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Roadrunner
The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States, Mexico and Central America, usually in the desert. Although capable of flight, roadrunners generally run away from predators. On the ground, some have been measured at . Species The subfamily Neomorphinae, the New World ground cuckoos, includes 11 species of birds, while the genus ''Geococcyx'' has just two: Morphology The roadrunner generally ranges in size from from tail to beak. The average weight is about . The roadrunner is a slender, black-brown and white-streaked ground bird with a distinctive head crest. It has long legs, strong feet, and an oversized dark bill. The tail is broad with white tips on the three outer tail feathers. The bird has a bare patch of skin behind each eye; this patch is shaded blue anterior to red poster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roadrunner Clatter
The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern United States, southwestern and south-central United States, Mexico and Central America, usually in the desert. Although capable of flight, roadrunners generally run away from predators. On the ground, some have been measured at . Species The subfamily Neomorphinae, the New World ground cuckoos, includes 11 species of birds, while the genus ''Geococcyx'' has just two: Morphology The roadrunner generally ranges in size from from tail to beak. The average weight is about . The roadrunner is a slender, black-brown and white-streaked ground bird with a distinctive head Crest (feathers), crest. It has long legs, strong feet, and an oversized dark beak, bill. The tail is broad with white tips on the three outer tail feathers. The bird has a bare patch of skin behind each eye; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geococcyx Californianus
The greater roadrunner (''Geococcyx californianus'') is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, from the Aridoamerica region in the Southwestern United States and Mexico. The scientific name means "Californian earth-cuckoo". Along with the lesser roadrunner, it is one of two species in the genus ''Roadrunner, Geococcyx''. This roadrunner is also known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer. Taxonomy and systematics Greater roadrunner fossils dating from the Holocene and Pleistocene have been found in California,Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, in the United States, and the Mexico, Mexican state of Nuevo León. The oldest known fossil comes from a cave in New Mexico, estimated at an age of 33,500 years. In the La Brea Tar Pits, fragments from 25 greater roadrunner fossils have been found. Several other fossils are also known from Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara and Kern County, Kern counties, as well as Northern Mexico Bioregion, Northern Mexico. Prehi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater Roadrunner
The greater roadrunner (''Geococcyx californianus'') is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, from the Aridoamerica region in the Southwestern United States and Mexico. The scientific name means "Californian earth-cuckoo". Along with the lesser roadrunner, it is one of two species in the genus '' Geococcyx''. This roadrunner is also known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer. Taxonomy and systematics Greater roadrunner fossils dating from the Holocene and Pleistocene have been found in California,Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, in the United States, and the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The oldest known fossil comes from a cave in New Mexico, estimated at an age of 33,500 years. In the La Brea Tar Pits, fragments from 25 greater roadrunner fossils have been found. Several other fossils are also known from Santa Barbara and Kern counties, as well as Northern Mexico. Prehistoric remains indicate that until 8,000 years ago, the greater roadrunner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geococcyx Velox
The lesser roadrunner (''Geococcyx velox'') is a large, long-legged bird that is a member of the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. It is found in Mesoamerica. Its Latin name means "swift earth-cuckoo". Along with the greater roadrunner, it is one of two species in the genus '' Geococcyx''. Description The lesser roadrunner is a slender bird that reaches a length of 46 to 51 cm (18 in), the tail itself accounting for about . Its average length is . The male weighs , while the female weighs . The crown, crest and neck of the lesser roadrunner are black with a bronze glow and small light brown spots. The back neck is black-brown, with feathers are lined with a pale brown, so that a brown-white dashes arises. The plumage of the upper body is dark brown with light speckles and lightens to maroon towards the rump, and its breast is white. The rectrices are black with a dark purple luster. Young roadrunners resemble adults, but have ocher-colored lines, and duller skin around t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuckoo
Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae, respectively. The cuckoo order Cuculiformes is one of three that make up the Otidimorphae, the other two being the turacos and the bustards. The family Cuculidae contains 150 species, which are divided into 33 genera. The cuckoos are generally medium-sized, slender birds. Most species live in trees, though a sizeable minority are ground-dwelling. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution; the majority of species are tropical. Some species are migratory. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae, and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Some species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species and giving rise to the terms " cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. The largest cities by List of metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan area are Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Las Vegas, El Paso, Texas, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. Before 1848, in the historical region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México as well as parts of Alta California and Coahuila y Tejas, settlement was almost non-existent outside of New Mexico's pueblos and Santa Fe de Nuevo México#Regions and municipalities, Spanish or Mexican municipalities. Much of the area had been a part of New Spain and Mexico until the United States acquired the area through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the smaller Gadsden Purchase in 1854. While the regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neomorphinae
The Neomorphinae are a Family (biology), subfamily of the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. Members of this subfamily are known as New World ground cuckoos, since most are largely Terrestrial animal, terrestrial and native to the Americas. Only ''Dromococcyx'' and ''Tapera'' are more Arboreal locomotion, arboreal, and these are also the only brood parasitic cuckoos in the Americas, while the remaining all build their own nests. Genera References Neomorphinae, Birds of the Americas {{Cuculiformes-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. The largest cities by List of metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan area are Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Las Vegas, El Paso, Texas, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. Before 1848, in the historical region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México as well as parts of Alta California and Coahuila y Tejas, settlement was almost non-existent outside of New Mexico's pueblos and Santa Fe de Nuevo México#Regions and municipalities, Spanish or Mexican municipalities. Much of the area had been a part of New Spain and Mexico until the United States acquired the area through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the smaller Gadsden Purchase in 1854. While the regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zygodactyly
In biology, dactyly is the arrangement of digits (fingers and toes) on the hands, feet, or sometimes wings of a tetrapod animal. The term is derived from the Greek word () meaning "finger." Sometimes the suffix "-dactylia" is used. The derived adjectives end with "-dactyl" or "-dactylous." As a normal feature Pentadactyly Pentadactyly (from Greek "five") is the condition of having five digits on each limb. It is traditionally believed that all living tetrapods are descended from an ancestor with a pentadactyl limb, although many species have now lost or transformed some or all of their digits by the process of evolution. However, this viewpoint was challenged by Stephen Jay Gould in his 1991 essay "Eight (or Fewer) Little Piggies," where he pointed out polydactyly in early tetrapods and described the specializations of digit reduction. Despite the individual variations listed below, the relationship is to the original five-digit model. In reptiles, the limbs are pentadacty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crickets
Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets and more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 886 pp. "crickets" were placed at the family level (''i.e.'' Gryllidae), but contemporary authorities including Otte now place them in the superfamily Grylloidea. The word has been used in combination to describe more distantly related taxa in the suborder Ensifera, such as king crickets and mole crickets. Crickets have mainly cylindrically shaped bodies, round heads, and long antennae. Behind the head is a smooth, robust pronotum. The abdomen ends in a pair of long cerci; females have a long, cylindrical ovipositor. Diagnostic features include legs with 3-segmented tarsi; as with many Orthoptera, the hind legs have enlarged femora, providing power for jumping. The front wings are adapted as tough, leathery elytra, and some cricke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grasshopper
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshoppers are typically ground-dwelling insects with powerful hind legs which allow them to escape from threats by leaping vigorously. Their front legs are shorter and used for grasping food. As hemimetabolous insects, they do not undergo complete metamorphosis; they hatch from an egg into a Nymph (biology), nymph or "hopper" which undergoes five moults, becoming more similar to the adult insect at each developmental stage. The grasshopper hears through the tympanal organ which can be found in the first segment of the abdomen attached to the thorax; while its sense of vision is in the compound eyes, a change in light intensity is perceived in the simple eyes (ocelli). At high population densities and under certain environmental conditions, som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
