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Phrynosomatinae
The Phrynosomatidae are a diverse family of lizards, sometimes classified as a subfamily (Phrynosomatinae), found from Panama to the extreme south of Canada. Many members of the group are adapted to life in hot, sandy deserts, although the spiny lizards prefer rocky deserts or even relatively moist forest edges, and the short-horned lizard lives in prairie or sagebrush environments. The group includes both egg-laying and viviparous species, with the latter being more common in species living at high elevations. The earliest fossil remains of this group are known from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and belong to the genus ''Desertiguana''. As phrynosomatids are presently known only from North America, these remains indicate that phrynosomatids likely had a wider distribution in prehistoric times. Genera The Phrynosomatidae are organised into 9 genera in this family. The earless taxa (''Cophosaurus'' and ''Holbrookia'') are sister genera. Family Phrynosomatidae * ''Callisaurus' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the Latin word for the white limestone known as chalk. The chalk of northern France and the white cliffs of south-eastern England date from the Cretaceous Period. Climate During the Late Cretaceous, the climate was warmer than present, although throughout the period a cooling trend is evident. The tropics became restricted to equatorial regions and northern latitudes experienced markedly more seasonal climatic conditions. Geography Due to plate tectonics, the Americas were gradually moving westward, causing the Atlantic Ocean to expand. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia. India maintained a northward course towards Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia and Ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiny Lizard
Spiny lizards is a common name for the genus ''Sceloporus'' in the family (biology), family Phrynosomatidae. The genus is Endemism, endemic to North America, with various species ranging from New York (state), New York, to Washington (state), Washington, and one occurring as far south as northern Panama.Gunther Köhler, Köhler G (2008). ''Reptiles of Central America, 2nd Edition.'' Offenbach, Germany: Herpeton, Verlag Elke Köhler. 400 pp. . The greatest diversity is found in Mexico. This genus includes some of the most commonly seen lizards in the United States. Other common names for lizards in this genus include fence lizards, scaly lizards, bunchgrass lizards, and swifts. Taxonomy The 113 species in the genus ''Sceloporus'' are organized into 21 species groups. However, their relationships to each other are currently under review. Listed below are species of ''Sceloporus'':"''Sceloporus'' ". ITIS. www.itis.gov. Species ''Nota bene'': A Binomial nomenclature, binomial aut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He eventually served as assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1850 to 1878, and as Secretary from 1878 until 1887. He was dedicated to expanding the natural history collections of the Smithsonian which he increased from 6,000 specimens in 1850 to over 2 million by the time of his death. He published over 1,000 works during his lifetime. Early life and education Spencer Fullerton Baird was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1823. His mother was a member of the prominent Philadelphia Biddle family; he was a nephew of Speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate Charles B. Penrose and a first cousin, once removed, of U.S. Senator Boies Penrose and his distinguished brothers, R. A. F. Penrose Jr., Richard, Spencer Penrose, Spencer, and Charles Bingham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sator (lizard)
Spiny lizards is a common name for the genus ''Sceloporus'' in the family Phrynosomatidae. The genus is endemic to North America, with various species ranging from New York, to Washington, and one occurring as far south as northern Panama. Köhler G (2008). ''Reptiles of Central America, 2nd Edition.'' Offenbach, Germany: Herpeton, Verlag Elke Köhler. 400 pp. . The greatest diversity is found in Mexico. This genus includes some of the most commonly seen lizards in the United States. Other common names for lizards in this genus include fence lizards, scaly lizards, bunchgrass lizards, and swifts. Taxonomy The 113 species in the genus ''Sceloporus'' are organized into 21 species groups. However, their relationships to each other are currently under review. Listed below are species of ''Sceloporus'':"''Sceloporus'' ". ITIS. www.itis.gov. Species ''Nota bene'': A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Scelopo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann
Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann (2 June 1802 – 15 January 1841) was a German zoology, zoologist and Herpetology, herpetologist born in Braunschweig. He studied medicine and philology at the University of Leipzig, and afterwards was an assistant to Martin Lichtenstein (1780–1857) in Berlin. In 1828 he became a professor at Cologne, and two years later was an extraordinary professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Wiegmann specialized in the study of herpetology and mammalogy. In 1835, he founded, together with other scholars, the zoological periodical ''Archiv für Naturgeschichte'', also known as "Wiegmann's Archive". With Johann Friedrich Ruthe (1788–1859) he wrote an important textbook of zoology called ''Handbuch der Zoologie'', and in 1834 Wiegmann published ''Herpetologia Mexicana'', a monograph on the reptiles of Mexico. In 1841 he died of tuberculosis at the age of 38 in Berlin. His father Arend Friedrich Wiegmann (1771–1853) a German researcher in botany. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Albert Boulenger
George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses. Life Boulenger was born in Brussels, Belgium, the only son of Gustave Boulenger, a Belgian public notary, and Juliette Piérart, from Valenciennes. He graduated in 1876 from the Free University of Brussels with a degree in natural sciences, and worked for a while at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, as an assistant naturalist studying amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. He also made frequent visits during this time to the ''Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle'' in Paris and the British Museum in London. In 1880, he was invited to work at the Natural History Museum, then a department of the British Museum, by Dr. Albert C. L. G. Günther a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Frédéric Girard
Charles Frédéric Girard (8 March 1822 – 29 January 1895) was a French biologist specializing in ichthyology and herpetology. Born in Mulhouse, France, he studied at the College of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, as a student of Louis Agassiz. In 1847, he accompanied Agassiz as his assistant to Harvard University. Three years later, Spencer Fullerton Baird called him to the Smithsonian Institution to work on its growing collection of North American reptiles, amphibians and fishes. He worked at the museum for the next ten years and published numerous papers, many in collaboration with Baird. In 1854, he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Besides his work at the Smithsonian, he managed to earn an M.D. from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1856. In 1859 he returned to France and was awarded the Cuvier Prize by the Institute of France for his work on the North American reptiles and fishes two years later. When the American Civil War broke out, he joined the Confederate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Hermann Troschel
Franz Hermann Troschel (10 October 1810 – 6 November 1882) was a German zoologist born in Spandau. He studied mathematics and natural history at the University of Berlin, where he was awarded his doctorate in 1834.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Troschel", p. 268). From 1840 to 1849 he was an assistant to Martin Lichtenstein at the Natural History Museum of Berlin. In 1849 he became a professor of zoology and natural history at the University of Bonn. In 1851 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. ''Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina''. Troschel is remembered for the identification and classification of species in the fields of [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri Marie Ducrotay De Blainville
Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (; 12 September 1777 – 1 May 1850) was a French zoologist and anatomist. Life Blainville was born at Arques, near Dieppe. As a young man he went to Paris to study art, but ultimately devoted himself to natural history. He attracted the attention of Georges Cuvier, for whom he occasionally substituted as lecturer at the Collège de France and at the Athenaeum Club, London. In 1812 he was aided by Cuvier in acquiring the position of assistant professor of anatomy and zoology in the Faculty of Sciences at Paris. Eventually, relations between the two men soured, a situation that ended in open enmity. In 1819, Blainville was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. In 1825 he was admitted a member of the French Academy of Sciences; and in 1830 he was appointed to succeed Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in the chair of natural history at the museum. Two years later, on the death of Cuvier, he obtained the chair of comparative a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, making it the world's most sparsely populated sovereign nation. Mongolia is the world's largest landlocked country that does not border a closed sea, and much of its area is covered by grassy steppe, with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to roughly half of the country's population. The territory of modern-day Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the First Turkic Khaganate, and others. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous land empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan conquered China proper and established the Yuan dynasty. After the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viviparous
Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the mother. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous' derive from the Latin ''vivus'' meaning "living" and ''pario'' meaning "give birth to". Reproductive mode Five modes of reproduction have been differentiated in animals based on relations between zygote and parents. The five include two nonviviparous modes: ovuliparity, with external fertilisation, and oviparity, with internal fertilisation. In the latter, the female lays zygotes as eggs with a large yolk; this occurs in all birds, most reptiles, and some fishes. These modes are distinguished from viviparity, which covers all the modes that result in live birth: *Histotrophic viviparity: the zygotes develop in the female's oviducts, but find their nutrients by oophagy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artemisia Tridentata
''Artemisia tridentata'', commonly called big sagebrush,MacKay, Pam (2013), ''Mojave Desert Wildflowers'', 2nd ed., , p. 264. Great Basin sagebrush or (locally) simply sagebrush, is an aromatic shrub from the family Asteraceae, which grows in arid and semi-arid conditions, throughout a range of cold desert, steppe, and mountain habitats in the Intermountain West of North America. The vernacular name "sagebrush" is also used for several related members of the genus ''Artemisia'', such as California sagebrush (''Artemisia californica''). Big sagebrush and other ''Artemisia'' shrubs are the dominant plant species across large portions of the Great Basin. The range extends northward through British Columbia's southern interior, south into Baja California, and east into the western Great Plains of New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. Several major threats exist to sagebrush ecosystems, including human settlements, conversion to agricultural land, livestock grazing, inva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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