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Polygynandrous
Polygynandry is a mating system in which both males and females have multiple mating partners during a breeding season. In sexually reproducing diploid animals, different mating strategies are employed by males and females, because the cost of gamete production is lower for males than it is for females. The different mating tactics employed by males and females are thought to be the outcome of stochastic reproductive conflicts both ecologically and socially. Reproductive conflicts in animal societies may arise because individuals are not genetically identical and have different optimal strategies for maximizing their fitness; and often it is found that reproductive conflicts generally arise due to dominance hierarchy in which all or a major part of reproduction is monopolized by only one individual. In the wasp '' Polistes carolina'', the dominant queen amongst female wasps is determined by whoever arrives at the nest first rather than the largest foundress, who is expected to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prunella Collaris
The alpine accentor (''Prunella collaris'') is a small passerine bird in the family Prunellidae, which is native to Eurasia and North Africa. Taxonomy The Alpine accentor was described by the Austria naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1769. He coined the binomial name ''Sturnus collaris'' and specified the type locality as the Carinthia region of southern Austria. The specific epithet is from the Latin ''collaris'' "of the neck". This species is now placed in the genus '' Prunella'' that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot in 1816. The Alpine accentor, along with the Altai accentor is sometimes separated from the other accentors, into the genus ''Laiscopus''. The word "accentor" is from post-classical Latin and means a person who sings with another. The genus name ''Prunella'' is from the German ''Braunelle'', "dunnock", a diminutive of ''braun'', "brown". Nine subspecies are recognised: * ''P. c. collaris'' (Scopoli, 1769) — southwest Europe t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunnock
The dunnock (''Prunella modularis'') is a small passerine, or perching bird, found throughout temperate Europe and into Asian Russia. Dunnocks have also been successfully introduced into New Zealand. It is by far the most widespread member of the accentor family; most other accentors are limited to mountain habitats. Other common names of the dunnock include: hedge accentor, hedge sparrow or hedge warbler. Taxonomy The dunnock was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He coined the binomial name of ''Motacilla modularis''. The specific epithet is from the Latin ''modularis'' "modulating" or "singing". This species is now placed in the genus '' Prunella'' that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot in 1816. The name "dunnock" comes from the English ''dun'' (dingy brown, dark-coloured) and the diminutive ''ock'', and "accentor" is from post-classical Latin and means a person who sings with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galapagos Hawk
The Galápagos hawk (''Buteo galapagoensis'') is a large hawk endemic to most of the Galápagos Islands. Description The Galapágos hawk is similar in size to the red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') and the Swainson's hawk (''Buteo swainsoni'') of North America, but the size is variable across the islands as is recorded for many animals native to the Galapágos. They appear to be somewhat more heavily built than those well-known mainland species, and going on average weights, this species is the second heaviest ''Buteo'' in the Americas, behind only the ferruginous hawk. The Galapágos hawk can range from in length from beak to tail with a wingspan of .Del Hoyo, J., & Elliot, A. I SARGATAL, J. eds. 1994. ''Handbook of the birds of the World. Vol. 2. New World Vultures to Guineafowl''. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. The smallest hawk sizes recorded are on Marchena Island, where males average and females average . Intermediate in size are the hawks of Santiago Island, on whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spermatheca
The spermatheca (pronounced plural: spermathecae ), also called receptaculum seminis (plural: receptacula seminis), is an organ of the female reproductive tract in insects, e.g. ants, bees, some molluscs, oligochaeta worms and certain other invertebrates and vertebrates. Its purpose is to receive and store sperm from the male or, in the case of hermaphrodites, the male component of the body. Spermathecae can sometimes be the site of fertilization when the oocytes are sufficiently developed. Some species of animal have multiple spermathecae. For example, certain species of earthworms have four pairs of spermathecae—one pair each in the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th segments. The spermathecae receive and store the spermatozoa of another earthworm during copulation. They are lined with epithelium and are variable in shape: some are thin, heavily coiled tubes, while others are vague outpocketings from the main reproductive tract. It is one of the many variations in sexual reproduction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Bee
A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature. There is normally only one adult, mated queen in a hive, in which case the bees will usually follow and fiercely protect her. The term "queen bee" can be more generally applied to any dominant reproductive female in a colony of a eusocial bee species other than honey bees. However, as in the Brazilian stingless bee '' Schwarziana quadripunctata'', a single nest may have multiple queens or even dwarf queens, ready to replace a dominant queen in a case of sudden death. Development During the warm parts of the year, female "worker" bees leave the hive every day to collect nectar and pollen. While male bees serve no architectural or pollinating pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honey Bee
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosmopolitan distribution of honey bees, introducing multiple subspecies into South America (early 16th century), North America (early 17th century), and Australia (early 19th century). Honey bees are known for their construction of perennial colonial nests from wax, the large size of their colonies, and surplus production and storage of honey, distinguishing their hives as a prized foraging target of many animals, including honey badgers, bears and human hunter-gatherers. Only eight surviving species of honey bee are recognized, with a total of 43 subspecies, though historically 7 to 11 species are recognized. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the roughly 20,000 known species of bees. The best known honey bee is the western h ... [...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] |
Pycnogonids
Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the order Pantopoda ( ‘all feet’), belonging to the class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (; named after '' Pycnogonum'', the type genus; with the suffix '). They are cosmopolitan, found in oceans around the world. The over 1,300 known species have legs ranging from to over . Most are toward the smaller end of this range in relatively shallow depths; however, they can grow to be quite large in Antarctic and deep waters. Although "sea spiders" are not true spiders, or even arachnids, their traditional classification as chelicerates places them closer to true spiders than to other well-known arthropod groups, such as insects or crustaceans. This is in dispute, however, as genetic evidence suggests they may be the sister group to all other living arthropods. Description Sea spiders have long legs in contrast to a small body size. The number of walking legs is usually eight (four pairs), but the family Pycnogonidae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salamandroidea
The Salamandroidea are a suborder of salamanders, referred to as advanced salamanders. The members of the suborder are found worldwide except for Antarctica, sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania. They differ from suborder Cryptobranchoidea as the angular and prearticular bones in their lower jaws are fused, their trunk ribs are bicapitate, and all members use internal fertilization. The female is fertilized by means of a spermatophore, a sperm-containing cap placed by the male in her cloaca. The sperm is stored in spermathecae on the roof of the cloaca until it is needed at the time of oviposition. The earliest known salamandroid fossils are specimens of the species '' Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis'' and '' Qinglongtriton gangouensis'' from the Tiaojishan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China, dated to the Late Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
