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Galápagos Dove
The Galápagos dove (''Zenaida galapagoensis'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Galápagos, off Ecuador. It is fairly common and is found in a wide range of open and semi-open habitats, especially in the arid lowlands of the archipelago. Taxonomy and systematics Two subspecies exist: * ''Zenaida galapagoensis galapagoensis'' (Gould, 1839) – the nominate subspecies. Found on the major islands of the Galapagos, with the exception of Darwin Island and Wolf Island. * ''Zenaida galapagoensis exsul'' ( Swarth, 1931) – Slightly larger and darker than ''Z. g. galapagoensis.'' Found only on Darwin Island and Wolf Island.'' Despite the geographic isolation of the bird on different islands, there is significant gene flow between the different island populations, owing to frequent migration between islands. This has not entirely prevented the formation of subspecies however, as environmental factors such as wind currents, distance between islands, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Española Island
Española Island (Spanish: ''Isla Española'') is part of the Galápagos Islands. The English named it ''Hood Island'' after Viscount Samuel Hood. It is located in the extreme southeast of the archipelago and is considered, along with Santa Fe, one of the oldest, at approximately four million years. A popular tourist stop, Isla Española is the most southerly island in the Galápagos Archipelago. The climate is very dry, like most of the Archipelago. But due to the flatness of the island, it is the driest of these islands, with only a few inches of rain per year. It is about a 10- to 12-hour trip by boat from Isla Santa Cruz. Wildlife Tourists come to see the waved albatrosses (from March to January, almost the entire world population breeds on the island) and the mating dances of blue-footed boobies. Two spots are especially popular with visitors: Bahía Gardner, which has a lovely beach; and Punta Suárez, of interest because of its varied bird-life. This island has its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allele
An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chromosomal or genomic location of a gene or any other genetic element is called a locus (plural: loci) and alternative DNA sequences at a locus are called alleles." The simplest alleles are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). but they can also be insertions and deletions of up to several thousand base pairs. Popular definitions of 'allele' typically refer only to different alleles within genes. For example, the ABO blood grouping is controlled by the ABO gene, which has six common alleles (variants). In population genetics, nearly every living human's phenotype for the ABO gene is some combination of just these six alleles. Most alleles observed result in little or no change in the function of the gene product it codes for. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zenaida
Zenaida (Greek name meaning "Life of Zeus.") Zenaide (Italian language, Italian), Zénaïde (French language, French), or Zinaida (russian: Зинаида). /ref> It is a personal name used in many cultures used for women. It can also refer (as genus ''Zenaida'') to the Zenaida doves, named after Zénaïde Bonaparte, Princess Zénaïde Bonaparte. As a personal name Zenaida *Zenaida (saint), a traditional 1st century Christian saint. *Zenaida Beveraggi, "Zeny" of pop music duet Zeny & Zory * Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American pianist *Zenaida Moya, mayor of Belize City, Belize *Zenaida Yanowsky, Spanish ballet dancer Zénaïde *Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte, wife and cousin of or ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector (epidemiology)
In epidemiology, a disease vector is any living agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen to another living organism; agents regarded as vectors are organisms, such as parasites or microbes. The first major discovery of a disease vector came from Ronald Ross in 1897, who discovered the malaria pathogen when he dissected a mosquito. Arthropods Arthropods form a major group of pathogen vectors with mosquitoes, flies, sand flies, lice, fleas, ticks, and mites transmitting a huge number of pathogens. Many such vectors are haematophagous, which feed on blood at some or all stages of their lives. When the insects feed on blood, the pathogen enters the blood stream of the host. This can happen in different ways. The ''Anopheles'' mosquito, a vector for malaria, filariasis, and various arthropod-borne-viruses (arboviruses), inserts its delicate mouthpart under the skin and feeds on its host's blood. The parasites the mosquito carries are usually located in its salivary gla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chlamydia Psittaci
''Chlamydia psittaci'' is a lethal intracellular bacterial species that may cause endemic avian chlamydiosis, epizootic outbreaks in mammals, and respiratory psittacosis in humans. Potential hosts include feral birds and domesticated poultry, as well as cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses. ''C. psittaci'' is transmitted by inhalation, contact, or ingestion among birds and to mammals. Psittacosis in birds and in humans often starts with flu-like symptoms and becomes a life-threatening pneumonia. Many strains remain quiescent in birds until activated by stress. Birds are excellent, highly mobile vectors for the distribution of chlamydia infection, because they feed on, and have access to, the detritus of infected animals of all sorts. ''C. psittaci'' in birds is often systemic, and infections can be inapparent, severe, acute, or chronic with intermittent shedding. ''C. psittaci'' strains in birds infect mucosal epithelial cells and macrophages of the respiratory tract. Septicaemia e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haemoproteus
''Haemoproteus'' is a genus of alveolates that are parasitic in birds, reptiles and amphibians. Its name is derived from Greek: ''Haima'', "blood", and ''Proteus'', a sea god who had the power of assuming different shapes. The name ''Haemoproteus'' was first used in the description of '' H. columbae'' in the blood of the pigeon ''Columba livia'' by Kruse in 1890. This was also the first description of this genus. Two other genera — '' Halteridium'' and '' Simondia'' — are now considered to be synonyms of ''Haemoproteus''. The protozoa are intracellular parasites that infect the erythrocytes. They are transmitted by blood sucking insects including mosquitoes, biting midges (''Culicoides''), louse flies (''Hippoboscidae'') and horse-flies (" tabanids", "tabanid flies"). Infection with this genus is sometimes known as pseudomalaria because of the parasites' similarities with ''Plasmodium'' species. Within the genus there are at least 173 species, 5 varieties and 1 subspecies. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eared Dove
The eared dove (''Zenaida auriculata'') is a New World dove. It is a resident breeder throughout South America from Colombia to southern Argentina and Chile, and on the offshore islands from the Grenadines southwards. It may be a relatively recent colonist of Tobago and Trinidad. It appears to be partially migratory, its movements driven by food supplies. It is a close relative of the North American mourning dove. With that species, the Socorro dove, and possibly the Galápagos dove, it forms a superspecies. The latter two are insular offshoots, the Socorro birds from ancestral mourning doves, and the Galápagos ones from more ancient stock. Description The eared dove is long with a long, wedge-shaped tail, and weighs normally about . Adult males have mainly olive-brown upperpart plumage, with black spots on the wings. The head has a grey crown, black line behind the eye, and the blue-black on the lower ear coverts. These black markings give the species its English and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Dove
The rock dove, rock pigeon, or common pigeon ( also ; ''Columba livia'') is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon". The domestic pigeon (''Columba livia domestica'', which includes about 1,000 different breeds) descended from this species. Escaped domestic pigeons have increased the populations of feral pigeons around the world. Wild rock doves are pale grey with two black bars on each wing, whereas domestic and feral pigeons vary in colour and pattern. Few differences are seen between males and females. The species is generally monogamous, with two squabs (young) per brood. Both parents care for the young for a time. Habitats include various open and semi-open environments. Cliffs and rock ledges are used for roosting and breeding in the wild. Originally found wild in Europe, North Africa, and western Asia, pigeons have become established in cities around the world. The species is abundant, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trichomonas Gallinae
''Trichomonas gallinae'' is a cosmopolitan parasite of birds including finches, pigeons, doves, turkeys, chickens, parrots, raptors (hawks, golden eagle, etc.). The condition in birds of prey is called frounce.Kennedy, Murry J. "Trichomoniasis in Birds" Food Safety Division, Alberta Agriculture and Food. http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex4444 It is believed to be an ancient pathogen causing frounce-like symptoms in theropod dinosaurs. The same condition in pigeons is commonly called canker. The protozoa are small (5 to 20 µm size) oval or spherical flagellates with four free flagella found on the anterior aspect of the parasite. They also have an axostyle found on the posterior end as well as an undulating membrane on one side. An important diagnostic feature is the lack of a free posterior flagellum. Life cycle ''T. gallinae'' is found in a motile trophozoite and nonmotile pseudocyst stage. It is generally found in the oral-nasal cavity or ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia
''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word for the fruit; or paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (''O. ficus-indica''). Description ''O. ficus-indica'' is a large, trunk-forming, segmented cactus that may grow to with a crown of over in diameter and a trunk diameter of . Cladodes (large pads) are green to blue-green, bearing few spines up to or may be spineless. Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) containing large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Mockingbird
The Galápagos mockingbird (''Mimus parvulus'') is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Systematics The Galápagos mockingbird is one of four mockingbird species endemic to the Galápagos Islands. These four are all closely related, and DNA evidence shows they likely all descended from an ancestor species which reached the islands in a single colonization event. When John Gould first described the species in 1837, based on specimens brought back from the islands by Charles Darwin, he named it ''Orpheus parvulus''. However, because of the rules of binomial nomenclature, ''Orpheus'' was declared a junior synonym, and in 1841, George Robert Gray moved all of the ''Orpheus'' mockingbirds to the older genus ''Mimus''. In 1890, Robert Ridgway created the genus ''Nesomimus'' for the mockingbirds found on the Galápagos Islands, and most taxonomists adopted the change. Recent DNA studies, however, show that the ''Nesomimus'' mockingbi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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