|
Meranoplus Mayri
''Meranoplus mayri'' is a Malagasy species of ant in the genus ''Meranoplus''. Distribution ''Meranoplus mayri'' is distributed throughout the drier regions of Madagascar from the Southwestern region near Andohahela National Park all the way north into the Mahajanga Province. The elevational range of ''M. mayri'' is 20–1345 m. Description This species displays subtle variation in morphometric and most sculptural characters across its range except for the sculpture of the base of abdominal tergum IV. This character varies from extremely smooth and shining in the southwest to strongly, dense-punctate and costate along the western edge of the High Plateau. Intergrades are common, however, occurring all along the western coast and into the High Plateau. Both smooth and punctate specimens may be found at the same locales, including Ampotoampoto, Ejada, Tsihombe and Ambinanitelo. The variation of this character indicates that although the two extremes are reproductively isolated b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auguste Forel
Auguste-Henri Forel (1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. For example, he is considered a co-founder of the Neuron doctrine, neuron theory. Forel is also known for his early contributions to sexology and psychology. From 1978 until 2000 Forel's image appeared on the 1000 Banknotes of the Swiss franc, Swiss franc banknote. Biography Born in villa ''La Gracieuse'', Morges, Switzerland, to Victor Forel a pious Swiss Calvinist and Pauline Morin, a Huguenots, French Huguenot he was brought up under a protective household. At the age of seven he began to take an interest in insects. He went to school at Morges and Lausanne before joining the medical school at Zürich, Zurich. Forel had a diverse and mixed career as a thinker on many subjects. At Zurich he was inspired by the work of Bernhard von Gudden (1824-1886). In 1871 he went ... [...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] |
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family (taxonomy), family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meranoplus
''Meranoplus'' is an Old World genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. With over 80 valid species, it is predicted that over half of the ''Meranoplus'' diversity remains undescribed, most of these from Australia. Classification ''Meranoplus'' is a unique and charismatic myrmicine genus of hairy, slow-moving, and armored ants. The genus was previously classified in its own tribe, the Meranoplini, with one fossil genus, '' Parameranoplus'', from Baltic amber (44.1 ± 1.1 mya), but was moved to Crematogastrini by Ward ''et al.'' (2015). The historic shuffling of ''Meranoplus'' through higher taxa — Cryptoceridae, Cataulacinae, Tetramoriini, Meranoplini — reflects our poor understanding of the phylogenetic position of ''Meranoplus'' within the Formicidae. Brady et ''al''. (2006) recovered a clade of ''Meranoplus'' and ''Cataulacus'', although this relationship was not supported in Moreau ''et al''. (2006). Distribution The extant species of ''Meranoplus'' are distributed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andohahela National Park
Andohahela National Park, in south-east Madagascar, is remarkable for the extremes of habitats that are represented within it. The park covers of the Anosy mountain range, the southernmost spur of the Malagasy Highlands and contains the last humid rainforests in the southern part of Madagascar. The Park was inscribed in the World Heritage Site in 2007 as part of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana. History Andohahela has been a protected area since 1939 but did not become a national park until 1998. Geography Andohahela National Park is north-west of Tôlanaro and at the southern end of the Malagasy Highlands. The park is divided into three zones. The first, Malio, ranges from to the summit of Pic d' Andohahela at , and has dense lowland and montane rainforest with more than two hundred species of tree ferns, orchids, wild vanilla, lemurs and many birds. The second, Ihazofotsy-Mangatsiaka, contains dry spiny forest with rare birds and reptiles in altitudes ranging from to at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahajanga Province
Mahajanga was a former province of Madagascar that had an area of 150,023 km². It had a population of 1,896,000 (2004). Its capital was Mahajanga, the second largest city in Madagascar. Except for Fianarantsoa, Mahajanga Province bordered all of the country's other provinces–Antsiranana in the north, Toamasina in the east, Antananarivo in the southeast and Toliara in the southwest. Sea cucumbers were an important commercial product produced in the province. In 1999, cholera epidemic broke out in the province. It infected 380 people and claimed 26 lives. The epidemic spread towards the southern Antananarivo and Toliara provinces. The province was hit by Cyclone Kamisy in June 1984. A large percentage of the province's population lived below the poverty line. A large area of the province was covered by rain forests. It had a rich variety of flora and fauna. Several lemur species were endemic to the province. Assassin spiders were discovered in the province's Bay o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tergum
A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The Anatomical terms of location#Anterior and posterior, anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'margin'. A given tergum may be divided into hardened plates or sclerites commonly referred to as tergites. In a Thorax (insect anatomy), thoracic segment, for example, the tergum may be divided into an anterior notum and a posterior Scutellum (insect), scutellum. Lateral extensions of a tergite are known as paranota (Greek for "alongside the back") or ''carinae'' (Latin for "keel"), exemplified by the flat-backed millipedes of the order Polydesmida. Kinorhynchs have tergal and sternal plates too, though seemingly not homologous with those of arthropods. Tergo-tergal is a stridulation, stridulatory mechanism in which fine spines of the abdom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intergrade
In zoology, intergradation is the way in which two distinct subspecies are connected via areas where populations are found that have the characteristics of both. There are two types of intergradation: primary and secondary intergradation. Primary intergradation This occurs in cases where two subspecies are connected via one or more intermediate populations, each of which is in turn intermediate to its adjacent populations and exhibits more or less the same amount of variability as any other population within the species. Adjacent populations and subspecies are subject to cline intergradation, and in these situations it is usually taken for granted that the clines are causally related (by natural selection) to environmental gradients.Mayr E, Ashlock PD (1991). ''Principles of Systematic Zoology''. Second edition. McGraw-Hill. . Secondary intergradation When contact between a geographically isolated subspecies is reestablished with the main body of the species or with another i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsihombe
Tsihombe (or: Tsiombe) is a municipality in Androy Region, Madagascar. It is situated at the Manambovo River and the Route nationale 10 Route nationale 10, or RN 10, is a trunk (route nationale) in France between Paris and the border with Spain via Bordeaux. Reclassification Unlike many other ''routes nationales'', the road retains its status along the majority of its route. How ... and about 30 km north of the southernmost point of the island, Tanjona Vohimena (Cape Sainte Marie). Although the majority of the population are primarily adherents of Christianity and traditional beliefs, Tsihombe is the only town in the Androy region of Madagascar that has a mosque and a permanent Imam, although tensions between religious communities are low. Roads Tsihombe is crossed by the National road 10 that is largely unpaved. References Populated places in Androy {{Androy-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambinanitelo
Ambinanitelo is a rural municipality in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Maroantsetra, which is a part of Analanjirofo Region. The population of the municipality is estimated to be approximately 30,000 in 2001 commune census. Primary and junior level secondary education are available in town. The majority 95% of the population of the commune are farmers. The most important crops are rice and cloves, while other important agricultural products are coffee and vanilla. Services provide employment for 5% of the population. The Polish writer and adventurer Arkady Fiedler visited Ambinanitelo in 1937 and resided there for several months, which was the subject of a travel book he wrote on his return to Poland giving a detailed account of the townspeople's daily life and culture, as well as some frictions with the French colonial authorities which he witnessed. This made the name of Ambinanitelo familiar to several generations of Polish readers, and the book was also translated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitfall Trap
A pitfall trap is a trapping pit for small animals, such as insects, amphibians and reptiles. Pitfall traps are a sampling technique, mainly used for ecology studies and ecologic pest control. Animals that enter a pitfall trap are unable to escape. This is a form of passive collection, as opposed to active collection where the collector catches each animal (by hand or with a device such as a butterfly net). Active collection may be difficult or time-consuming, especially in habitats where it is hard to see the animals such as thick grass. Structure and composition Pitfall traps come in a variety of sizes and designs. They come in 2 main forms: dry and wet pitfall traps. Dry pitfall traps consist of a container (tin, jar or drum) buried in the ground with its rim at surface level used to trap mobile animals that fall into it. Wet pitfall traps are basically the same, but contain a solution designed to kill and preserve the trapped animals. The fluids that can be used in these trap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
