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Mimicry In Vertebrates
In evolutionary biology, mimicry in vertebrates is mimicry by a vertebrate of some model (an animal, not necessarily a vertebrate), deceiving some other animal, the dupe. Mimicry differs from camouflage as it is meant to be seen, while animals use camouflage to remain hidden. Visual, olfactory, auditory, biochemical, and behavioral modalities of mimicry have been documented in vertebrates. There are few well-studied examples of mimicry in vertebrates. Still, many of the basic types of mimicry apply to vertebrates, especially among snakes. Batesian mimicry is rare among vertebrates but found in some reptiles (particularly snakes) and amphibians. Müllerian mimicry is found in some snakes, birds, amphibians, and fish. Aggressive mimicry is known in some vertebrate predators and parasites, while certain forms of sexual mimicry are distinctly more complex than in invertebrates. Classification Defensive Batesian Batesian mimicry is a form of defense that allows a harmless speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolutionary Biology
Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life forms on Earth. Evolution is based on the theory that all species are related and they gradually change over time. In a population, the genetic variations affect the physical characteristics i.e. phenotypes of an organism. These changes in the phenotypes will be an advantage to some organisms, which will then be passed onto their offspring. Some examples of evolution in species over many generations are the Peppered Moth and Flightless birds. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biology emerged through what Julian Huxley called the modern synthesis of understanding, from previously unrelated fields of biological research, such as genetics and ecology, systematics, and paleontology. The importance of studying Evolutionary biology is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trimeresurus Septentrionalis
''Trimeresurus septentrionalis'', commonly known as the Nepal pit viper or northern white-lipped pit viper,Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. ''Asian Pitvipers''. GeitjeBooks. Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. . is a venomous pit viper species found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Description Total length males 610 mm, females 730 mm. The head scalation consists of 10–11(12) upper labials, the first of which are fused to the nasal. The head scales are small, subequal and feebly imbricate, smooth or weakly keeled. The supraoculars are narrow and undivided with 9–11 interocular scales between them. The temporal scales are smooth. Midbody there are 21 longitudinal dorsal scale rows. There are 162–172 ventrals in males, 160–181 in females. The subcaudals are paired and number 68–83 in males, 55–71 in females. The hemipenes are without spines. The colour pattern is green above. The belly is green, yellowish or white below. A fain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has characterised parasites as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as Armillaria mellea, honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the Orobanchaceae, broomrapes. There are six major parasitic Behavioral ecology#Evolutionarily stable strategy, strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), wikt:trophic, trophicallytransmitted parasitism (by being eaten), Disease vector, vector-transmitted parasitism, parasitoidism, and micropreda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predation
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge; it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often concealed. When prey is detected, the predator assesses whether to attack it. This may involve ambush or pursuit predation, sometimes after stalking the prey. If the attack is successful, the predator kills the prey, removes any inedible parts like the shell or spines, and eats it. Predators are adapted and often highly specialized for hunting, with acute senses such as vision, hearing, or smell. Many predatory animals, both vertebrate and inv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aggressive Mimicry
Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host. Zoologists have repeatedly compared this strategy to a wolf in sheep's clothing. In its broadest sense, aggressive mimicry could include various types of exploitation, as when an orchid exploits a male insect by mimicking a sexually receptive female (see pseudocopulation), but will here be restricted to forms of exploitation involving feeding. An alternative term Peckhamian mimicry (after George and Elizabeth Peckham) has been suggested, but is seldom used. For example, indigenous Australians who dress up as and imitate kangaroos when hunting would not be considered aggressive mimics, nor would a human angler, though they are undoubtedly practising self-decoration camouflage. Treated separately is molecular mimicry, which shares some similarity; for instance a virus may mimic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Cobra
The Indian cobra (''Naja naja''), also known as the spectacled cobra, Asian cobra, or binocellate cobra, is a species of cobra found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, and a member of the "big four" species that are responsible for the most snakebite cases in India. It is distinct from the king cobra which belongs to the monotypic genus ''Ophiophagus''. The Indian cobra is revered in Hindu mythology and culture, and is often seen with snake charmers. It is a protected species under the '' Indian Wildlife Protection Act'' (1972). Taxonomy The generic name and the specific epithet ''naja'' is a Latinisation of the Sanskrit word () meaning "cobra". The Indian cobra is classified under the genus ''Naja'' of the family Elapidae. The genus was first described by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. The species ''Naja naja'' was first described by the Swedish physician, zoologist, and botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The genus ''Naja'' was split into s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venomous Mammals
Venomous mammals are animals of the class Mammalia that produce venom, which they use to kill or disable prey, to defend themselves from predators or conspecifics or in agonistic encounters. Mammalian venoms form a heterogeneous group with different compositions and modes of action, from three orders of mammals: Eulipotyphla, Monotremata, and Chiroptera. It has been proposed that some members of a fourth order, Primates, are venomous. To explain the rarity of venom delivery in Mammalia, Mark Dufton of the University of Strathclyde has suggested that modern mammalian predators do not need venom because they are able to kill quickly with their teeth or claws, whereas venom, no matter how sophisticated, requires time to disable prey. In spite of the rarity of venom among extant mammals, venom may be an ancestral feature among mammals, as venomous spurs akin to those of the modern platypus are found in most non-therian Mammaliaformes groups.Jørn H. Hurum, Zhe-Xi Luo, and Zofia Kielan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slow Loris
Slow lorises are a group of several species of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus ''Nycticebus''. Found in Southeast Asia and bordering areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the west to the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines in the east, and from Yunnan province in China in the north to the island of Java in the south. Although many previous classifications recognized as few as a single all-inclusive species, there are now at least eight that are considered valid: the Sunda slow loris (''N. coucang''), Bengal slow loris (''N. bengalensis''), Javan slow loris (''N. javanicus''), Philippine slow loris (''N. menagensis''), Bangka slow loris (''N. bancanus''), Bornean slow loris (''N. borneanus''), Kayan River slow loris (''N. kayan'') and Sumatran slow loris (''N. hilleri''). A ninth species, the pygmy slow loris (''X. pygmaeus''), was recently moved to the new genus ''Xanthonycticebus''. After the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slow Lorises In Defensive Posture - 1678-9199-19-21-2
In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance travelled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as the duration of the time interval approaches zero. Speed is not the same as velocity. Speed has the dimensions of distance divided by time. The SI unit of speed is the metre per second (m/s), but the most common unit of speed in everyday usage is the kilometre per hour (km/h) or, in the US and the UK, miles per hour (mph). For air and marine travel, the knot is commonly used. The fastest possible speed at which energy or information can travel, according to special relativity, is the speed of light in a vacuum ''c'' = metres per second (approx ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dendrobates Ventrimaculatus
The reticulated poison frog (''Ranitomeya ventrimaculata''), known in French as ''dendrobate à ventre tacheté'', is a species of poison dart frog. It is native to South America, where it can be found in Brazil, southeastern Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Peru. Toxicity ''R. ventrimaculata'' secretes poison through glands in the skin which protect it from fungi and bacteria as well as from predators, which are also warned to stay clear by the aposematic coloration. It is therefore often included among the poison dart frogs, although its toxin is comparatively weak. ''R. ventrimaculatus'' produces its poison by ingestion of a species of mite. Description The frog is active during the day. It grows to a size of about , with males smaller than females. Its base color is black, and it has yellow lines or dots on the back, whereas the belly has bluish or grayish color with interspersed black patches (hence the name "ventrimaculatus"); the color of the belly continues into a n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dendrobates Fantasticus
The red-headed poison frog (''Ranitomeya fantastica'') is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae. It is endemic to Peru and found in the northern San Martín and Loreto Regions. Its natural habitats are primary and older secondary growth wet forests. The species uses phytotelmata for breeding, which must be present in its habitat. Females lay 2–6 eggs which male then guards. The species is threatened by collection for international pet trade Wildlife trade refers to the of products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants usually extracted from their natural environment or raised under controlled conditions. It can involve the trade of living or dead individuals, ti ... as well as habitat loss. References Ranitomeya Amphibians described in 1884 Amphibians of Peru Endemic fauna of Peru Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Dendrobatidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dendrobates Variabilis
''Ranitomeya variabilis'', formerly known as ''Dendrodates variabilis'', is a species of small poison dart frog distributed in northern Peru, along the eastern slope of Anes in the upper Rio Huallaga drainage basin. Its common name, Zimmerman’s poison frog, is named after Elke Zimmermann, a German zoologist who described the morph of this species and differentiated it from '' D. Ventrimaculatus''. The species was formerly considered to be synonymous with '' Ranitomeya ventrimaculata''. ''Ranitomeya variabilis'' usually has a bright yellow body with deep blue limbs, and black spotted or stripes across the ventral side of the body. The colors change in some geographic locations. ''R. variabilis'' has different mimicry relationships with two other species. Like other frogs in the same family, ''R. variabilis'' has toxic skin alkaloid which repels potential predators. ''R. variabilis'' are cannibalistic even as tadpoles, so adult male parents may allow tadpoles to jump on their ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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