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Coua Berthae
''Coua berthae'' is an extinct species of coua, a large, mostly terrestrial bird in the cuckoo family, from Madagascar. It was the largest member of its genus, living or extinct. It was named in honour of the Malagasy zoologist Berthe Rakotosamimanana. Discovery and naming Alfred Grandidier discovered a complete tarsometatarsus at Apasambazimba as early as 1911. This bone is in the Academie Malgache and is now classified as a paratype. The holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ..., a left half of the pelvis, was brought to light in 1983 in the Grotte d'Anjohibe near Andranoboka. It is named after the Malagasy primatologist and palaeontologist, Bertha Rakotosamimanana. Description Due to the length of the pelvis half of and the tarsometatarsus of , it is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene has been identified with the current warm period, known as MIS 1. It is considered by some to be an interglacial period within the Pleistocene Epoch, called the Flandrian interglacial.Oxford University Press – Why Geography Matters: More Than Ever (book) – "Holocene Humanity" section https://books.google.com/books?id=7P0_sWIcBNsC The Holocene corresponds with the rapid proliferation, growth and impacts of the human species worldwide, including all of its written history, technological revolutions, development of major civilizations, and overall significant transition towards urban living in the present. The human impact on modern-era Earth and its ecosystems may be considered of global si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coua
Couas are large, mostly terrestrial birds of the cuckoo family, endemic to the island of Madagascar. Couas are reminiscent of African turacos when walking along tree branches, and they likewise feature brightly coloured bare skin around the eyes. Some resemble coucals in their habit of clambering through jungle while foraging, while the arboreal species move between tree canopies with gliding flight. Four species have been recorded in rainforests while the remaining six are found in the dry forests of western and southern Madagascar. They have large feet, with a reversible third toe like all cuckoos. Their long tibia suggest a relationship with the ''Carpococcyx'' ground-cuckoos of Asia, a genus with similar nestlings. Consequently, they are sometimes united in the subfamily ''Couinae''. Couas build their own nests and lay white eggs. Couas' calls are a short series of evenly-spaced notes, which are sometimes answered by other individuals. Taxonomy The genus ''Coua'' was erec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa across the Mozambique Channel. At Madagascar is the world's List of island countries, second-largest island country, after Indonesia. The nation is home to around 30 million inhabitants and consists of the island of Geography of Madagascar, Madagascar (the List of islands by area, fourth-largest island in the world), along with numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from the Indian subcontinent around 90 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90% of wildlife of Madagascar, its wildlife is endemic. Human settlement of Madagascar occurred during or befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berthe Rakotosamimanana
Berthe Rakotosamimanana (born ''Berthe Rasoamialinivo,'' 18 January 1938, Andasibe; died on 29 November 2005, Antananarivo) was a primatologist and palaeontologist from Madagascar. Early life Rakotosamimanana was born in Andasibe in Moramanga District on 18 January 1938. She studied at the University of Paris VII, Faculty of Sciences, for a degree in animal biology and anthropology. On her return in 1967 she was employed in the Geology Department at the University of Madagascar. She was married to the primatologist Philibert Rakotosamimanana. Career Rakotosamimanana's work in the Department of Geology, from the first included supervising and teaching practical aspects of the subject. After seven years, she and her colleague Professor Henri Rakotoarivelo, set up the university's first palaeontology service in 1974. In 1977 she was awarded a doctorate from University of Paris VII, entitled "L''a diversité anthropologique des isolats des hautes terres de l'Imerina (Madagasc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Grandidier
Alfred Grandidier (20 December 1836 – 13 September 1921) was a French naturalist and explorer. From a very wealthy family, at the age of 20, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier (1833–1912), undertook a voyage around the world. At first they were led by the astronomer and physicist Pierre Jules César Janssen (1824–1907), but when Janssen fell sick and had to return to France after about six months, the brothers continued the journey. They visited South America in 1858 and 1859 and in particular the Andes, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. During this voyage they gathered a significant collection of specimens which were analyzed, in 1860, by Ernest. The two brothers parted ways after this. Ernest Grandidier went to China and collected a vast number of specimens which are now in the Louvre and the Guimet museum. Alfred travelled to India, reaching it in 1863. He had intended to explore the high plateau of Tibet, but was prevented by a severe attack of fever. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarsometatarsus
The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsus (ankle bones) and metatarsal bones (foot). Despite this, the tarsometatarsus of birds is often referred to as just the shank, tarsus or metatarsus. Tarsometatarsal fusion occurred in several ways and extents throughout bird evolution. Specifically, in Neornithes (modern birds), although the bones are joined along their entire length, the fusion is most thorough at the distal (metatarsal) end. In the Enantiornithes, a group of Mesozoic avialans, the fusion was complete at the proximal (tarsal) end, but the distal metatarsi were still partially distinct. While these fused bones are best known from birds and their relatives, avians are neither the only group nor the first to possess tarsometatarsi. In a remarkable case of parallel evolution, they were also pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept. For example, the holotype for the butterfly '' Plebejus idas longinus'' is a preserved specimen of that subspecies, held by the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. In botany, an isotype is a duplicate of the holotype, where holotype and isotypes are often pieces from the same individual plant or samples from the same gathering. A holotype is not necessarily "typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andranoboka
Andranoboka is a town and commune ( mg, kaominina) in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Mahajanga II, which is a part of Boeny Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 4,000 in the 2001 commune census. Andranoboka is served by a local airport and by riverine harbour. Only primary schooling is available. A majority of 50% of the population work in fishing while 48.5% are farmers. The most important crops are rice and sugarcane, while other important agricultural products are bananas and cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively .... Services provide employment for 1.5% of the population. References and notes Populated places in Boeny {{Boeny-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giant Coua
The giant coua (''Coua gigas'') is a bird species from the coua genus in the cuckoo family that is endemic to the dry forests of western and southern Madagascar. It is suggested that couas probably originated from a particular Asian ground-cuckoo (Dinets 2007). The genus coua contains 10 species, more than any other genus in Madagascar (Moreau 1966). Although the bird is listed under least concern (LC) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it only persists in the biological hot spot of Madagascar, warranting its recognition as a species of conservation concern at the global scale. Taxonomy The giant coua was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coua
Couas are large, mostly terrestrial birds of the cuckoo family, endemic to the island of Madagascar. Couas are reminiscent of African turacos when walking along tree branches, and they likewise feature brightly coloured bare skin around the eyes. Some resemble coucals in their habit of clambering through jungle while foraging, while the arboreal species move between tree canopies with gliding flight. Four species have been recorded in rainforests while the remaining six are found in the dry forests of western and southern Madagascar. They have large feet, with a reversible third toe like all cuckoos. Their long tibia suggest a relationship with the ''Carpococcyx'' ground-cuckoos of Asia, a genus with similar nestlings. Consequently, they are sometimes united in the subfamily ''Couinae''. Couas build their own nests and lay white eggs. Couas' calls are a short series of evenly-spaced notes, which are sometimes answered by other individuals. Taxonomy The genus ''Coua'' was erec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct Birds Of Madagascar
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, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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