Bird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct Birds Of The Caribbean
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, mam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of The Bahamas
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] |
Riccordia
''Riccordia'' is a genus of birds in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. They are endemic to the Caribbean. Species The species now placed in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus ''Chlorostilbon''. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that ''Chlorostilbon'' was polyphyletic. In the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, these species, as well as the blue-headed hummingbird in the monotypic ''Cyanophaia'', were moved to the resurrected genus ''Riccordia'' that had been introduced in 1854 by the German ornithologist Ludwig Reichenbach with the Cuban emerald as the type species. The two extinct species, Brace's emerald and Gould's emerald, were not included in the phylogenetic studies and thus their placement is uncertain. Reichenbach based the genus name on the specific epithet of the type species, ''recordii'', which had been chosen by Paul Gervais to honour the French surgeon-naturalist Alexandre Ricord (born 1798). The genus contains six ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relict (biology)
In biogeography and paleontology, a relict is a population or taxon of organisms that was more widespread or more diverse in the past. A relictual population is a population currently inhabiting a restricted area whose range was far wider during a previous geologic epoch. Similarly, a relictual taxon is a taxon (e.g. species or other lineage) which is the sole surviving representative of a formerly diverse group. Definition A relict (or relic) plant or animal is a taxon that persists as a remnant of what was once a diverse and widespread population. Relictualism occurs when a widespread habitat or range changes and a small area becomes cut off from the whole. A subset of the population is then confined to the available hospitable area, and survives there while the broader population either shrinks or evolves divergently. This phenomenon differs from endemism in that the range of the population was not always restricted to the local region. In other words, the species or group did n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bahama Woodstar
The Bahama woodstar or Bahama hummingbird (''Nesophlox evelynae'') is a species of hummingbird endemic to the Lucayan archipelago, including the Bahamian and Turks and Caicos islands. It is named the "hummer" by locals due to a distinct humming sound it makes while feeding. Taxonomy Hummingbirds are the second most abundant group of avian families, having approximately 338 different recognized species. Due to its recent divergence between lineages, the many clades within this group are constantly under close scrutiny and rearrangement.McGuire, J. A., Witt, C. C., Remsen, J. V., Jr., Corl, A., Rabosky, D. L., Altshuler, D. L., & Dudley, R. (2014). Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds. Current Biology, 24(8), 910-916. The Bahama woodstar in particular belongs to the "bee clade", the youngest and most extensively diversifying clade. A characteristic of this clade is the fact that males use their tails to make sounds.Clark, C. J. (2010). The Evolution of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek grc, label=none, πλεῖστος, pleīstos, most and grc, label=none, καινός, kainós (latinized as ), 'new'. At the end of the preceding Pliocene, the previously isolated North and South American continents were joined by the Isthmus of Panama, causing Great American Interchang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storrs Olson
Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021) was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known for his studies of fossil and subfossil birds on islands such as Ascension, St. Helena and Hawaii. His early higher education took place at Florida State University in 1966, where he obtained a B.A. in biology, and the University of Florida, where he received an M.S. in biology. Olson's doctoral studies took place at Johns Hopkins University, in what was then the School of Hygiene and Public Health. He was married to fellow paleornithologist Helen F. James. Early life and education Olson was born April 4, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois. His father was physical oceanographer Franklyn C.W. Olson. He was named after his maternal conservationist grandfather P.S. Lovejoy. Franklyn worked at the University of Ohio's Stone Laboratory on Gibral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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