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Formica Cunicularia
''Formica cunicularia'' is a species of ant found all over Europe. They are especially common in western Europe and southern England, but they can be found from southern Scandinavia to northern Africa and from Portugal to the Urals. In England, Donisthorpe records the species as having occurred as far north as Bewdley in Worcestershire.Donisthorpe, Horace St. John Kelly. (1915)British Ants: Their Life-History and Classification. Reprinted 2013, London: Forgotten Books. pp. 318–320. In ''Formica cunicularia'', the worker is an ashy grey black color and is usually 4.0–6.5 mm long. The males are found to have a uniformly dark body and are 8.0–9.0 mm long. The queen is yellowish red to dark black and is 7.5–9.0 mm. Habitat ''F. cunicularia'' has habitat ranging from open to relatively cluttered to visually rich. In Finland, Albrecht found that all nests were small, with single entrances in dry, hot environments with low vegetation. They nest under stones or in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre André Latreille
Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained his freedom after recognising a rare beetle species he found in the prison, ''Necrobia ruficollis''. He published his first important work in 1796 (), and was eventually employed by the . His foresighted work on arthropod systematics and taxonomy gained him respect and accolades, including being asked to write the volume on arthropods for George Cuvier's monumental work, , the only part not by Cuvier himself. Latreille was considered the foremost entomologist of his time, and was described by one of his pupils as "the prince of entomologists". Biography Early life Pierre André Latreille was born on 29 November 1762 in the town of Brive, then in the province of Limousin, as the illegitimate child of Jean Joseph Sahuguet d'Amarzit, général ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semi-arid Climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-arid climates, depending on variables such as temperature, and they give rise to different biomes. Defining attributes of semi-arid climates A more precise definition is given by the Köppen climate classification, which treats steppe climates (''BSk'' and ''BSh'') as intermediates between desert climates (BW) and humid climates (A, C, D) in ecological characteristics and agricultural potential. Semi-arid climates tend to support short, thorny or scrubby vegetation and are usually dominated by either grasses or shrubs as it usually can't support forests. To determine if a location has a semi-arid climate, the precipitation threshold must first be determined. The method used to find the precipitation threshold (in millimeters): *multiply by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dufour's Gland
Dufour's gland is an abdominal gland of certain insects, part of the anatomy of the ovipositor or sting apparatus in female members of Apocrita. The diversification of Hymenoptera took place in the Cretaceous and the gland may have developed at about this time (200 million years ago) as it is present in all three groups of Apocrita, the wasps, bees and ants. Structure Dufour’s gland was first described by Léon Jean Marie Dufour in 1841. Along with the spermatheca and the poison gland, it develops as an invagination of valves of the sternum. It empties at the base of the ovipositor in ants but into the dorsal vaginal wall in bees and wasps. The gland is lined by a single layer of epithelial cells which secrete substances into the hollow interior. Muscles round the opening of the duct may help control the outflow. Function The purpose of Dufour’s gland is to secrete chemicals, but the nature of the secretions and their function differs in various hymenopteran groups. The sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyergus Rufescens
''Polyergus rufescens'' is a species of slave-making ant native to southern Europe and parts of Asia, commonly referred to as the European Amazon ant or as the slave-making ant. It is an obligatory social parasite, unable to feed itself or look after the colony and reliant on ants of another species to undertake these tasks. To replenish these servant ants, it raids nearby ant colonies and carries home pupae and larvae, and these are reared to provide future workers for the colony. A newly mated female ''P. rufescens'' needs to make its way into one of these "host" nests, kill the host queen, and be accepted by the host workers in her place. Description ''P. rufescens'' workers in western and southwestern Europe are dark red, while eastern specimens are more orange-red. Darker ants often have a purplish or brownish tinge to their gasters and appendages. Morphologically, ants of this species are similar to the Mexican ''Polyergus topoffi'', but have narrower heads and petioles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slave-making Ant
Slave-making ants are brood parasites that capture broods of other ant species to increase the worker force of their colony. After emerging in the slave-maker nest, slave workers work as if they were in their own colony, while parasite workers only concentrate on replenishing the labor force from neighboring host nests, a process called slave raiding. The slave-making ants are specialized to parasitize a single species or a group of related species, and they are often close relatives to their hosts, which is typical for social parasites. The slave-makers may either be permanent social parasites (thus depending on enslaved ants throughout their whole lives) or facultative slave-makers. The behavior is unusual among ants but has evolved several times independently. Terminology Theft of brood for the purpose of employing the stolen individual's efforts in support of the thief is called dulosis (from Greek , "slave"), but the term "slave-making" is used in older literature and is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soredium
Soredia are common reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungal hyphae wrapped around cyanobacteria or green algae. These can be either scattered diffusely across the surface of the lichen's thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms ..., or produced in localized structures called soralia. Fungal hyphae make up the basic body structure of lichen. The soredia are released through openings in the upper cortex of the lichen structure. After their release, the soredia disperse to establish the lichen in a new location. References Fungal morphology and anatomy Lichenology {{lichen-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Introduction to Lichens – An Alliance between Kingdoms . University of California Museum of Paleontology. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in many colors, sizes, and forms and are sometimes plant-like, but are not s. They may have tiny, leafless branches (); flat leaf-like structures ( |
Auguste Forel
Auguste-Henri Forel (1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. For example, he is considered a co-founder of the Neuron doctrine, neuron theory. Forel is also known for his early contributions to sexology and psychology. From 1978 until 2000 Forel's image appeared on the 1000 Banknotes of the Swiss franc, Swiss franc banknote. Biography Born in villa ''La Gracieuse'', Morges, Switzerland, to Victor Forel a pious Swiss Calvinist and Pauline Morin, a Huguenots, French Huguenot he was brought up under a protective household. At the age of seven he began to take an interest in insects. He went to school at Morges and Lausanne before joining the medical school at Zürich, Zurich. Forel had a diverse and mixed career as a thinker on many subjects. At Zurich he was inspired by the work of Bernhard von Gudden (1824-1886). In 1871 he went ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horace Donisthorpe
Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe (17 March 1870 – 22 April 1951) was an eccentric United Kingdom, British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus ''Lasius'' after him as ''Donisthorpea'', and for his many claims of discovering new species of beetles and ants. Biography Educated at Mill Hill House, Leicester, and Oakham School, Donisthorpe went to Heidelberg University to read medicine. However, his "too sensitive nature" forced him to give up this career. Being possessed of a private income, from about 1890 he devoted his life to the study of beetles and ants, publishing more than three hundred papers on ants alone. Derek Wragge Morley says in his obituary of Donisthorpe in ''Nature (journal), Nature'', that he related a story of how, when a young man, he had swum across the Rhine at Heidelberg, "a feat which, so it was said, no one had achieved before". Probably the best known of his collecting grounds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formica Rufibarbis
''Formica rufibarbis'' is a European formicine ant of the ''Formica fusca'' group. In the classification by Auguste Forel, it is treated in the subgenus '' Serviformica''. ''F. rufibarbis'' is subject to a Species Action Plan (SAP) in England, where it is known from only two locations, although it is not considered to be at risk on continental Europe. Taxonomy The name ''Formica rufibarbis'' was first given to this ant by Lord Avebury in Britain in his 1881 work ''Ants, Bees and Wasps'' although the species had been earlier misidentified as '' F. cunicularia'' by Frederick Smith in 1851. Description The Red-barbed Ant is readily identified by its relatively large size and distinctive coloration of a blackish head and thorax, contrasting with a light reddish thorax. Small dark workers do occur and may be mistaken for '' F. fusca'', although there is always a degree of colouration between thorax and abdomen. Workers can also be confused with ''F. cunicularia'' which does not h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Path Integration
Path integration is the method thought to be used by animals for dead reckoning. History Charles Darwin first postulated an inertially-based navigation system in animals in 1873.The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. ''Origin of Certain Instincts'': full text and facsimile Retrieved 28 February 2012 Studies beginning in the middle of the 20th century confirmed that animals could return directly to a starting point, such as a nest, in the absence of and having taken a circuitous outwards journey. This shows that they can use cues to track distance and direction in order t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most arid climates straddle the Equator; these regions include parts of Africa, Asia, South America, North America, and Australia. Change over time The distribution of aridity at any time is largely the result of the general circulation of the atmosphere. The latter does change significantly over time through climate change. For example, temperature increase by 1.5–2.1 percent across the Nile Basin over the next 30–40 years could change the region from semi-arid to arid, significantly reducing the land usable for agriculture. In addition, changes in land use can increase demands on soil water and thereby increase aridity. See also * Arid Forest Research Institute * Aridity index * Desert climate * Desiccation tolerance * Drought * Hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
