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Lytta Nuttalli
''Lytta nuttalli'', or Nuttall's blister beetle, is a species of North American beetle first described in 1824 by Thomas_Say. The genus ''Lytta'' is from a Latin word suggesting ''madness'' The specific ''nuttallii'' recognizes the contributions of Thomas Nuttall, a contemporary of Say. The brilliant purple and green iridescent exoskeleton of Nuttall's blister beetles are a sharp contrast to the prairie plants of their native habitat. This species is found in Canada (Alberta to Manitoba) and the United States (Idaho south to Arizona, east to Minnesota and New Mexico). A disjunct population exists in eastern California restricted to higher altitudes. This species is one of over 3,000 species included in the family Meloidae or 'blister beetles'. Adult beetles of species in this family are able to synthesize an irritating chemical ' cantharidin' that is used to deter predators. The larvae of blister beetles in the genus Lytta feed in the nests of solitary bees in the family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milk Vetch
''Astragalus'' is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Common names include milkvetch (most species), locoweed (in North America, some species) and goat's-thorn ( ''A. gummifer'', ''A. tragacantha''). Some pale-flowered vetches (''Vicia'' spp.) are similar in appearance, but they are more vine-like than ''Astragalus''. Description Most species in the genus have pinnately compound leaves. There are annual and perennial species. The flowers are formed in clusters in a raceme, each flower typical of the legume family, with three types of petals: banner, wings, and keel. The calyx is tubular or bell-shaped. Ecology ''Astragalus'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including many case-bearing moths of the ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meloidae
Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their toxicity to would-be predators. Description Blister beetles are hypermetamorphic, going through several larval stages, the first of which is typically a mobile triungulin. The larvae are insectivorous, mainly attacking bees, though a few feed on grasshopper eggs. While sometimes considered parasitoids, in general, the meloid larva apparently consumes the immature host along with its provisions, and can often survive on the provisions alone; thus it is not an obligatory parasitoid, but rather a facultative parasitoid, or simply a kleptoparasite. The adults sometimes feed on flowers and leaves of plants of such diverse families as the Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae. Cantharidin, a poisonous chemical that causes blist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forage
Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage. While the term ''forage'' has a broad definition, the term ''forage crop'' is used to define crops, annual or biennial, which are grown to be utilized by grazing or harvesting as a whole crop. Common forages Grasses Grass forages include: *'' Agrostis'' spp. – bentgrasses **''Agrostis capillaris'' – common bentgrass **''Agrostis stolonifera'' – creeping bentgrass *''Andropogon hallii'' – sand bluestem *''Arrhenatherum elatius'' – false oat-grass *'' Bothriochloa bladhii'' – Australian bluestem *''Bothriochloa pertusa'' – hurricane grass *''Brachiaria decumbens'' – Surinam grass *''Brachiaria humidicola'' – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfalfa
Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as well as a green manure and cover crop. The name alfalfa is used in North America. The name lucerne is the more commonly used name in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The plant superficially resembles clover (a cousin in the same family), especially while young, when trifoliate leaves comprising round leaflets predominate. Later in maturity, leaflets are elongated. It has clusters of small purple flowers followed by fruits spiralled in 2 to 3 turns containing 10–20 seeds. Alfalfa is native to warmer temperate climates. It has been cultivated as livestock fodder since at least the era of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Etymology The word ''alfalfa'' is a Spanish modification of the Arabic word ''al-faṣfa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melilotus
''Melilotus'', known as melilot, sweet clover, and kumoniga (from the Cumans),Bulgarian Folk Customs, Mercia MacDermott, pg 27 is a genus in the family Fabaceae (the same family that also includes the ''Trifolium'' clovers). Members are known as common grassland plants and as weeds of cultivated ground. Originally from Europe and Asia, it is now found worldwide. This legume is commonly named for its sweet smell, which is due to the presence of coumarin in its tissues. Coumarin, though responsible for the sweet smell of hay and newly mowed grass, has a bitter taste, and, as such, possibly acts as a means for the plant to discourage consumption by animals. Fungi (including ''Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium'', and ''Mucor'') can convert coumarin into dicoumarol, a toxic anticoagulant. Consequently, dicoumarol may be found in decaying sweet-clover, and was the cause of the so-called sweet-clover disease, recognized in cattle in the 1920s. A few varieties of sweet clover have b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and tofu skin are made. Fermented soy foods include soy sauce, fermented bean paste, nattō, and tempeh. Fat-free (defatted) soybean meal is a significant and cheap source of protein for animal feeds and many packaged meals. For example, soybean products, such as textured vegetable protein (TVP), are ingredients in many meat and dairy substitutes. Soybeans contain significant amounts of phytic acid, dietary minerals and B vitamins. Soy vegetable oil, used in food and industrial applications, is another product of processing the soybean crop. Soybean is the most important protein source for feed farm animals (that in turn yields animal protein for human consumption). Etymology The word "soy" originated as a corruption of the Cantonese or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. Legumes are notable in that most of them have symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in structures called root nodules. For that reason, they play a key role in crop rotation. Terminology The term ''pulse'', as used by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is reserved for legume crops harvested solely for the dry seed. This excludes green beans and green peas, which a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apidae
Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for honey production), carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, and a number of other less widely known groups. Taxonomy In addition to its historical classification (honey bees, bumble bees, stingless bees and orchid bees), the family Apidae presently includes all the genera formerly placed in the families Anthophoridae and Ctenoplectridae. Although the most visible members of Apidae are social, the vast majority of apid bees are solitary, including a number of cleptoparasitic species. The old family Apidae contained four tribes (Apinae: Apini, Euglossini and Bombinae: Bombini, Meliponini) which have been reclassified as tribes of the subfamily Apinae, along with all of the former tribes and subfamilies of Anthophoridae and the former f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lytta
'' Lytta vesicatoria'', the Spanish fly ''Lytta'' is a genus of blister beetles in the family Meloidae. There are about 70 described species in North America, and over 100 species worldwide. Selected species These species, and others, belong to the genus ''Lytta'': * '' Lytta aenea'' Say, 1824 * ''Lytta aeneipennis'' (LeConte, 1851) * '' Lytta agrestis'' (Fall, 1901) * '' Lytta arizonica'' Selander, 1957 * '' Lytta augusti'' Haag-Rutenberg, 1880 * '' Lytta auriculata'' Horn, 1870 (red-eared blister beetle) * '' Lytta battonii'' Kaszab, 1962 * '' Lytta biguttata'' LeConte, 1853 * '' Lytta bipuncticollis'' Haag-Rutenberg, 1880 * ''Lytta blaisdelli'' (Fall, 1909) * '' Lytta boleti'' Marsham, 1802 * '' Lytta bruchi'' Pic, 1927 * ''Lytta canelas'' Selander, 1960 * ''Lytta cardinalis'' Chevrolat, 1834 * ''Lytta childi'' LeConte, 1857 * '' Lytta chloris'' (Fall, 1901) * ''Lytta comans'' Selander, 1960 * ''Lytta corallifera'' Haag-Rutenberg, 1880 * ''Lytta cribrata'' LeConte, 1853 * ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cantharidin
Cantharidin is an odorless, colorless fatty substance of the terpenoid class, which is secreted by many species of blister beetles. It is a burn agent or a poison in large doses, but preparations containing it were historically used as aphrodisiacs (Spanish fly). In its natural form, cantharidin is secreted by the male blister beetle and given to the female as a copulatory gift during mating. Afterwards, the female beetle covers her eggs with it as a defense against predators. Poisoning from cantharidin is a significant veterinary concern, especially in horses, but it can also be poisonous to humans if taken internally (where the source is usually experimental self-exposure). Externally, cantharidin is a potent vesicant (blistering agent), exposure to which can cause severe chemical burns. Properly dosed and applied, the same properties have also been used therapeutically, for instance for treatment of skin conditions such as molluscum contagiosum infection of the skin. Cantharidi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disjunct Distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a species' range. Range fragmentation Also called range fragmentation, disjunct distributions may be caused by changes in the environment, such as mountain building and continental drift or rising sea levels; it may also be due to an organism expanding its range into new areas, by such means as rafting, or other animals transporting an organism to a new location (plant seeds consumed by birds and animals can be moved to new locations during bird or animal migrations, and those seeds can be deposited in new locations in fecal matter). Other conditions that can produce disjunct distributions include: flooding, or changes in wind, stream, and current flows, plus others such as anthropogenic introduction of alien introduced species either acciden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterfowl Production Area
Waterfowl production areas (WPAs) are a small component of the National Wildlife Refuge System. There are over of this prime duck-producing land, mostly prairie potholes in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Montana. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with oth ... owns, leases, or holds easements on the lands. References * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waterfowl Production Areas National Wildlife Refuges of the United States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
