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Grayiinae
''Grayia'' is a genus of snakes, commonly referred to as African water snakes, in the family Colubridae. The genus, which is native to tropical Africa, is the only genus in the colubrid subfamily Grayiinae. ''Grayia'' species are relatively poorly known snakes, at least to herpetologists. Although they are locally abundant, they are notoriously difficult to catch, and occur in areas where field work is difficult. They inhabit seasonal rainforest swamps, streams, and permanent water bodies, eat fish and frogs, and lay eggs in the leaf litter among humid enclosures formed by buttress roots during the dry season. They are unusual in that they deposit their clutch in small batches of three or four eggs at different times at more than one nest site, rather than laying all the eggs at once, a strategy used by some turtles to avoid nest predation, but otherwise undocumented in snakes. At least one species, ''G. ornata'', is used for food and in medicine by people in Gabon, and evidentl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colubridae
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica. Description While most colubrids are not venomous (or have venom that is not known to be harmful to humans) and are mostly harmless, a few groups, such as genus ''Boiga'', can produce medically significant injuries. In addition, the boomslang, the twig snakes, and the Asian genus ''Rhabdophis'' have caused human fatalities. Some colubrids are described as opisthoglyphous (often called "rear-fanged"), meaning they have elongated, grooved teeth located in the back of their upper jaws. It is likely that opisthoglyphous dentition evolved many times in the history of snakes and is an evolutionary precursor to the fangs of vipers and elapids, which are located in the front of the mouth. Classification In the pas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Günther
Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3 October 1830 – 1 February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive reptile taxonomist (after George Albert Boulenger) with more than 340 reptile species described. Early life and career Günther was born in Esslingen in Swabia (Württemberg). His father was a ''Stiftungs-Commissar'' in Esslingen and his mother was Eleonora Nagel. He initially schooled at the Stuttgart Gymnasium. His family wished him to train for the ministry of the Lutheran Church for which he moved to the University of Tübingen. A brother shifted from theology to medicine, and he, too, turned to science and medicine at Tübingen in 1852. His first work was "''Ueber den Puppenzustand eines Distoma''". He graduated in medicine with an M.D. from Tübingen in 1858, the same year in which he published a handbook of zoology for students of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christen Smith
Christen Smith (17 October 1785 – 22 September 1816) was an early 19th-century Norwegian physician, economist and naturalist, particularly botanist. He died, only 30 years old during a dramatic expedition to the Congo River in 1816, leaving a wealth of botanical material. Early years Smith was born at Skoger in Drammen, Norway. He studied medicine and botany at the University of Copenhagen under Professor Martin Vahl. Together with Jens Wilken Hornemann, he traveled through large parts of Norway and carried out botanical investigations, collecting plants to be included in the plate work '' Flora Danica''. Joakim Frederik Schouw and Morten Wormskjold were in the company for part of the trip. The party climbed several mountain tops in Jotunheimen, for some of which it was the first recorded ascent, e.g. Bitihorn 1811 and Hårteigen 1812.Munthe, Preben (2004): ''Christen Smith - botaniker og økonom'' (in Norwegian). Aschehoug, Oslo The Canary and Madeira expeditions In 1808, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Albert Boulenger
George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses. Life Boulenger was born in Brussels, Belgium, the only son of Gustave Boulenger, a Belgian public notary, and Juliette Piérart, from Valenciennes. He graduated in 1876 from the Free University of Brussels with a degree in natural sciences, and worked for a while at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, as an assistant naturalist studying amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. He also made frequent visits during this time to the ''Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle'' in Paris and the British Museum in London. In 1880, he was invited to work at the Natural History Museum, then a department of the British Museum, by Dr. Albert C. L. G. Günther a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Binomial Nomenclature
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages. Such a name is called a binomial name (which may be shortened to just "binomial"), a binomen, name or a scientific name; more informally it is also historically called a Latin name. The first part of the name – the '' generic name'' – identifies the genus to which the species belongs, whereas the second part – the specific name or specific epithet – distinguishes the species within the genus. For example, modern humans belong to the genus ''Homo'' and within this genus to the species ''Homo sapiens''. ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' is likely the most widely known binomial. The ''formal'' introduction of this system of naming species is credit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nota Bene
(, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the attention of the reader to a certain (side) aspect or detail of the subject being addressed. While ''NB'' is also often used in academic writing, ''note'' is a common substitute. The markings used to draw readers' attention in medieval manuscripts are also called marks. The common medieval markings do not, however, include the abbreviation ''NB''. The usual medieval equivalents are anagrams from the four letters in the word , the abbreviation DM from ("worth remembering"), or a symbol of a little hand (☞), called a manicule or index, with the index finger pointing towards the beginning of the significant passage.Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007), p. 44. Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
