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Gasteracantha Versicolor
''Gasteracantha versicolor'', known as the long-winged kite spider, is a species of diurnal spiny orb-weaver of the family Araneidae. It is found in the tropics and sub-tropics, where it occurs in forests. It has an extensive range, from central, east and southern Africa to Madagascar. The female is 8 to 10 mm long, with a large, glossy and brightly coloured abdomen, like others of their genus. The hardened (sclerotised) abdomen projects over the cephalothorax and has six peripheral spines, with the lateral pair medium to long and slightly recurved in this species. Males are much smaller, less colourful and lack the thorny abdominal projections. The web has densely spaced radii and an open hub, and may be placed from near ground level to several meters up. Their venom is not known to be dangerous to man. Races * ''G. v. avaratrae'' Emerit, 1974 – Madagascar * ''G. v. formosa'' Vinson, 1863 – Madagascar * ''G. v. versicolor'' (Walckenaer, 1841) – mainland Africa Ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burman Bush
Burman Bush is a nature reserve in Morningside, Durban, situated some 8 km north of the CBD. At about 50 hectares it constitutes a small circular enclave of coastal forest which forms part of the Durban Municipal Open Space System (D'MOSS). It is the northern remnant of a forest that once covered much of the Berea ridge. The reserve's elevation varies from 19 to 133 m a.s.l. Trails It contains three walking trails, the Pithi (500 m), Hadedah (1 km) and Forest olive (2 km) walks, that wind through the forest and allow visitors to see the various flora and fauna. A viewing platform at the outer walk's northern extremity allows sweeping views of the Umgeni River, from Connaught bridge to the Blue lagoon. Fauna and flora Reclusive species constitute much of the fauna. The reserve has Durban's largest population of blue duiker, besides grey duiker, banded and slender mongoose, porcupines and troops of vervet monkeys. Its birdlife, most evident during the early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Athanase Walckenaer
Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant and scientist. Biography Walckenaer was born in Paris and studied at the universities of University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Glasgow, Glasgow. In 1793 he was appointed head of the military transports in the Pyrenees, after which he pursued technical studies at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and the École polytechnique. He was elected member of the Institut de France in 1813, was mayor (''maire'') in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, 5th arrondissement in Paris and secretary-general of the prefect of the Seine (département), Seine 1816–1825. He was made a baron in 1823. In 1839 he was appointed conservator for the Department of Maps at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Royal Library in Paris and in 1840 secretary for life in the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. He was one of the founders of the Société entomologique de France in 1832, and a "r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiny Orb-weaver
''Gasteracantha'' is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first named by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. Species of the genus are known as spiny-backed orb-weavers, spiny orb-weavers, or spiny spiders. The females of most species are brightly colored with six prominent spines on their broad, hardened, shell-like abdomens. The name ''Gasteracantha'' is derived from the Greek (), meaning "belly, abdomen", and (), meaning "thorn, spine". Spiny-backed orb-weavers are sometimes colloquially called "crab spiders" because of their shape, but they are not closely related to the true crab spiders. Other colloquial names for certain species include thorn spider, star spider, kite spider, or jewel spider. Members of the genus exhibit strong sexual dimorphism. Females are several times larger than males, which lack prominent spines or bright colors. ''Gasteracantha'' species are distributed worldwide in tropical and subtropical climates. The genus is most diverse in tropical Asia, from India t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Araneidae
Orb-weaver spiders are members of the spider family Araneidae. They are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields, and forests. The English word "orb" can mean "circular", hence the English name of the group. Araneids have eight similar eyes, hairy or spiny legs, and no stridulating organs. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, including many well-known large or brightly colored garden spiders. With 3,108 species in 186 genera worldwide, the Araneidae comprise the third-largest family of spiders (behind the Salticidae and Linyphiidae). Araneid webs are constructed in a stereotypical fashion, where a framework of nonsticky silk is built up before the spider adds a final spiral of silk covered in sticky droplets. Orb webs are also produced by members of other spider families. The long-jawed orb weavers (Tetragnathidae) were formerly included in the Araneidae; they are closely related, being part of the superfamily Araneo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area.Sayre, April Pulley (1999), ''Africa'', Twenty-First Century Books. . With billion people as of , it accounts for about of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, behind Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, tribalism, colonialism, the Cold War, neocolonialism, lack of democracy, and corruption. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and the large and young population make Afr ... [...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] |
Krantzkloof Nature Reserve
__NOTOC__ The Krantzkloof Nature Reserve, managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, conserves 668 ha Note: This source records the surface area as 535 ha in 1989. of the Molweni ( Zulu: 'mutual greetings') and Nkutu River gorges that incise the sandstone Kloof plateau in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The reserve conserves coastal scarp forest, sourveld grassland, a cliff face biotope, and aquatic environments along its rivers. Scarp forest is a threatened forest type, protected by South Africa's forests act of 1998, while the grassland is classified as KwaZulu-Natal sandstone sourveld, the most threatened terrestrial habitat in the Durban metropole. The reserve was established in 1950 and was augmented by land donations as late as 1999. Setting The reserve is situated at 140 to 520 m.a.s.l, and borders on suburbs, informal settlements, and in some of the catchment areas, on privately owned conservancies. The Kloof conservancy manages the Ronald's Kloof stream project, which effectively ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gasteracantha
''Gasteracantha'' is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first named by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1833. Species of the genus are known as spiny-backed orb-weavers, spiny orb-weavers, or spiny spiders. The females of most species are brightly colored with six prominent spines on their broad, hardened, shell-like abdomens. The name ''Gasteracantha'' is derived from the Greek (), meaning "belly, abdomen", and (), meaning "thorn, spine". Spiny-backed orb-weavers are sometimes colloquially called "crab spiders" because of their shape, but they are not closely related to the true crab spiders. Other colloquial names for certain species include thorn spider, star spider, kite spider, or jewel spider. Members of the genus exhibit strong sexual dimorphism. Females are several times larger than males, which lack prominent spines or bright colors. ''Gasteracantha'' species are distributed worldwide in tropical and subtropical climates. The genus is most diverse in tropical Asia, from India t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiders Described In 1841
Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all Order (biology), orders of organisms. Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every land habitat. , 50,356 spider species in 132 Family (biology), families have been recorded by Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. However, there has been debate among scientists about how families should be classified, with over 20 different classifications proposed since 1900. Anatomically, spiders (as with all arachnids) differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segmentation (biology), segments are fused into two Tagma (biology), tagmata, the cephalothorax or prosoma, and the opisthosoma, or abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical Gl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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