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Helaeomyia Petrolei
The petroleum fly, ''Helaeomyia petrolei'', is a species of fly from California, USA. The larvae feed on dead insects and other arthropods that become trapped in naturally occurring petroleum pools, making this the only known insect species that develops in crude oil, a substance which is normally highly toxic to insects. Description Adults are about 5 mm long, with black bodies, except for lighter cheeks. The halteres are yellowish, with white knobs. The densely hairy eyes are nearest at the middle of the face. The third joint of the antennae is slightly longer than the second, the spine of the latter not reaching beyond the apex of the antennae. The hyaline wings are tinged with gray on nearly the entire costal half, except sometimes having a spot toward the apex of the submarginal cell. The apex of the second vein is nearly twice as far from the first as from the apex of the third vein. Biology While the larvae normally swim slowly near the surface of the oil with the ...
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Daniel William Coquillett
Daniel William Coquillett (23 January 1856, Pleasant Valley, Ill. – 7 July 1911 Atlantic City, New Jersey) was an American entomologist who specialised in Diptera. He wrote a revision of the dipterous family Therevidae and many other scientific papers in which he described many new species and genera of Diptera. Coquillett was also the first to attempt fumigation with hydrocyanic acid as a means for controlling citrus scale insects. He experimented in the Wolfskill orange groves where he was supported by the foreman and later quarantine entomologist Alexander Craw Alexander Craw (3 August 1850 – 28 June 1908) was a pioneer American economic entomologist. He was the first American entomologist to work in quarantine protection against foreign pests arriving by ship to San Francisco, California. Along with ... in 1888–89. References External linksArchiveDigitised Coquillett, D. W. ''Report on the locusts of the San Joaquin valley, Cal.'' Anaheim, Calif.Date 1886ArchiveD ...
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Xylene
In organic chemistry, xylene or xylol (; IUPAC name: dimethylbenzene) are any of three organic compounds with the formula . They are derived from the substitution of two hydrogen atoms with methyl groups in a benzene ring; which hydrogens are substituted determines which of three structural isomers results. It is a colorless, flammable, slightly greasy liquid of great industrial value. The mixture is referred to as both xylene and, more precisely, xylenes. Mixed xylenes refers to a mixture of the xylenes plus ethylbenzene. The four compounds have identical empirical formulas . Typically the four compounds are produced together by various catalytic reforming and pyrolysis methods. Occurrence and production Xylenes are an important petrochemical produced by catalytic reforming and also by carbonization, coal carbonisation in the manufacture of coke (fuel), coke fuel. They also occur in crude oil in concentrations of about 0.5–1%, depending on the source. Small quantities occur ...
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Taxa Named By Daniel William Coquillett
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular Taxonomic rank, ranking, especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established. It is very common, however, for taxonomists to remain at odds over what belongs to a taxon and the criteria used for inclusion. If a taxon is given a formal scientific name, its use is then governed by one of the nomenclature codes specifying which scientific name is correct for a particular grouping. Initial attempts at classifying and ordering organisms (plants and animals) were set forth in Carl Linnaeus's Linnaean taxonomy, system in ''Systema Naturae'', 10th edition (1758), as well as an unpublished work by Bernard de Jussieu, Bernard and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. The idea of a unit-based system of bio ...
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Insects Described In 1899
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 ...
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Endemic Fauna Of California
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 ...
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Diptera Of North America
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced mechanosensory organs known as halteres, which act as high-speed sensors of rotational movement and allow dipterans to perform advanced aerobatics. Diptera is a large order containing an estimated 1,000,000 species including horse-flies, crane flies, hoverflies and others, although only about 125,000 species have been described. Flies have a mobile head, with a pair of large compound eyes, and mouthparts designed for piercing and sucking (mosquitoes, black flies and robber flies), or for lapping and sucking in the other groups. Their wing arrangement gives them great maneuverability in flight, and claws and pads on their feet enable them to cling to smooth surfaces. Flies undergo complete metamorphosis; the eggs are often laid on the la ...
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Ephydridae
Ephydridae (shore fly, sometimes brine fly) is a family of insects in the order Diptera. Shore flies are tiny flies that can be found near seashores or at smaller inland waters, such as ponds. About 2,000 species have been described worldwide, including Ochthera. The petroleum fly, ''Helaeomyia petrolei'', is the only known insect whose larvae live in naturally occurring crude petroleum. Another notable species is '' Ephydra hians'' which lives in vast number at Mono Lake. Description For terms, see Morphology of Diptera. The flies are minute to small (0.9 to 7.0 mm), with black or gray colorations. Wings are sometimes patterned. Costa with two interruptions are present in first section, near the humeral cross-vein and again near the end of vein 1. The second basal cell is not separated from the discal cell. Arista are bare or with hairs on the upper side (plumose on the upper side). The mouth opening is very large in some species. The ratio of vertical diameter of eye ...
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Eufriesia
''Eufriesea'' is a genus of euglossine bees. Like all orchid bees, they are restricted to the Neotropics. All species range from entirely to at least partially metallic (the face and/or tegulae), though much of the body in some species may be brown/black in color and hairy. Distribution ''Eufriesea'' is the most widely distributed genus of euglossines. Specimens have been found from Texas to central Argentina.Gonzalez VH, Griswold T, Simões M (2017) On the identity of the adventive species of ''Eufriesea'' Cockerell in the USA: systematics and potential distribution of the ''coerulescens'' species group (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 55: 55-102. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.55.12209 ''E. purpurata'' At least one species in this genus, '' Eufriesea purpurata'' from Brazil, has been shown to deliberately collect large quantities of the insecticide DDT without any apparent adverse effects. Individual bees were observed to collect as much as 2 mg, which ...
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estim ...
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La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' in Spanish) has seeped up from the ground for tens of thousands of years. Over many centuries, the bones of trapped animals have been preserved. The George C. Page Museum is dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the animals that died there. La Brea Tar Pits is a registered National Natural Landmark. Formation Tar pits are composed of heavy oil fractions called gilsonite, which seeps from the Earth as oil. Crude oil seeps up along the 6th Street Fault from the Salt Lake Oil Field, which underlies much of the Fairfax District north of Hancock Park. The oil reaches the surface and forms pools, becoming asphalt as the lighter fractions of the petroleum biodegrade or evaporate. The asphalt then normally hardens into stubby mounds. The pools and mou ...
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William Homan Thorpe
William Homan Thorpe FRS (1 April 1902 – 7 April 1986) was Professor of Animal Ethology at the University of Cambridge, and a significant British zoologist, ethologist and ornithologist.Alan Costall, ‘Thorpe, William Homan (1902–1986)’ Together with Nikolaas Tinbergen, Patrick Bateson and Robert Hinde, Thorpe contributed to the growth and acceptance of behavioural biology in Great Britain. Career Thorpe grew up at Hastings and Weston-super-Mare. His father Francis Homan was a borough accountant who also worked with the London Missionary Society while his mother took part in the women's suffrage movement and was involved in Christian pacifism. He was taken care of by a nurse Ellen Clara Birt while his parents travelled in the United States. He studied for a while at Clarence School, Weston-super-Mare and was sent at fourteen to Mill Hill School after which he entered Jesus College, Cambridge in 1921 to obtain a degree in Agriculture. He had been influenced by a talk by ...
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Bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationsh ...
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