|
Paraponera Clavata
''Paraponera clavata'' is a species of ant, commonly known as the bullet ant, named for its extremely painful sting. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests in Central and South America. Etymology The specific epithet of the ant, ', means "club-shaped". The generic name, ''Paraponera'', translates to "near-''Ponera''". Due to its notoriety, the ant has several Native American, Spanish, and Portuguese local names in different geographical areas. Perhaps the best known name is the Venezuelan ' (the "24 ant" or "24-hour ant"), referring to the full day of pain that follows being stung; it can also refer to the time it takes to kill a human. In Brazil, the Portuguese names given by locals include ', ', or ' (big black ant), and Native American-derived names are ''tocandira'', ''tocandira'', and ''tocanquibira''. These names derive from the Tupi–Guarani ''tuca-ndy'', which translates to "the one wounding deeply". Other names by which it is referred include ''chacha'', ''cumanagata ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johan Christian Fabricius
Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is considered one of the most important entomologists of the 18th century, having named nearly 10,000 species of animals, and established the basis for the modern insect classification. Biography Johan Christian Fabricius was born on 7 January 1745 at Tønder in the Duchy of Schleswig, where his father was a doctor. He studied at the gymnasium at Altona and entered the University of Copenhagen in 1762. Later the same year he travelled together with his friend and relative Johan Zoëga to Uppsala, where he studied under Carl Linnaeus for two years. On his return, he started work on his , which was finally published in 1775. Throughout this time, he remained dependent on subsidies from his father, who worked as a consultant at Frederiks Hos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Smith (entomologist)
Frederick Smith (30 December 1805 – 16 February 1879) was a British entomologist who worked at the zoology department of the British Museum from 1849, specialising in the Hymenoptera. Smith was born near York to William Smith and went to school at Leeds. He then studied under landscape engraver W.B. Cooke along with his nephew William Edward Shuckard. Together they took an interest in insects, especially the ants and bees. In 1841, following the death of William Bainbridge, he became a curator of the collections and the library of the Entomological Society of London. As an engraver he produced copies based on the works of Turner, Constable and David Roberts. He also worked with Gray arranging Hymenoptera in the British Museum. In 1849 he succeeded Edward Doubleday as a member of the zoologicy department. He then gave up his art work but produced the plates for Wollaston's ''Insecta Maderensia'' (1854) and for papers in the Transactions of the Entomological Society. In 1875, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles ( es, Grandes Antillas or Antillas Mayores; french: Grandes Antilles; ht, Gwo Zantiy; jam, Grieta hAntiliiz) is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. Six island states share the region of the Greater Antilles, with Haiti and the Dominican Republic sharing the island of Hispaniola. Together with the Lesser Antilles, they make up the Antilles. While most of the Greater Antilles consists of independent countries, Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, while the Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory. The largest island by area is Cuba, which extends to the western end of the island group. Puerto Rico lies on the eastern end, and the island of Hispaniola, the largest island by population, is located in the middle. Jamaica lies to the south of Cuba, while the Cayman Islands are located to the west. The state of Florida is the clos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the region's second largest in area, after the island of Cuba. The island is divided into two separate nations: the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic (48,445 km2, 18,705 sq mi) to the east and the French/Haitian Creole-speaking Haiti (27,750 km2, 10,710 sq mi) to the west. The only other divided island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin, which is shared between France ( Saint Martin) and the Netherlands (Sint Maarten). Hispaniola is the site of one of the first European settlements in the Americas, La Navidad (1492–1493), as well as the first proper town, La Isabela (1493–1500), and the first permanent settlement, the current capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo (est. 1498). These settlements were founded succe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Miocene
The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was preceded by the Oligocene epoch. As the climate started to get cooler, the landscape started to change. New mammals evolved to replace the extinct animals of the Oligocene epoch. The first members of the hyena and weasel family started to evolve to replace the extinct ''Hyaenodon'', entelodonts and bear-dogs. The chalicotheres survived the Oligocene epoch. A new genus of entelodont called ''Daeodon'' evolved in order to adapt to the new habitats and hunt the new prey animals of the Early Miocene epoch; it quickly became the top predator of North America. But it became extinct due to competition from ''Amphicyon'', a newcomer from Eurasia. ''Amphicyon'' bested ''Daeodon'' because the bear-dog's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominican Amber
Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree '' Hymenaea protera''. Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil inclusions. This has enabled the detailed reconstruction of the ecosystem of a long-vanished tropical forest.George Poinar, Jr. and Roberta Poinar, 1999. ''The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World'', (Princeton University Press) Age A study in the early 1990s returned a date up to 40 million years old. However, according to Poinar, Dominican amber dates from Oligocene to Miocene, thus about 25 million years old. The oldest, and hardest of this amber comes from the mountain region north of Santiago. The ''La Cumbre'', ''La Toca'', ''Palo Quemado'', ''La Bucara'', and ''Los Cacaos'' mining sites in the ''Cordillera Septentrional'' not far from Santiago. Amber has also been found in the south-eastern Bayaguana/Sabana de la Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paraponera Dieteri
''Paraponera dieteri'' is an extinct species of Miocene ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ... in the genus '' Paraponera''. The fossils of the species were found in the Dominican amber and were described by Baroni Urbani in 1994.Baroni Urbani, C. 1994a. The identity of the Dominican ''Paraponera'' (Amber Collection Stuttgart: Hymenoptera, Formicidae. V: Ponerinae, partim). Stuttg. Beitr. Naturkd. Ser. B (Geol. Paläontol.) 197: 1-9 'PDF'' The fossils are now in the collection of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. Etymology The species is named after Dieter Schlee who was responsible for the buildup of Dominican amber collection at the Stuttgart Museum. References Paraponerinae Miocene insects Hymenoptera of North America Fossil ant taxa Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or places that are otherwise inaccessible. This ovipositor is often modified into a stinger. The young develop through holometabolism (complete metamorphosis)—that is, they have a wormlike larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature. Etymology The name Hymenoptera refers to the wings of the insects, but the original derivation is ambiguous. All references agree that the derivation involves the Ancient Greek πτερόν (''pteron'') for wing. The Ancient Greek ὑμήν (''hymen'') for membrane provides a plausible etymology for the term because species in this order have membranous wings. However, a key characteristic of this order is that the hindwings are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poneromorph Subfamilies
In ants, the traditional subfamily Ponerinae has been subdivided into several Poneromorph subfamilies, with several former tribes now elevated to subfamily rank. According to this analysis, some ponerine groups may be more closely related to other subfamilies than to each other. The subfamilies of "poneromorph" Formicidae include: * Amblyoponinae *Ectatomminae (apparently related to the widely distributed and highly diverse Myrmicinae) *Heteroponerinae *Paraponerinae *Ponerinae (in a much more restricted sense) *Proceratiinae. Long considered primitive on the basis of retention of a typical hymenopteran sting and pupae in cocoons, some groups among the poneromorphs exhibit considerable specialization in predatory habits and mandibular form. These two evolutionary developments are often, but not necessarily, seen in association: elongated mandibles with modified teeth for handling large and potentially toxic prey in ''Amblyopone'' and '' Thaumatomyrmex'', and strongly modified "sn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmecology
Myrmecology (; from Greek: μύρμηξ, ''myrmex'', "ant" and λόγος, ''logos'', "study") is a branch of entomology focusing on the scientific study of ants. Some early myrmecologists considered ant society as the ideal form of society and sought to find solutions to human problems by studying them. Ants continue to be a model of choice for the study of questions on the evolution of social systems because of their complex and varied forms of eusociality (social organization). Their diversity and prominence in ecosystems also has made them important components in the study of biodiversity and conservation. Recently, ant colonies are also studied and modeled for their relevance in machine learning, complex interactive networks, stochasticity of encounter and interaction networks, parallel computing, and other computing fields. History The word myrmecology was coined by William Morton Wheeler (1865–1937), although human interest in the life of ants goes back further, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Emery
Carlo Emery (25 October 1848, Naples – 11 May 1925) was an Italian entomologist. He is remembered for Emery's rule, which states that insect social parasites are often closely related to their hosts. Early in his career Carlo Emery pursued a course in general medicine, and in 1872 narrowed his interests to ophthalmology. In 1878 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the University of Cagliari, remaining there for several years until 1881 when he took up an appointment at the University of Bologna as Professor of Zoology, remaining there for thirty-five years until his death. Emery specialised in Hymenoptera, but his early work was on Coleoptera. Prior to 1869, his earliest works were a textbook of general zoology and papers on fishes and molluscs. From 1869 to 1925 he devoted himself almost entirely to the study of ants. Emery published extensively between 1869 and 1926 describing 130 genera and 1057 species mainly in Wytsman's ''Genera Insectorum'' series. Emery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Greater Antilles")
