|
Cook Strait Click Beetle
''Amychus granulatus'', commonly known as the Cook Strait click beetle, is a large flightless click beetle in the family Elateridae. Description Adult '' A. granulatus'' can be distinguished from other ''Amychus'' species by its wide and spreading prothorax and small round nodules on its elytra. Its size ranges from 16 to 22.5 mm. It has a flattened body shape and small vestigial wings. Click beetles are named due to their ability to make an audible click when on their back to jump into the air. However, ''Amychus'' do not have the ability to defend themselves in this way. Distribution This species was discovered by the lighthouse keeper Andreas Sandager on North Brother Island in Cook Strait, and was described by Broun in 1881. It is currently only found on islands in the outer Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand; fragments of this beetle have been collected from the nest of the extinct Laughing owl in North Canterbury, indicating it once had a much larger former range ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maud Island
Maud Island, also called Te Hoiere in the Māori language, is one of the larger islands in the Marlborough Sounds on the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand, with a total area of . Fauna Maud Island is an important predator free nature reserve (officially a ''Scientific Reserve'' as defined under New Zealand's ''Reserves Act'') to which only scientists and conservationists have access. Visitors need a special permit issued by the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Thanks to the efforts of conservationist Don Merton the kakapo was introduced onto the predator-free island in 1974. Additional kakapo were subsequently translocated onto other Islands like Codfish Island, Anchor Island and Little Barrier Island. After only one breeding attempt by pair ''Flossie'' and ''Richard Henry'' in 1998 where three chicks were born, Maud Island's kakapo population was translocated to more forested islands. The takahe was also introduced there in 1985. Another rare species is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephens Island (New Zealand)
Stephens Island is at the northernmost tip of the Marlborough Sounds in the South Island of New Zealand. It lies two kilometres to the northeast of Cape Stephens, the northernmost point of D'Urville Island. The island is in size, and rises high from the sea. History The island was owned by the Ngāti Koata iwi but was taken by the government to build a lighthouse in 1891. The Māori called it Takapourewa ("around the tower") but explorer Captain Cook renamed it Stephens Island in 1770 after Sir Phillip Stephens, Secretary of the Admiralty. The island featured in local mythos as the place where a local lighthouse keeper's cat, named Tibbles, was claimed to have caused the extinction of Lyall's wren in 1894. However, this belief was erroneous,Medway, D.G. (2004) The land bird fauna of Stephens Island, New Zealand in the early 1890s, and the cause of its demise. ''Notornis'', 51:201–211. an urban legend. While this cat did kill one of the last birds seen, a few more specime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Fauna Of New Zealand
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beetles Described In 1883
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 exo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuatara
Tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name ''tuatara'' is derived from the Māori language and means "peaks on the back". The single extant species of tuatara is the only surviving member of its order. Rhynchocephalians originated during the Triassic (~250 million years ago), reached worldwide distribution and peak diversity during the Jurassic and, with the exception of tuatara, were extinct by 60 million years ago. Their closest living relatives are squamates (lizards and snakes). For this reason, tuatara are of interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids, a group of amniote tetrapods that also includes dinosaurs (including birds) and crocodilians. Tuatara are greenish brown and grey, and measure up to from head to tail-tip and wei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Hudson (entomologist)
George Vernon Hudson FRSNZ (20 April 1867 – 5 April 1946) was a British-born New Zealand entomologist credited with proposing the modern daylight saving time. He was awarded the Hector Memorial Medal in 1923. Biography Born in London, Britain, on Easter Saturday, 1867 Hudson was the sixth child of Emily Jane Carnal and Charles Hudson, an artist and stained-glass window designer. By the age of 14 he had built up a collection of British insects, and had published a paper in '' The Entomologist''. In 1881 Hudson moved with his father to Nelson, New Zealand. He worked on a farm, and in 1883, aged 16, he began working at the post office in Wellington, where he eventually became chief clerk, retiring in 1918. Hudson was a member of the 1907 Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition. Its main aim was to extend the magnetic survey of New Zealand by investigating the Auckland and Campbell islands but botanical, biological, and zoological surveys were also conducted. The expeditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coprosma Repens
''Coprosma repens'' is a species of flowering shrub or small tree of the genus ''Coprosma'', in the family Rubiaceae, native to New Zealand. Common names include taupata, tree bedstraw, mirror bush, looking-glass bush, New Zealand laurel and shiny leaf. Description The habit of this species varies markedly with its situation. In exposed situations, such as cliffs, it assumes a prostrate habit, while in more sheltered areas it can grow as a small tree up to 8 metres in height. It has thick and very glossy leaves which vary considerably in size, depending on exposure to the elements. The leaf margins are recurved, occasionally to the extent that the leaf may be cylindrical in cross-section. The shiny leaves aid its survival near coastal locations. ''C. repens'' is dioecious. Flowers are produced in spring and summer, with the male flowers appearing in dense, compound clusters, and the female flowers in smaller clusters. Male flowers have a funnel shaped corolla that is 5&nbs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myoporum Laetum
''Myoporum laetum'', commonly known as ngaio or mousehole tree is a plant in the family Scrophulariaceae endemic to New Zealand, including the Chatham Islands. It is a fast growing shrub, readily distinguished from others in the genus by the transparent dots in the leaves which are visible when held to a light. Description Ngaio is a fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree which sometimes grows to a height of with a trunk up to in diameter, or spreads to as much as . It often appears dome-shaped at first but as it gets older, distorts as branches break off. The bark on older specimens is thick, corky and furrowed. The leaves are lance-shaped, usually long, wide, have many translucent dots in the leaves and edges which have small serrations in approximately the outer half. The flowers are white with purple spots and are borne in groups of 2 to 6 on stalks long. There are 5 egg-shaped, pointed sepals and 5 petals joined at their bases to form a bell-shaped tube long. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beilschmiedia Tawa
''Beilschmiedia tawa'', the tawa, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy tree species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in these areas, beneath podocarps such as kahikatea, matai, miro and rimu. Individual specimens may grow up to 30 metres or more in height with trunks up to 1.2 metres in diameter, and they have smooth dark bark. The Māori word "tawa" is the name for the tree. Tawa produce small inconspicuous flowers followed by 2–3.5 cm long fruit of a dark red plum colour. With such large fruits, tawa is notable for the fact that it relies solely on the New Zealand pigeon (kererū) and (where present) the North Island kokako for dispersal of its seed. These are the only remaining birds from New Zealand's original biota large enough to eat the fruits of this tree and pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canterbury, New Zealand
Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current form was established in 1989 during nationwide local government reforms. The Kaikoura District joined the region in 1992 following the abolition of the Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council. Christchurch, the South Island's largest city and the country's second-largest urban area, is the seat of the region and home to percent of the region's population. Other major towns and cities include Timaru, Ashburton, Rangiora and Rolleston. History Natural history The land, water, flora, and fauna of Waitaha/Canterbury has a long history stretching from creation of the greywacke basement rocks that make up the Kā Tiritiri o te Moana/Southern Alps to the arrival of the first humans. This history is linked to the creation of the earth, the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Broun
Thomas Broun (15 July 1838 – 24 August 1919) was a New Zealand soldier, farmer, teacher and entomologist. He was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland on 15 July 1838. BibliographyDescriptions of new genera and species of coleoptera ''Bulletin of the Royal Society of New Zealand'' 1 (1917). List of honours * Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (France), 1916. References External linksDigitized works by Thomas Brounat Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ... 1838 births 1919 deaths New Zealand farmers New Zealand educators Scottish emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand entomologists New Zealand recipients of the Légion d'honneur Military leaders of the New Zealand Wars New Zealand military personnel Scientists from Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laughing Owl
The laughing owl (''Ninox albifacies''), also known as ''whēkau'' or the white-faced owl, was an endemic owl of New Zealand. Plentiful when European settlers arrived in New Zealand, its scientific description was published in 1845, but it was largely or completely extinct by 1914. The species was traditionally considered to belong to the monotypic genus ''Sceloglaux'' Kaup, 1848 ("scoundrel owl", probably because of the mischievous-sounding calls), although recent genetic studies indicate that it belongs with the boobook owls in the genus ''Ninox''. After various studies and analysis it was concluded that it is more of a terrestrial bird due to the great advantage it had to prey on ground at nighttime (1996). Taxonomy In the North Island, specimens of the smaller subspecies ''N. a. rufifacies'' were allegedly collected from the forest districts of Mount Taranaki (1856) and the Wairarapa (1868); the unclear history of the latter and the eventual disappearance of both led to su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Endemic Fauna Of New Zealand")
