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Mexcala Kabondo
''Mexcala kabondo'' is a species of jumping spider in the genus ''Mexcala'' that lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi and Tanzania. The spider was first defined in 2009 by Wanda Wesołowska, one of over 500 that the arachnologist described during her career. It mimics ants and ant-like wasps, living alongside and preying upon them. The spider is medium-sized, with a brown to blackish carapace between long and an abdomen between long that is nearly black with a pattern of three black bands and four orange patches. It is typical of the genus. The internal structure of the female copulatory organs is the most distinguishing feature of the species. The male has not been described. Taxonomy ''Mexcala kabondo'' is a jumping spider that was first described by the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska in 2009, one of over 500 species she identified during her career. She allocated the species to the genus ''Mexcala'', first raised by George and Elizabeth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexcala Quadrimaculata
''Mexcala'' is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by George and Elizabeth Peckham in 1902. The name is probably derived from the Nahuatl '' mezcal''. Species it contains twenty-one species, found only in Africa, Yemen, and Iran: *'' Mexcala agilis'' Lawrence, 1928 – Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia *'' Mexcala angolensis'' Wesolowska, 2009 – Angola *'' Mexcala caerulea'' ( Simon, 1901) – West Africa *'' Mexcala elegans'' Peckham & Peckham, 1903 – Ivory Coast, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa *'' Mexcala farsensis'' Logunov, 2001 – Iran *'' Mexcala fizi'' Wesolowska, 2009 – Congo, Tanzania *'' Mexcala formosa'' Wesolowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 – Ethiopia *'' Mexcala kabondo'' Wesolowska, 2009 – Congo, Malawi, Tanzania *'' Mexcala macilenta'' Wesolowska & Russell-Smith, 2000 – Ethiopia, Tanzania *'' Mexcala meridiana'' Wesolowska, 2009 – South Africa *'' Mexcala monstrata'' Wesolowska & van Harten, 1994 – Egypt, Yemen *' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Maddison
Wayne Paul Maddison , is a professor and Canada Research Chair at the departments of zoology and botany at the University of British Columbia, and the Director of the Spencer Entomological Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. His research concerns the phylogeny, biodiversity, and evolution of jumping spiders (Salticidae), of which he has discovered new species and genera. He has also done research in phylogenetic theory, developing and perfecting various methods used in comparative biology, such as character state inference in internal nodes through Maximum parsimony (phylogenetics), maximum parsimony, squared-change parsimony, or character correlation through the concentrated changes test or pairwise comparisons. In collaboration with David R. Maddison, he worked on thMesquiteopen-source phylogeny software, thMacCladeprogram, and the Tree of Life Web Project. His research has led him to discover new species of jumping spiders in Sarawak and Papua New Guinea. Selected pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diurnality
Diurnality is a form of plant and ethology, animal behavior characterized by activity during daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The common adjective used for daytime activity is "diurnal". The timing of activity by an animal depends on a variety of environmental factors such as the temperature, the ability to gather food by sight, the risk of predation, and the time of year. Diurnality is a cycle of activity within a 24-hour period; cyclic activities called circadian rhythms are endogenous cycles not dependent on external cues or environmental factors except for a zeitgeber. Animals active during twilight are crepuscular, those active during the night are nocturnal and animals active at sporadic times during both night and day are cathemerality, cathemeral. Plants that open their flowers during the daytime are described as diurnal, while those that bloom during nighttime are nocturnal. The timing of flower opening is often related to the time at which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can Stinger, sting their prey. The most commonly known wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, are in the family Vespidae and are Eusociality, eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers. Eusociality is favoured by the unusual haplodiploid system of sex-determination system, sex determination in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other. However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sclerotization
Sclerotization is a biochemical process that produces the rigid shell of sclerotin that comprises an insect's chitinous exoskeleton. It is prominent in the thicker, armored parts of insects and arachnids, especially in the biting mouthparts and sclerites of scorpions and beetles. Molecular mechanism Sclerotization entails crosslinking of oxygen-reactive derivatives of dopamine. The reaction of the dopamine derivatives toward oxygen is catalyzed by diverse enzymes such as laccase, which convert the catechol groups to quinones. The resulting quinones are susceptible to nucleophilic attack by amines and thiols, which decorate the side-chains of proteins. These reactions gives rise to color (typically brown), loss of solubility, and rigidification that accompany sclerotization.{{cite journal , doi=10.1007/s00726-005-0298-2, title=When Quinones Meet Amino Acids: Chemical, Physical and Biological Consequences, year=2006, last1=Bittner, first1=S., journal=Amino Acids, volume=30, issue=3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epigyne
The epigyne or epigynum is the external genital structure of female spiders. As the epigyne varies greatly in form in different species, even in closely related ones, it often provides the most distinctive characteristic for recognizing species. It consists of a small, hardened portion of the exoskeleton located on the underside of the abdomen, in front of the epigastric furrow and between the epigastric plates. Functions The primary function of the epigyne is to receive and direct the palpal organ of the male during copulation. The various specific forms of epigynes are correlated, in each case, with corresponding specific differences in the palpus of the male. This specialization prevents individuals of different species from mating. The epigyne covers or accompanies the openings of the spermathecae, which are pouches for receiving and retaining sperm. Frequently, the openings of the spermathecae are on the outer face of the epigyne and can be easily seen. A secondary functi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthropod Leg
The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, plural ''coxae''), ''trochanter'', ''femur'' (plural ''femora''), ''tibia'' (plural ''tibiae''), ''tarsus'' (plural ''tarsi''), ''ischium'' (plural ''ischia''), ''metatarsus'', ''carpus'', ''dactylus'' (meaning finger), ''patella'' (plural ''patellae''). Homologies of leg segments between groups are difficult to prove and are the source of much argument. Some authors posit up to eleven segments per leg for the most recent common ancestor of extant arthropods but modern arthropods have eight or fewer. It has been argued that the ancestral leg need not have been so complex, and that other events, such as successive loss of function of a ''Hox''-gene, could result in parallel gains of leg segments. In arthropods, each of the leg segments ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sternum (arthropod Anatomy)
The sternum (pl. "sterna") is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen. In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the subunits are called sternites, and may also be modified on the terminal abdominal segments so as to form part of the functional genitalia, in which case they are frequently reduced in size and development, and may become internalized and/or membranous. For a detailed explanation of the terminology, see Kinorhynchs have tergal and sternal plates too, though seemingly not homologous with those of arthropods.Sørensen, M. V. et al. Phylogeny of Kinorhyncha based on morphology and two molecular loci. PLoS One 10, 1–33 (2015). Ventrites are externally visible sternites. Usually the first sternite is covered up, so that vertrite numbers do not correspond to sternid numbers. The term is also used in other arthropod groups such as crustaceans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thorax (arthropod Anatomy)
The thorax is the midsection ( tagma) of the hexapod body (insects and entognathans). It holds the head, legs, wings and abdomen. It is also called mesosoma or cephalothorax in other arthropods. It is formed by the prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax and comprises the scutellum; the cervix, a membrane that separates the head from the thorax; and the pleuron, a lateral sclerite of the thorax. In dragonflies and damselflies the mesothorax and metathorax are fused together to form the synthorax. In some insect pupae, like the mosquitoes', the head and thorax can be fused in a cephalothorax. Members of suborder Apocrita (wasps, ants and bees) in the order Hymenoptera have the first segment of the abdomen fused with the thorax, which is called the propodeum. The head is connected to the thorax by the occipital foramen, enabling a wide range of motion for the head. In most flying insects, the thorax allows for the use of asynchronous muscles Asynchronous muscles are muscles in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heliophanus
''Heliophanus'' is a genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders). Most of the almost 170 described species occur in Africa, with many others found in the Palearctic region from Europe to Japan. Species , the World Spider Catalog accepted the following species: * '' Heliophanus abditus'' Wesołowska, 1986 – Syria * '' Heliophanus aberdarensis'' Wesołowska, 1986 – Kenya * '' Heliophanus activus'' ( Blackwall, 1877) – Seychelles * '' Heliophanus acutissimus'' Wesołowska, 1986 – Algeria * '' Heliophanus aeneus'' ( Hahn, 1832) – Palearctic * '' Heliophanus aethiopicus'' Wesołowska, 2003 – Ethiopia * '' Heliophanus africanus'' Wesołowska, 1986 – South Africa * '' Heliophanus agricola'' Wesołowska, 1986 – Algeria, Spain * '' Heliophanus agricoloides'' Wunderlich, 1987 – Canary Islands * '' Heliophanus alienus'' Wesołowska, 1986 – Cameroon * '' Heliophanus anymphos'' Wesołowska, 2003 – Kenya * '' Heliophanus apiatus'' Simon, 1868 – Spain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerzy Prószyński
Jerzy Prószyński (born 1935 in Warsaw) is a Polish arachnologist specializing in systematics of jumping spiders (family Salticidae). He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw, a long-term employee of the Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities and the Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Biography In 1957 he completed his biological studies at the University of Warsaw. During his studies he was employed at the Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, where he conducted research on spiders in the Kampinos Forest. Between 1963 and 1967 he lectured on zoology at the University of Ghana. In 1966 he obtained his Ph.D. at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. A year later he was given the opportunity to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, but he was refused a passport. In 1972 he was employed at the Higher School of Education in Siedlce (later the Siedlce University of Natural Scien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
