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Hemiceratoides Hieroglyphica
''Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica'' is a moth from Madagascar. It was discovered in 2006 that it frequents sleeping birds at night, and drinks their tears, using a specialized, harpoon-like proboscis.Hilgartner, R., M. Raoilison, W. Büttiker, D.C. Lees, and H.W. Krenn. 2007. Malagasy birds as hosts for eye-frequenting moths. ''Biology Letters'' 3: 117–120. Tear-feeding moths outside of Madagascar (for example ''Mecistoptera griseifusa'' in the Hypeninae subfamily), are not directly related to this species, and have evolved dissimilar mechanisms for drinking from large animals like deer or crocodiles. The adults have a wingspan of 52 mm. Distribution This species is known from Nigeria, South Africa and 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 .... References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Saalmüller
Max Saalmüller (26 November 1832 in Römhild, Germany – 12 October 1890 in Bockenheim) was a Prussian lieutenant colonel and German entomologist. List of works * Illustrations for ''Der Heerwurm'' of Ludwig Bechstein Ludwig Bechstein (24 November 1801 – 14 May 1860) was a German writer and collector of folk fairy tales. He was born in Weimar, the illegitimate child of Johanna Carolina Dorothea Bechstein and Hubert Dupontreau, a French emigrant who disappe ..., 1851 * ''Mittheilungen über Madagaskar, seine Lepidopteren-Fauna'', 1878 (in News about Madagascar, its Lepidoptera fauna'', 1878) * ''Lepidopteren von Madagascar'', 2 Bände, 1884/91 (in ''Lepidoptera of Madagascar''), 2 editions, 1884/1891 * ''Neue Lepidopteren aus Madagaskar, die sich im Museum der Seckenberg'', in ''Bericht über die Senckenbergischen Naturforschende Gesellschaft'', 1879-1890, pp. 258–310 References External links www.nhm.ac.uk - National History Museum: Bibliographic reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described. Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species. Differences between butterflies and moths While the butterflies form a monophyletic group, the moths, comprising the rest of the Lepidoptera, do not. Many attempts have been made to group the superfamilies of the Lepidoptera into natural groups, most of which fail because one of the two groups is not monophyletic: Microlepidoptera and Macrolepidoptera, Heterocera and Rhopalocera, Jugatae and Frenatae, Monotrysia and Ditrysia.Scoble, MJ 1995. The Lepidoptera: Form, function and diversity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 404 p. Although the rules for distinguishing moths from butterflies are not well establishe ... [...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] |
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal and securing it with barb or toggling claws, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the projectile to catch the animal. A harpoon can also be used as a weapon. Certain harpoons are made with different builds to perform better with the type of target being aimed at. For example, the Inuit have short, fixed foreshaft harpoons for hunting seals at their breathing holes while loose shafted ones are made for attaching to the game thrown at. History In the 1990s, harpoon points, known as the Semliki harpoons or the Katanda harpoons, were found in the Katanda_Territory, Katanda region in Zaire (called the Democratic Republic of the Congo today). As the earliest known harpoons, these weapons were made and used 90, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proboscis
A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elongated nose or snout. Etymology First attested in English in 1609 from Latin , the latinisation of the Ancient Greek (), which comes from () 'forth, forward, before' + (), 'to feed, to nourish'. The plural as derived from the Greek is , but in English the plural form ''proboscises'' occurs frequently. Invertebrates The most common usage is to refer to the tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates such as insects (e.g., moths, butterflies, and mosquitoes), worms (including Acanthocephala, proboscis worms) and gastropod molluscs. Acanthocephala The Acanthocephala or thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms are characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to pierce and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mecistoptera
''Mecistoptera'' is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae first described by George Hampson in 1893. Description Palpi long, obliquely porrect (extending forward), where the second joint thickly clothed with scales. Third joint long and slender. Frontal tuft short. Antennae with long cilia in male, which is short in female. Thorax and abdomen smoothly scaled. Tibia nearly naked. Forewings long and narrow with produced and acute apex. Outer margin oblique and excurved at middle. Veins 8 and 9 anastomosing (fused) to form an areole. Hindwings with veins 3 and 4 from cell and vein 5 from below the middle of discocellulars. The outer margin truncate from vein 4 to anal angle. Species * '' Mecistoptera albisigna'' Hampson, 1912 * ''Mecistoptera griseifusa ''Mecistoptera griseifusa'' is a moth of the family Noctuidae first described by George Hampson in 1893. It is found in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypeninae
The Hypeninae are a subfamily of moths in the family Erebidae. The taxon was first described by Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer in 1851. A notable species is '' Mecistoptera griseifusa'', which lives solely on tears it drinks with its proboscis. Taxonomy The subfamily was previously classified in the family Noctuidae. Several genera that were previously classified in the subfamily have been moved to the Rivulinae and Boletobiinae subfamilies of Erebidae, leaving the Hypeninae as a group of genera closely related to the type genus ''Hypena''. Genera *'' Aethalina'' *'' Arrade'' *'' Artigisa'' *'' Avirostrum'' *'' Britha'' *'' Calathusa'' *'' Catada'' *'' Catadoides'' *'' Colobochyla'' *'' Dichromia'' *'' Elaphristis'' *'' Epitripta'' *'' Esthlodora'' *'' Foveades'' *'' Goniocraspedon'' *'' Goniophylla'' *''Harita'' *''Hypena ''Hypena'' is a genus of moths in the family Erebidae. It was first described by Franz von Paula Schrank in 1802. These non-migratory mot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, the roe deer, and the moose. Male deer of all species (except the water deer), as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family (Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla). The musk deer (Moschidae) of Asia and chevrotains (Tragulidae) of tropical African and Asian forests are separate families that are also in the ruminant clade Ruminantia; they are not especially closely related to Cervidae. Deer appear in art from Paleolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion, and literature throughout history, as well as in heraldry, such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crocodile
Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant taxon, extant members of the order (biology), order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae) among other extinct taxa. Although they appear similar, crocodiles, alligators and the gharial belong to separate biological family (biology), families. The gharial, with its narrow snout, is easier to distinguish, while Morphology (biology), morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head, with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait is that the upp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of , and with a population of over 225 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the second-largest in Africa. Nigeria has been home to several indigenous pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC, with the Nok civilization in the 15th century BC, marking the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calpinae
The Calpinae are a subfamily of moths in the family Erebidae described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1840. This subfamily includes many species of moths that have a pointed and barbed proboscis adapted to piercing the skins of fruit to feed on juice, and in the case of the several '' Calyptra'' species of vampire moths, to piercing the skins of mammals to feed on blood. The subfamily contains some large moths with wingspans longer than 5 cm (2 in). Taxonomy Recent phylogenetic studies have greatly revised this subfamily. The subfamily was previously classified within the Noctuidae, but the redefinition of that family has reclassified many of that family's subfamilies, including Calpinae, into the family Erebidae. The Calpinae are most closely related to a clade including the subfamilies Eulepidotinae and Hypocalinae, which are also among the Erebidae. The tribes Anomini and Scoliopterygini, previously included in the Calpinae, were found to be distantly related and we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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