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Mecodema Antarcticum
''Mecodema antarcticum'' is a carnivorous carabid beetle that burrows in sand above the high tide mark on New Zealand sandy beaches. First described by Francis de Laporte de Castelnau in 1867 as ''Brullea antarctica'', it has since been reassigned to ''Mecodema.'' Description ''Mecodema antarcticum'' is large (up to 25 mm), glabrous reddish brown to black with a distinct "waist" or narrowing between thorax and abdomen (peduncle), like all ''Mecodema''. Indeed, recent DNA analysis places it within that genus, a sister group to ''Mecodema curvidens''; its distinctive differences in body shape may be adaptations to burrowing in sand. This species legs are well-adapted for digging in sand with greatly expanded coxa, femur and tibia: all tibia are greatly expanded at their distal ends, and the middle and hind pairs are also strongly curved. Other features consistent with dwelling in and on sand are the short antennae, large curved mandibles, and a rather boxy shape in contr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis De Laporte De Castelnau
Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural Municipality of Francis No. 127, Saskatchewan, Canada * Francis, Saskatchewan, Canada **Francis (electoral district) * Francis, Nebraska *Francis Township, Holt County, Nebraska * Francis, Oklahoma *Francis, Utah Other uses * ''Francis'' (film), the first of a series of comedies featuring Francis the Talking Mule, voiced by Chill Wills *''Francis'', a 1983 play by Julian Mitchell *FRANCIS, a bibliographic database * ''Francis'' (1793), a colonial schooner in Australia *Francis turbine, a type of water turbine *Francis (band), a Sweden-based folk band * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2988 See also *Saint Francis (other) *Francies, a surname, including a list of people with the name *Francisco (other) *Franci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whanganui District
Whanganui District is one of the districts of New Zealand. It includes the city of Whanganui and surrounding areas. Geography Formerly spelled "Wanganui", the Whanganui District Council resulted from the amalgamation of Wanganui and Waitotara county councils and Wanganui City Council. The district has an area of 2,373 km². Much of the land in Whanganui District is rough hill country surrounding the valley of the Whanganui River. A large proportion of this is within the Whanganui National Park. In 2015 the New Zealand Geographic Board, at the request of the Wanganui District Council, changed the name of the district from Wanganui District to Whanganui District, bringing the name in line with the spelling of the river. Demographics Whanganui District covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. All but some people in the Whanganui District live in the city itself, meaning there are few prominent outlying settlements. A smal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Fauna Of New Zealand
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] |
Beetles Of New Zealand
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae (ladybirds or ladybugs) eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops. Beetles typically have a particularly hard exoske ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxa Named By François-Louis Laporte, Comte De Castelnau
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''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 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 system in ''Systema Naturae'', 10th edition (1758), as well as an unpublished work by Bernard and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. The idea of a unit-based system of biological classification was first made widely available in 1805 in the intro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broscinae
Broscinae is a subfamily of ground beetle Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it i ...s (the family Carabidae). It contains the tribe Broscini and the following genera: * '' Acallistus'' Sharp, 1886 * '' Adotela'' Castelnau, 1867 * '' Anheretus'' Putzeys, 1868 * '' Axonya'' Andrewes, 1923 * '' Barypus'' Dejean, 1828 * '' Bountya'' Townsend, 1971 * '' Brithysternus'' MacLeay, 1873 * '' Broscodera'' Lindroth, 1961 * '' Broscodes'' Bolivar & Pieltain, 1914 * '' Broscosoma'' Rosenhauer, 1846 * '' Broscus'' Panzer, 1813 * '' Cascellius'' Curtis, 1839 * '' Cerotalis'' Castelnau, 1867 * '' Chaetobroscus'' Semenov, 1900 * '' Chylnus'' Sloane, 1920 * '' Craspedonotus'' Schaum, 1863 * '' Creobius'' Guérin-Méneville, 1838 * '' Diglymma'' Sharp, 1886 * '' Ebertius'' Jedlicka, 1965 * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steatoda Capensis
Steatoda capensis is a spider originating from South Africa. Its common names include the ''black cobweb spider'', ''brown house spider'', ''cupboard spider'' and due to its similarities to the katipō spider it is commonly known as the ''false katipō'' in New Zealand. Common throughout Southern Africa, it has been introduced into other countries and is now present in Australia and throughout New Zealand. It is a small spider, usually an all-over shiny black. It may have a small bright red, orange, or yellow patch near the tip of the abdomen along with a crescent shaped band near the front of the abdomen. It is thought that in some instances ''Steatoda capensis'' can bite humans causing a syndrome known as steatodism; which has been described as a less-severe form of latrodectism. Bites can be quite painful and can cause a general malaise for about a day. __TOC__ Etymology The species name of "capensis" refers to Cape Town, which is where the spider originates. Taxonom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katipō
The katipō (''Latrodectus katipo'') is an endangered species of spider native to New Zealand. It is one of many species in the genus ''Latrodectus'', such as the Australian redback (''L. hasseltii''), and the North American black widow. The species is venomous to humans, capable of delivering a potentially dangerous bite. It is a small to medium-sized spider, with the female having a round black or brown pea-sized body. Red katipō females, found in the South Island and the lower half of the North Island, are always black, and their abdomen has a distinctive red stripe bordered in white. In black katipō females, found in the upper half of the North Island, this stripe is absent, pale, yellow, or replaced with cream-coloured blotches. These two forms were previously thought to be separate species. The male is much smaller than the female and quite different in appearance: white with black stripes and red diamond-shaped markings. Katipō are mainly found living in sand dunes cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Hudson (entomologist)
George Vernon Hudson FRSNZ (20 April 1867 – 5 April 1946) was a British-born New Zealand entomologist credited with proposing the modern daylight saving time. He was awarded the Hector Memorial Medal in 1923. Biography Born in London, Britain, on Easter Saturday, 1867 Hudson was the sixth child of Emily Jane Carnal and Charles Hudson, an artist and stained-glass window designer. By the age of 14 he had built up a collection of British insects, and had published a paper in '' The Entomologist''. In 1881 Hudson moved with his father to Nelson, New Zealand. He worked on a farm, and in 1883, aged 16, he began working at the post office in Wellington, where he eventually became chief clerk, retiring in 1918. Hudson was a member of the 1907 Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition. Its main aim was to extend the magnetic survey of New Zealand by investigating the Auckland and Campbell islands but botanical, biological, and zoological surveys were also conducted. The expeditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carabidae
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal families. They belong to the Adephaga. Members of the family are primarily carnivorous, but some members are phytophagous or omnivorous. Description and ecology Although their body shapes and coloring vary somewhat, most are shiny black or metallic and have ridged wing covers (elytra). The elytra are fused in some species, particularly the large Carabinae, rendering the beetles unable to fly. The species ''Mormolyce phyllodes'' is known as violin beetle due to their peculiarly shaped elytra. All carabids except the quite primitive flanged bombardier beetles (Paussinae) have a groove on their fore leg tibiae bearing a comb of hairs used for cleaning their antennae. Defensive secretions Typical for the ancient beetle suborder Adephaga to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supralittoral Zone
The supralittoral zone, also known as the splash zone, spray zone or the supratidal zone, sometimes also referred to as the white zone, is the area above the spring high tide line, on coastlines and estuaries, that is regularly splashed, but not submerged by ocean water. Seawater penetrates these elevated areas only during storms with high tides.Thurman et al., p. 512. Organisms here must cope also with exposure to air, fresh water from rain, cold, heat and predation by land animals and seabirds. At the top of this area, patches of dark lichens can appear as crusts on rocks. Some types of periwinkles, Neritidae and detritus feeding Isopoda commonly inhabit the lower supralittoral.Yip and Madl See also *Littoral zone * Sublittoral zone Notes References * Thurman H.V. and Trujillo A.P. 1993.''Essentials of Oceanography''.Upper Saddle River, NJ:Prentice Hall * Yip, Maricela and Madl, Pierre (1999''Littoral''University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (german: Universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatomical Terms Of Location
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provides a definition of what is at the front ("anterior"), behind ("posterior") and so on. As part of defining and describing terms, the body is described through the use of anatomical planes and anatomical axes. The meaning of terms that are used can change depending on whether an organism is bipedal or quadrupedal. Additionally, for some animals such as invertebrates, some terms may not have any meaning at all; for example, an animal that is radially symmetrical will have no anterior surface, but can still have a description that a part is close to the middle ("proximal") or further from the middle ("distal"). International organisations have determined vocabularies that are often used as standard vocabularies for subdisciplines of anatom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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