|
Calliphara Nobilis
''Calliphara nobilis'' (commonly known as the mangrove jewel bug, mangrove shield bug, or mangrove stink bug) is a species of jewel bug found in Asia. Like all species of jewel bugs, it is phytophagous, feeding on the leaves, fruit and seeds of its host plants. This insect is notable for its multiple defense mechanisms: it is highly mobile and swarms disperse with a loud buzz when disturbed; it is aposematically colored, which serves as a warning to any would-be predators that it is unpalatable; and it possesses a robust chemical defense mechanism: it can secrete an irritating and toxic fluid from a pair of metathoracic scent glands when threatened. Taxonomy and evolutionary history ''C. nobilis'' is one of 15 species within the genus '' Calliphara''. The genus is part of the Scutelleridae (shield bug) family, which contains some 80 genera and 500 species worldwide. The scutellerids in turn are part of the larger Pentatomoidea superfamily, (which contains the shield bugs, gian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reservoir (Chinese: 双溪布洛湿地保护区, Malay: ''Kawasan Simpanan Alam Semulajadi Sungei Buloh'', Tamil: சுங்காய் புலோ ஈரநில வளம்) is a nature reserve in the northwest area of Singapore. It is the first wetlands reserve to be gazetted in Singapore (2002), and its global importance as a stop-over point for migratory birds was recognised by the inclusion of the reserve into the East Asian Australasian Shorebird Site Network. The reserve, with an area of 130 hectares, was listed as an ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003. History Previously unheard of as a nature area, the site only gained prominence in 1986 when a call was made to conserve the area by members of the Singapore Branch of the Malayan Nature Society. Particularly significant was its unusually high variety of bird species, which included migratory birds from as far as Siberia on their way to Australia to escape the winter months. Their suggestion was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentatomidae
Pentatomidae is a family of insects belonging to the order Hemiptera, generally called shield bugs or stink bugs. Pentatomidae is the largest family in the superfamily Pentatomoidea, and contains around 900 genera and over 4700 species.Robert G. Foottit, Peter H. Adler ''Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society'', John Wiley and Sons, 2009, As hemipterans, the pentatomids have Hemiptera#Mouthparts, piercing sucking mouthparts, and most are herbivore, phytophagous, including several species which are severe pests on Agriculture, agricultural crops. However, some species, particularly in the subfamily Asopinae, are predatory and may be considered beneficial. Etymology The name "Pentatomidae" is from the Greek language, Greek ''pente'' meaning "five" and ''tomos'' meaning "section", and refers to the five segments of their antennae. Pentatomids are generally called "shield bugs" in British English language , English, or "stink bugs" in American English. However, the term shield bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthropod Leg
The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, plural ''coxae''), ''trochanter'', ''femur'' (plural ''femora''), ''tibia'' (plural ''tibiae''), ''tarsus'' (plural ''tarsi''), ''ischium'' (plural ''ischia''), ''metatarsus'', ''carpus'', ''dactylus'' (meaning finger), ''patella'' (plural ''patellae''). Homologies of leg segments between groups are difficult to prove and are the source of much argument. Some authors posit up to eleven segments per leg for the most recent common ancestor of extant arthropods but modern arthropods have eight or fewer. It has been argued that the ancestral leg need not have been so complex, and that other events, such as successive loss of function of a ''Hox''-gene, could result in parallel gains of leg segments. In arthropods, each of the leg segments ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elytron
An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alternatively spelled as "hemielytra"), and in most species only the basal half is thickened while the apex is membranous, but when they are entirely thickened the condition is referred to as "coleopteroid". An elytron is sometimes also referred to as a shard. Description The elytra primarily serve as protective wing-cases for the hindwings underneath, which are used for flying. To fly, a beetle typically opens the elytra and then extends the hindwings, flying while still holding the elytra open, though many beetles in the families Scarabaeidae and Buprestidae can fly with the elytra closed (e.g., most Cetoniinae; ). In a number of groups, the elytra are reduced to various degrees, (e.g., the beetle families Staphylinidae and Ripiphoridae), o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corium (entomology)
The corium is the thickened, leathery, basal portion of an insect forewing or hemelytron in the order Hemiptera. Specifically the inner cell of the basal portion is the corium. Hemelytra The forewings of the winged aquatic bugs are modified into hemelytra (singular, hemelytron), in which the basal part is thickened and leathery and the apical part is membranous. The thickened region is divided into a corium and clavus. The membranous region has veins and the venation is of taxonomic importance. However, in many families, the distinction between the leathery and membranous regions of the hemelytron is not pronounced, and the wing tends to be more fully sclerotized (e.g., Pleidae) or more fully membranous (e.g., winged Gerridae The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as t ...). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prothorax
The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on each side. The prothorax never bears wings in extant insects (except in some cases of atavism), though some fossil groups possessed wing-like projections. All adult insects possess legs on the prothorax, though in a few groups (e.g., the butterfly family Nymphalidae) the forelegs are greatly reduced. In many groups of insects, the pronotum is reduced in size, but in a few it is hypertrophied, such as in all beetles (Coleoptera). In most treehoppers (family Membracidae, order Hemiptera), the pronotum is expanded into often fantastic shapes that enhance their camouflage or mimicry. Similarly, in the Tetrigidae, the pronotum is extended backward to cover the flight wings, supplanting the function of the tegmina. See also *Glossary of entomolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae (ladybirds or ladybugs) eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops. Beetles typically have a particularly hard e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect Morphology
Insect morphology is the study and description of the physical form of insects. The terminology used to describe insects is similar to that used for other arthropods due to their shared evolutionary history. Three physical features separate insects from other arthropods: they have a body divided into three regions (called tagmata) (head, thorax, and abdomen), have three pairs of legs, and mouthparts located ''outside'' of the head capsule. It is this position of the mouthparts which divides them from their closest relatives, the non-insect hexapods, which includes Protura, Diplura, and Collembola. There is enormous variation in body structure amongst insect species. Individuals can range from 0.3 mm (fairyflies) to 30 cm across ( great owlet moth); have no eyes or many; well-developed wings or none; and legs modified for running, jumping, swimming, or even digging. These modifications allow insects to occupy almost every ecological niche on the planet, except the deep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scutellum (insect Anatomy)
The scutellum is the posterior portion of either the mesonotum or the metanotum of an insect thorax; however, it is used almost exclusively in the former context, as the metanotum is rather reduced in most insect groups. In the Hemiptera, and some Coleoptera, the scutellum is a small triangular plate behind the pronotum and between the forewing bases. In Diptera and Hymenoptera the scutellum is nearly always distinct, but much smaller than (and immediately posterior to) the mesoscutum. File:Heteroptera morphology-d.svg, 26 = Heteroptera scutellum File:Housefly anatomy-key.svg, 6 = Diptera scutellum File:Coléoptère schématique.jpg, 9 = Coleoptera scutellum File:Scheme ant worker anatomy-numbered.svg, 10 = Formicidae scutellum See also * Scutoid A scutoid is a particular type of geometric solid between two parallel surfaces. The boundary of each of the surfaces (and of all the other parallel surfaces between them) either is a polygon or resembles a polygon, but is not nec ... [...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] |
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by Chicxulub impact, an asteroid impact and possibly volcanism, marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of living species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. In the Pal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flowering Plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants that produce their seeds enclosed within a fruit. They are by far the most diverse group of land plants with 64 orders, 416 families, approximately 13,000 known genera and 300,000 known species. Angiosperms were formerly called Magnoliophyta (). Like gymnosperms, angiosperms are seed-producing plants. They are distinguished from gymnosperms by characteristics including flowers, endosperm within their seeds, and the production of fruits that contain the seeds. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from the common ancestor of all living gymnosperms before the end of the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. The closest fossil relatives of flowering plants are uncertain and contentious. The earliest angiosperm fossils ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_W_IMG_6949.jpg "Click for more on -> Calliphara Nobilis")
.JPG "Click for more on -> Flowering Plant")