Giant Fijian Long-horned Beetle
The giant Fijian long-horned beetle (''Xixuthrus '') is native to the island of Viti Levu in Fiji, and is one of the largest living insect species, with specimens around 15 cm long, excluding legs, antennae, or jaws. It is closely related to the Taveuni beetle, which is only marginally smaller. These beetles have powerful jaws, and should be handled with care when alive—when threatened, they produce a loud and fearsome hissing noise by squeezing air out from under their elytra. Various websites and other resources incorrectly indicate that this species is extinct 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 ...; it is not, though the forest habitat on its home island is somewhat limited, so the beetle is potentially quite vulnerable. In fact, ''X. '' is considered common ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eduard Heinrich Graeffe
Eduard Heinrich Graeffe or Gräffe (27 December 1833, Zurich – 23 April 1916 Ljubljana) was a Swiss zoologist and naturalist. As an entomologist, he specialised in Hymenoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera. From around 1860, Graeffe was in the employ of Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy, a wealthy shipping magnate from Hamburg. Graeffe was hired in order to organize Godeffroy's natural history collection as a scientific museum, the "Museum Godeffroy".Collectors Index Herbarium Lichen herbaria From 1862 to 1873, he was based in , conducting scientific research and collecting specimens from throughout the South Pacific. Among his writings of the expedition was: ''Reisen im Innern dei Insel Vit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Viti Levu
Viti Levu (pronounced ) is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji. It is the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population. Geology Fiji lies in a tectonically complex area between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate. The Fiji Platform lies in a zone bordered by active extension fault lines, around which most of the shallow earthquakes in the area have been centred. These fault lines are: the Fiji Fracture Zone (FFZ) to the north; the 176° Extension Zone (176°E EZ) to the west; and the Hunter Fracture Zone (HFZ) and Lau Ridge to the east. The oldest rocks on the island are those formed during the Eocene and Lower Miocene epochs that belong to the Wainimala group. The lower portion of the group is made up of volcanic flows and volcanoclastics, which grade from basalt to trachyte and rhyolite. Geographically, this group is found south of Nadi, including on the peaks of Koromba (at 3528 feet high) and Natambumgguto (at 1242 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about . The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population of live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts: either in the capital city of Suva; or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi—where tourism is the major local industry; or in Lautoka, where the Sugarcane, sugar-cane industry is dominant. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain. The majority of Fiji's islands were formed by Volcano, volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago. Some geo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arthropod Leg
The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, plural ''coxae''), ''trochanter'', ''femur'' (plural ''femora''), ''tibia'' (plural ''tibiae''), ''tarsus'' (plural ''tarsi''), ''ischium'' (plural ''ischia''), ''metatarsus'', ''carpus'', ''dactylus'' (meaning finger), ''patella'' (plural ''patellae''). Homologies of leg segments between groups are difficult to prove and are the source of much argument. Some authors posit up to eleven segments per leg for the most recent common ancestor of extant arthropods but modern arthropods have eight or fewer. It has been argued that the ancestral leg need not have been so complex, and that other events, such as successive loss of function of a ''Hox''-gene, could result in parallel gains of leg segments. In arthropods, each of the leg segments ar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antenna (biology)
Antennae ( antenna), sometimes referred to as "feelers", are paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. Antennae are connected to the first one or two segments of the arthropod head. They vary widely in form but are always made of one or more jointed segments. While they are typically sensory organs, the exact nature of what they sense and how they sense it is not the same in all groups. Functions may variously include sensing touch, air motion, heat, vibration (sound), and especially smell or taste. Antennae are sometimes modified for other purposes, such as mating, brooding, swimming, and even anchoring the arthropod to a substrate. Larval arthropods have antennae that differ from those of the adult. Many crustaceans, for example, have free-swimming larvae that use their antennae for swimming. Antennae can also locate other group members if the insect lives in a group, like the ant. The common ancestor of all arthropods likely had one pair of uniramous (unbranched ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taveuni Beetle
The Taveuni beetle (''Xixuthrus terribilis'') is known from the island of Taveuni in the Fiji, and is one of the largest living insect species, with specimens around 14 cm long, excluding legs, antennae, or mandibles. It is closely related to the giant Fijian long-horned beetle The giant Fijian long-horned beetle (''Xixuthrus '') is native to the island of Viti Levu in Fiji, and is one of the largest living insect species, with specimens around 15 cm long, excluding legs, antennae, or jaws. It is closely related .... These beetles have powerful jaws, and should be handled with care when alive. This species has been mistakenly classified under the name ''Xixuthrus heyrovskyi'' since 1945, when it was unwittingly redescribed, and this name still appears in much of the scientific literature. YANEGA D., D. OLSON D., SHUTE S., KOMIYA Z., 2004 - The '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elytron
An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alternatively spelled as "hemielytra"), and in most species only the basal half is thickened while the apex is membranous, but when they are entirely thickened the condition is referred to as "coleopteroid". An elytron is sometimes also referred to as a shard. Description The elytra primarily serve as protective wing-cases for the hindwings underneath, which are used for flying. To fly, a beetle typically opens the elytra and then extends the hindwings, flying while still holding the elytra open, though many beetles in the families Scarabaeidae and Buprestidae can fly with the elytra closed (e.g., most Cetoniinae; ). In a number of groups, the elytra are reduced to various degrees, (e.g., the beetle families Staphylinidae and Ripiphoridae), o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Extinct
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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Xixuthrus Heros
The giant Fijian long-horned beetle (''Xixuthrus '') is native to the island of Viti Levu in Fiji, and is one of the largest living insect species, with specimens around 15 cm long, excluding legs, antennae, or jaws. It is closely related to the Taveuni beetle, which is only marginally smaller. These beetles have powerful jaws, and should be handled with care when alive—when threatened, they produce a loud and fearsome hissing noise by squeezing air out from under their elytra. Various websites and other resources incorrectly indicate that this species is extinct 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 ...; it is not, though the forest habitat on its home island is somewhat limited, so the beetle is potentially quite vulnerable. In fact, ''X. '' is considered commo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prioninae
The Prioninae are a subfamily of Cerambycidae (long-horned beetles). They are typically large (25–70 mm) and usually brown or black. The males of a few genera sport large mandibles that are used in fights with other males, similar to stag beetles. These beetles are commonly nocturnal and are attracted to light. The majority of the Prioninae whose biology is known are borers whose larvae feed on rotting wood or roots. Genera The following genera are recognised in the subfamily Prioninae: * '' Acalodegma'' * '' Acanthinodera'' * '' Acanthophorus'' * '' Acideres'' * '' Aegolipton'' * '' Aegosoma'' * '' Aerogrammus'' * ''Aesa'' * '' Afraustraloderes'' * '' Agrianome'' * '' Allaiocerus'' * '' Allomallodon'' * '' Anacolus'' * '' Analophus'' * '' Ancistrotus'' * '' Andinotrichoderes'' * '' Anoeme'' * '' Anomophysis'' * '' Anomotoma'' * '' Anoplotoma'' * '' Anthracocentrus'' * '' Aplagiognathus'' * '' Apocaulus'' * '' Apterocaulus'' * '' Arba'' * '' Archetypus'' * '' Archodontes' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Insects Of Fiji
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. Their blood is not totally contained in vessels; some circulates in an open cavity known as the haemocoel. Insects are the most diverse group of animals; they include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The total number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million; In: potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on Earth are insects. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, which are dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans, which recent research has indicated insects are nested within. Nearly all insects hatch from eggs. Insect ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Endemic Fauna Of Fiji
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]   |