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Brachylophus Fasciatus
''Brachylophus fasciatus'', the Lau banded iguana, is an arboreal species of lizard endemic to the Lau Islands of the eastern part of the Fijian archipelago. It is also found in Tonga, where it was probably introduced by humans. It is one of the few species of iguanas found outside of the New World and one of the most geographically isolated members of the family Iguanidae. Populations of these iguanas have been declining over the past century due to habitat destruction, and more significantly, the introduction of mongoose and house cats to the islands. The species is diurnal, spending their days foraging, basking and watching over their territories by day and retreating to the treetops at night. Fiji iguanas are considered a national treasure by the government of Fiji, and its likeness has been featured on postage stamps, currency, and phone book covers. Taxonomy and etymology This species was first described by French zoologist Alexandre Brongniart in 1800. Brongniart,Alexand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandre Brongniart
Alexandre Brongniart (5 February 17707 October 1847) was a French chemist, mineralogist, geologist, paleontologist, and zoologist, who collaborated with Georges Cuvier on a study of the geology of the region around Paris. Observing fossil content as well as lithology in sequences, he classified Tertiary formations and was responsible for defining 19th century geological studies as a subject of science by assembling observations and classifications. Brongniart was also the founder of the Musée national de Céramique-Sèvres (National Museum of Ceramics), having been director of the Sèvres Porcelain Factory from 1800 to 1847. Life He was born in Paris, the son of the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart and father of the botanist Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart. In 1797, he became an instructor of natural history at the Central School of the Four Nations, and became the professor of mineralogy in 1822 at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He was appointed in 1800 by N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family (taxonomy), family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ogea Levu
Ogea Levu (pronounced ) is a coral island on a barrier reef in Fiji's Southern Lau archipelago. With an area of , it is situated at 19.18° South and 178.47° West, east of Fulaga. It has a maximum altitude of . A area covering both Ogea Levu and nearby Ogea Driki is the Ogea Important Bird Area. The Important Bird Area covers the entire range of the near threatened Ogea monarch. The makatea forest and Ogea monarch habitat of the island contribute to its national significance as outlined in Fiji's Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. The people of Ogea are known for their happy and carefree approach to life, and love laughter and merry-making wherever they are gathered. They work hard in their daily lives, mainly in planting root crops, and fishing in their rich fishing grounds around both their islands which are surrounded by magnificent reefs and coral atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fulaga
Fulaga (pronounced ) (proper name: Vulaga) is a crescent-shaped reef-limestone island in Fiji's Southern Lau Group. The spectacular lagoon and the fact that the island is a ''Pritchardia thurstonii ''Pritchardia thurstonii'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is endemic to Fiji, in particular the Lau Islands. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is sometimes known as the Thurston's palm or the Lau fan palm and is n ...'' habitat contribute to its national significance as outlined in Fiji's Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. Geography Situated at 19.17° South and 178.65° West, it covers an area of 18.5 square kilometres. It has a maximum elevation of 79 metres. The limestone belongs to the Koroqara Limestone (Tokalau Limestone Group) and is probably Late Miocene in age. In form it is a basin which has been breached in the north, flooding the interior, which has many islets and rocks. The island thus has this unique, beautiful lagoonNew Zealand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanua Balavu
Vanua Balavu (pronounced ) is the third largest island in Fiji's Lau archipelago, and the main island of the Northern Lau Group. Geography and infrastructure This coral and volcanic island has a land area of . Its maximum elevation is . The island is characterized by steep undercut cliffs with fertile volcanic soil. It is well watered and has hot springs. There is an extensive reef system, including the islets of Qilaqila also known as the Bay of Islands. The traditional owners of Qilaqila are the iTaukei, the mataqalis' from Mavana Village. All visitors to Qilaqila must do sevusevu and have received permission from the village elders of Daliconi Village to visit. The main village on the island is Lomaloma. Vanua Balavu has an airstrip, a post office in Lomaloma copra port, and a small hospital. There was also the Lomaloma Copra Biofuel Project which provided power to three villages, Naqara, Sawana and Lomaloma, however, it is now defunct. Points of interest A large sea ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Naturalist
''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance the conceptual unification of the biological sciences." It was established in 1867 and is published by the University of Chicago Press. The journal covers research in ecology, evolutionary biology, population, and integrative biology. , the editor-in-chief is Daniel I. Bolnick. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal had a 2020 impact factor of 3.926. History The journal was founded by Alpheus Hyatt, Edward S. Morse, Alpheus S. Packard Jr., and Frederick W. Putnam at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts. The first issue appeared in print dated March 1867."American Naturalist," in International Magazine Co., ''Periodicals,'' vol. 1, no. 1 (October-December 1917), pg. 5. In 1878 the journal was for sale and Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago (annum, Mya) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Mya. It is the beginning of the Cenozoic Era of the present Phanerozoic Eon. The earlier term Tertiary Period was used to define the span of time now covered by the Paleogene Period and subsequent Neogene Period; despite no longer being recognised as a formal stratigraphy, stratigraphic term, 'Tertiary' is still widely found in earth science literature and remains in informal use. Paleogene is often abbreviated "Pg" (but the United States Geological Survey uses the abbreviation PE for the Paleogene on the Survey's geologic maps). During the Paleogene, evolution of mammals, mammals diversified from relatively small, simple forms into a large group of diverse animals in the wake of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 33: "[16c: from the feminine of ''Americus'', the Latinized first name of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). The name ''America'' first appeared on a map in 1507 by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, referring to the area now called Brazil]. Since the 16c, a name of the western hemisphere, often in the plural ''Americas'' and more or less synonymous with ''the New World''. Since the 18c, a name of the United States of America. The second sense is now primary in English: ... However, the term is open to uncertainties: ..." The term gained prominence in the early 16th century, during Europe's Age of Discovery, shortly after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci concluded that America (now often called ''the Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old World
The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by their inhabitants as comprising the entire world, with the "New World", a term for the newly encountered lands of the Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas. Etymology In the context of archaeology and world history, the term "Old World" includes those parts of the world which were in (indirect) cultural contact from the Bronze Age onwards, resulting in the parallel development of the early civilizations, mostly in the temperate zone between roughly the 45th and 25th parallels north, in the area of the Mediterranean, including North Africa. It also included Mesopotamia, the Persian plateau, the Indian subcontinent, China, and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. These regions were connected via the Silk Road trade route, and they have a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oceanic Dispersal
Oceanic dispersal is a type of biological dispersal that occurs when terrestrial organisms transfer from one land mass to another by way of a sea crossing. Island hopping is the crossing of an ocean by a series of shorter journeys between islands, as opposed to a single journey directly to the destination. Often this occurs via large rafts of floating vegetation such as are sometimes seen floating down major rivers in the tropics and washing out to sea, occasionally with animals trapped on them. Dispersal via such a raft is sometimes referred to as a rafting event. Colonization of land masses by plants can also occur via long-distance oceanic dispersal of floating seeds. History Rafting has played an important role in the colonization of isolated land masses by mammals. Prominent examples include Madagascar, which has been isolated for ~120 million years ( Ma), and South America, which was isolated for much of the Cenozoic. Both land masses, for example, appear to have received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brachylophus Vitiensis
The Fiji crested iguana or Fijian crested iguana (''Brachylophus vitiensis'') is a critically endangered species of iguana native to some of the northwestern islands of the Fijiian archipelago, where it is found in dry forest on Yaduataba (west of Vanua Levu), Yadua, Macuata, Yaquaga, Devuilau (Goat island), Malolo, Monu and Monuriki. Discovery The discovery of ''B. vitiensis'' resulted from herpetologist Dr. John Gibbons of the University of the South Pacific being invited to a screening of the movie '' The Blue Lagoon''. Part of the movie was filmed on a remote island in Fiji and shots of the native wildlife, including a large colorful iguanid, were included. Gibbons, who was studying the Fiji banded iguana at the time, traveled to the island and identified the lizard in the film as a distinct species new to science. Taxonomy and etymology The generic name, ''Brachylophus'', is derived from two Greek words: brachys (βραχῦς) meaning "short" and lophos (λοφος) mean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
