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Pygmy Mulga Monitor
The pygmy mulga monitor (''Varanus gilleni''), also known as Gillen's monitor or just mulga monitor is a species of lizard in the family Varanidae. Taxonomy A description of the species was presented to the Royal Society of Victoria in 1895 by Arthur H. S. Lucas and Charles Frost. The specific name, ''gilleni'', is in honor of Australian anthropologist Francis James Gillen. Distribution The species is native to the spinifex sandplains of northwestern and central Australia."''Varanus gilleni'' ". www.monitor-lizards.net. It can be found under the loose bark of desert she-oaks, and the hollows of |
Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas
Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas (7 May 1853 – 10 June 1936) was an English-born schoolmaster, scientist and publisher who lived in Australia for over fifty years, and became the most renowned writer on Algae after William Henry Harvey Early life Lucas was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, the third son of the Rev. Samuel Lucas, a Wesleyan minister, and his wife Elizabeth, ''née'' Broadhead. His father had a passion for geology and botany, and Arthur developed an interest in natural science. Lucas' early childhood was spent in Cornwall, and when he was around nine years of age a move was made to Stow on the Wold in Gloucestershire. Here Lucas went to his first private school, but soon afterwards was sent to Kingswood School in Bath, where he was given a solid education in Classics, Modern Languages, and Mathematics. Lucas went to Balliol College, Oxford in 1870, with an exhibition, and associated with many people became the most distinguished of their time. He graduated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allocasuarina Decaisneana
''Allocasuarina decaisneana'' or desert oak is a medium-sized, slow-growing tree found in the dry desert regions of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. The Anangu peoples know the tree as kurkara. Description The dioecious tree typically grows to a height of and as high as . and a width of . Young trees have a narrow trunk and form< and grey/green feathery foliage. They mature to an adult form with spreading limbs and bushy foliage. It is the only member of its family in and its large cylindrical cones are the biggest in its family. The trees have a cork-like bark that is deeply furrowed and is known to protect the trees from fire. Instead of leaves the tree has long segmented branchlets, known as [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand Goanna
The sand goanna (''Varanus gouldii'') is a species of large Australian monitor lizard, also known as Gould's monitor, sand monitor, or racehorse goanna. Taxonomy John Edward Gray described the species in 1838 as ''Hydrosaurus gouldii'', noting the source of the type specimen as "New Holland" and distinguishing the new varanid by "two yellow streaks on the sides of the neck" and small flat scales at the orbits. An earlier description, ''Tupinambis endrachtensis'' Péron, F. 1807, was determined as likely to refer to this animal, but the epithet ''gouldii'' was conserved and a new specimen designated as the type. This neotype was obtained in 1997 at the near coastal Western Australian suburb of Karrakatta, and placed with the British Museum of Natural History. The decision of a nomenclatural commission (ICZN) was to issue an opinion suppressing the earlier names, ''Tupinambis endrachtensis'' and ''Hydrosaurus ocellarius'' Blyth, 1868, that were unsatisfactory to some who had comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autotomy
Autotomy (from the Greek language, Greek ''auto-'', "self-" and ''tome'', "severing", wikt:αὐτοτομία, αὐτοτομία) or self-amputation, is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usually as a self-preservation, self-defense mechanism to elude a predation, predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape. Some animals have the ability to regeneration (biology), regenerate the lost body part later. Autotomy has multiple evolutionary origins and is thought to have evolved at least nine times independently in animalia. The term was coined in 1883 by Léon Fredericq, Leon Fredericq. Vertebrates Reptiles and amphibians Some lizards, salamanders and tuatara when caught by the tail will shed part of it in attempting to escape. In many species the detached tail will continue to wriggle, creating a deceptive sense of continued struggle, and distracting the predator's attention from the fleeing prey animal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heteronotia Binoei
''Heteronotia binoei'', also known commonly as the Bynoe's gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is endemic to Australia. One of Australia's least habitat-specific geckos, it occurs naturally across much of the country, and has also established in areas where it does not occur naturally, such as urban Perth, Western Australia. It is dark brown to reddish brown, depending on the colour of the ground upon which it lives. There are irregular light bands with dark edges along its back. It is one of a small number of vertebrate species that are known to reproduce by parthenogenesis. Etymology The specific name, ''binoei'', is in honour of British naturalist Benjamin Bynoe (1803-1865), who was a naval surgeon aboard HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin. Description The Bynoe's gecko is a slender, long-tailed species which may grow to a total length (including tail) of . It is covered with small scales which appear to be rough, but are soft to touch. It has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gehyra Variegata
''Gehyra variegata'', the tree dtella, variegated dtella or varied dtella, is a species of gecko in the genus ''Gehyra ''Gehyra'' is a genus of geckos in the family ''Gekkonidae''. They are known as web-toed geckos or dtellas, and most species within the genus bear close resemblance to geckos from the genus ''Hemidactylus''. Geographic range ''Gehyra'' specie ...'', native to inland Australia.Michael, D., Lindenmayer, D. (2010). Reptiles of the NSW Murray Catchment: A Guide to Their Identification, Ecology and Conservation. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing Evolutionary history The family Gekkonidae to which ''G. variegata'' belongs to are of Gondwanan origin.Pianka, E. R., Vitt, L. V. (2006). Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity. California: University of California Press When the land mass of Australia split from Gondwana, it contained early agamids and diplodactlyds, the latter encompassing geckoes. During the evolutionary history of lizards the family Gekkonidae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stripe-tailed Goanna
The stripe-tailed goanna (''Varanus caudolineatus''), also known as the line-tailed pygmy monitor is a semi-arboreal species of monitor lizard native to Western Australia. Description They can grow up to 32 cm in total length but reach sexual maturity at around 9.1 cm in snout to vent length. There is no sexual dimorphism; males and females look identical and are not known to differ in size. It is sometimes confused for the slightly larger pygmy mulga monitor; this is further complicated by the fact that northern populations of this species grow larger and particularly resemble pygmy mulga monitors. Distribution They can be further distinguished from the pygmy mulga monitor based on their distribution as the two species are allopatric; stripe-tailed goannas only occur in Western Australia while pygmy mulga monitors can be found in much of central Australia. Although, while their known range does not currently overlap, additional sampling may prove otherwise. Its favoure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehensile Tail
A prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has adapted to grasp or hold objects. Fully prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees. If the tail cannot be used for this it is considered only partially prehensile - such tails are often used to anchor an animal's body to dangle from a branch, or as an aid for climbing. The term ''prehensile'' means "able to grasp" (from the Latin ''prehendere'', to take hold of, to grasp). Evolution One point of interest is the distribution of animals with prehensile tails. The prehensile tail is predominantly a New World adaptation, especially among mammals. Many more animals in South America have prehensile tails than in Africa and Southeast Asia. It has been argued that animals with prehensile tails are more common in South America because the forest there is denser than in Africa or Southeast Asia. In contrast, less dense forests such as in S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arboreal
Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals moving through them and lead to a variety of anatomical, behavioral and ecological consequences as well as variations throughout different species.Cartmill, M. (1985). Climbing. In ''Functional Vertebrate Morphology'', eds. M. Hildebrand D. M. Bramble K. F. Liem and D. B. Wake, pp. 73–88. Cambridge: Belknap Press. Furthermore, many of these same principles may be applied to climbing without trees, such as on rock piles or mountains. Some animals are exclusively arboreal in habitat, such as the tree snail. Biomechanics Arboreal habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals moving in them, which have been solved in diverse ways. These challenges include moving on n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Pendula
''Acacia pendula'', commonly known as the weeping myall, true myall, myall, silver-leaf boree, boree, and nilyah, is a species of wattle, which is native to Australia. The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that common names included "Weeping Myall", "True Myall", and Indigenous people of western areas of New South Wales and Queensland referred to the plant as "Boree" and "Balaar". Description The tree typically grows to a height of and a width of and has an erect, pendulous to spreading habit. It has hard fissured grey bark on the trunk and limbs. It has pendulous branches with angled or flattened branchlets that are covered in short fine hairs but becomes glabrous as it matures. The grey-green narrow phyllodes are about in length and wide and have a narrowly elliptic to very narrowly elliptic or sometimes narrowly oblong-elliptic shape and can be straight or curved The phyllodes have many longitudinal indistinct veins, a subacute apex with mucro a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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