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Brachygastra
Honey wasps are species in the genus ''Brachygastra'' of the family Vespidae. ''Brachygastra'' comprises 17 species of social paper wasps. The ancestral species are thought to have diverged about 32 million years ago within diverse Amazonian rainforest. Subsequent speciation within the genus is thought to have mostly occurred between 23 Ma and 10 Ma, during the time of the Andean uplift when the landscape was significantly altered due to tectonic activity. The current cladistic organisation of the genus has been heavily reliant on morphological characteristics. ''Brachygastra'' species live in colonies and construct arboreal paper nests in humid forest environments, although several species occur in open vegetation. They are widely distributed in Central and South America, and also occur in southwest areas of North America. They have a broad diet consisting of floral nectar and insect protein. Several species are known to collect and store nectar in large amounts as honey, a cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primarily floral nectar) or the secretions of other insects, like the honeydew of aphids. This refinement takes place both within individual bees, through regurgitation and enzymatic activity, as well as during storage in the hive, through water evaporation that concentrates the honey's sugars until it is thick and viscous. Honey bees stockpile honey in the hive. Within the hive is a structure made from wax called honeycomb. The honeycomb is made up of hundreds or thousands of hexagonal cells, into which the bees regurgitate honey for storage. Other honey-producing species of bee store the substance in different structures, such as the pots made of wax and resin used by the stingless bee. Honey for human consumption is collected from wild ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maximilian Perty
Josef Anton Maximilian Perty (17 September 1804, Ornbau – 8 August 1884, Bern) was a German naturalist and entomologist. He was a professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at the University of Bern.Deutsche Biographie biography His first name is sometimes spelled as "Joseph". He studied and medicine in Landshut, earning his medical doctorate in 1826. Afterwards, he obtained his PhD at with a thesis on a previously unknown species of |
Vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader than the term ''flora'' which refers to species composition. Perhaps the closest synonym is plant community, but ''vegetation'' can, and often does, refer to a wider range of spatial scales than that term does, including scales as large as the global. Primeval redwood forests, coastal mangrove stands, sphagnum bogs, desert soil crusts, roadside weed patches, wheat fields, cultivated gardens and lawns; all are encompassed by the term ''vegetation''. The vegetation type is defined by characteristic dominant species, or a common aspect of the assemblage, such as an elevation range or environmental commonality. The contemporary use of ''vegetation'' approximates that of ecologist Frederic Clements' term earth cover, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. These ecosystems, functioning in healthy relationships, offer such things as natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme weather mitigation, and human mental and physical well-being. Collectively, these benefits are becoming known as ecosystem services, and are often integral to the provision of food, the provisioning of clean drinking water, the decomposition of wastes, and the resilience and productivity of food ecosystems. While scientists and environmentalists have discussed ecosystem services implicitly for decades, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in the early 2000s popularized this concept. There, ecosystem services are grouped into four broad categories: ''provisioning'', such as the production of food and water; ''regul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Honey Wasp (Vespidae, Brachygastra Mellifica) (30591274156)
Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico ** Being related to the State of Mexico, one of the 32 federal entities of Mexico ** Culture of Mexico *** Mexican cuisine *** historical synonym of Nahuatl, language of the Nahua people (including the Mexica) Arts and entertainment * "The Mexican" (short story), by Jack London * "The Mexican" (song), by the band Babe Ruth * Regional Mexican, a Latin music radio format Films * ''The Mexican'' (1918 film), a German silent film * ''The Mexican'' (1955 film), a Soviet film by Vladimir Kaplunovsky based on the Jack London story, starring Georgy Vitsin * ''The Mexican'', a 2001 American comedy film directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts Other uses * USS ''Mexican'' (ID-1655), United Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stinger
A stinger (or sting) is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal. An insect sting is complicated by its introduction of venom, although not all stings are venomous. Bites, which can introduce saliva as well as additional pathogens and diseases, are often confused with stings, and vice versa. Specific components of venom are believed to give rise to an allergic reaction, which in turn produces skin lesions that may vary from a small itching weal, or slightly elevated area of the skin, to large areas of inflamed skin covered by vesicles and crusted lesions. Stinging insects produce a painful swelling of the skin, the severity of the lesion varying according to the location of the sting, the identity of the insect and the sensitivity of the subject. Many species of bees and wasps have two poison glands, one gland secreting a toxin in which formic acid is one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honeypot Ant
Honeypot ants, also called honey ants, are ants which have specialised workers (repletes, plerergates, or rotunds) that are gorged with food to the point that their abdomens swell enormously. Other ants then extract nourishment from them, through the process of trophallaxis. They function as living larders. Honeypot ants belong to any of several genera, including ''Myrmecocystus'' and '' Camponotus''. They were first documented in 1881 by Henry C. McCook, and described further in 1908 by William Morton Wheeler. Behaviour Many insects, notably honey bees and some wasps, collect and store liquid for use at a later date. However, these insects store their food within their nest or in combs. Honey ants are unique in using their own bodies as living storage, used later by their fellow ants when food is otherwise scarce. When the liquid stored inside a honeypot ant is needed, the worker ants stroke the antennae of the honeypot ant, causing the honeypot ant to regurgitate the stored liq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmecocystus
''Myrmecocystus'' is a North American genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. It is one of five genera that includes honeypot ants. Worker ants keep and tend plerergates, which are other ants that store large quantities of nutritious fluid in their abdomens to feed the colony during famine times. Some species engage in highly territorial tournaments, which can result in intraspecific slavery. During the raids, they carry off larvae, workers, and plerergates. Species *''Myrmecocystus christineae'' Snelling, 1982 *''Myrmecocystus colei'' Snelling, 1976 *''Myrmecocystus creightoni'' Snelling, 1971 *''Myrmecocystus depilis'' Forel, 1901 *''Myrmecocystus ewarti'' Snelling, 1971 *''Myrmecocystus flaviceps'' Wheeler, 1912 *''Myrmecocystus hammettensis'' Cole, 1938 *''Myrmecocystus intonsus'' Snelling, 1976 *''Myrmecocystus kathjuli'' Snelling, 1976 *'' Myrmecocystus kennedyi'' Snelling, 1969 *''Myrmecocystus koso'' Snelling, 1976 *'' Myrmecocystus lugubris'' Wheeler, 1909 *''Myrme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polybia
''Polybia'' is a genus of eusocial wasps ranging from Central to South America (Mexico to Brazil, Argentina). Some produce enough honey to be collected and eaten by local people. Species *''Rutilotrixa lateralis'' (Walker, 1849) *'' Rutilotrixa diversa'' ( Paramonov, 1954) *'' Polybia aequatorialis'' Zavattari, 1906 *'' Polybia affinis'' Buysson, 1908 *'' Polybia anglica'' Cockerell, 1921 *'' Polybia barbouri'' Bequard, 1943 *''Polybia batesi'' Richards, 1978 *'' Polybia belemensis'' Richards, 1970 *'' Polybia bicytarella'' Richards, 1951 *'' Polybia bifasciata'' Saussure, 1854 *''Polybia bistriata'' ( Fabricius, 1804) *''Polybia brunnea'' (Curtis, 1844) *''Polybia brunneiceps'' Cameron, 1912 *''Polybia catillifex'' Moebius, 1856 *''Polybia chrysothorax'' (Lichtenstein) *''Polybia depressa'' (Ducke, 1905) *''Polybia diguetana'' Buysson, 1905 *''Polybia dimidiata'' (Olivier, 1791) *'' Polybia dimorpha'' Richards, 1978 *'' Polybia divisoria'' Richards, 1978 *'' Polybia eberhardae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, providing structure to cells and organisms, and transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific 3D structure that determines its activity. A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds and adjacent amino acid residues. The sequence of amino acid residue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nectar
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide herbivore protection. Common nectar-consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds, honeyeaters and bats. Nectar plays a crucial role in the foraging economics and evolution of nectar-eating species; for example, nectar foraging behavior is largely responsible for the divergent evolution of the African honey bee, ''A. m. scutellata'' and the western honey bee. Nectar is an economically important substance as it is the sugar source for honey. It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar. For example, a number of parasitoid wasps (e.g. the social wasp species ''Apoica flavissima'') rely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. The word diet often implies the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons (with the two often being related). Although humans are omnivores, each culture and each person holds some food preferences or some food taboos. This may be due to personal tastes or ethical reasons. Individual dietary choices may be more or less healthy. Complete nutrition requires ingestion and absorption of vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids from protein and essential fatty acids from fat-containing food, also food energy in the form of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Dietary habits and choices play a significant role in the quality of life, health and longevity. Health A healthy diet can improve and maintain health, which can include aspects of mental and physical health. Specific diets, such as the DASH diet, can be used in treatment and management of chronic conditions. Dietar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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