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South Plaza Island
South Plaza (Spanish: ''Isla Plaza Sur'') is a small island off the east coast of Santa Cruz in the Galápagos Islands. It has an area of 0.13 km2 and a maximum altitude of 23 metres. South Plaza was formed by lava up streaming from the bottom of the ocean. Despite its small size, it is home to a large number of species and known for its extraordinary flora. The sea bluffs hold large numbers of birds, such as nesting red-billed tropicbirds and swallow-tailed gulls, and offer wide vistas. The prickly pear cactus trees (''Opuntia galapageia'') are noteworthy, as is the large colony of Galápagos land iguanas. Furthermore, the territory and breeding season of the Galapagos land iguana overlap only on South Plaza Island with those of the marine iguana, giving rise to a unique population of hybrid iguanas. Depending on the season, the ''Sesuvium ''Sesuvium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. The roughly eight species it contains are common ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Plaza Island 01
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz'' ("south"), possibly related to the same Proto-Indo-European root that the word ''sun'' derived from. Some languages describe south in the same way, from the fact that it is the direction of the sun at noon (in the Northern Hemisphere), like Latin meridies 'noon, south' (from medius 'middle' + dies 'day', cf English meridional), while others describe south as the right-hand side of the rising sun, like Biblical Hebrew תֵּימָן teiman 'south' from יָמִין yamin 'right', Aramaic תַּימנַא taymna from יָמִין yamin 'right' and Syriac ܬܰܝܡܢܳܐ taymna from ܝܰܡܝܺܢܳܐ yamina (hence the name of Yemen, the land to the south/right of the Levant). Navigation By convention, the ''bottom or down-facing side'' of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain. Spanish is the official language of List of countries where Spanish is an official language, 20 countries. It is the world's list of languages by number of native speakers, second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's list of languages by total number of speakers, fourth-most spoken language overall after English language, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani language, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance languages, Romance language. The largest population of native speakers is in Mexico. Spanish is part of the Iberian Romance languages, Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos)
Santa Cruz Island () is one of the Galápagos Islands with an area of and a maximum altitude of . Situated in the center of the archipelago, Santa Cruz is the second largest island after Isabela. Its capital is Puerto Ayora, the most populated urban centre in the islands. On Santa Cruz, there are some small villages, whose inhabitants work in agriculture and cattle raising. The island is an oval-shaped, long and wide shield volcano. Its summit contains a shallow caldera that has been largely buried by youthful pit craters and cinder cones with well-preserved craters. The most recent eruptions may have occurred only a few thousand years ago with the effusion of sparsely vegetated lava flows from vents on the north flank and along the summit fissure. A gigantic lava tube measuring over long is a tourist attraction on the island. As a testimony to its volcanic history there are two big holes formed by the collapse of a magma chamber: Los Gemelos, or "The Twins". Named aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands ( es, Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the Equator west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of slightly over 33,000 (2020). The province is divided into the Cantons of Ecuador, cantons of San Cristóbal Island, San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos), Santa Cruz, and Isabela Island (Galápagos), Isabela, the three most populated islands in the chain. The Galápagos are famous for their large number of Endemism, endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin in the 1830s and inception of Darwin's theory, inspired his theory of evolution by means of natural selection. All of these islands are protected as part of Ecuador's Galápagos National Park and Galápagos Marine Reserve, Marine Reserve. Thus far, there is no firm evidence that Polynesian expansion, Polynesians or the indigenous peoples of South Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-billed Tropicbird
The red-billed tropicbird (''Phaethon aethereus'') is a tropicbird, one of three closely related species of seabird of tropical oceans. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has mostly white plumage with some black markings on the wings and back, a black mask and, as its common name suggests, a red bill. Most adults have that are about two times their body length, with those in males being generally longer than those in females. The red-billed tropicbird itself has three subspecies recognized, including the nominate. The subspecies ''mesonauta'' is distinguished from the nominate by the rosy tinge of its fresh plumage, and the subspecies ''indicus'' can be differentiated by its smaller size, more restricted mask, and more orange bill. This species ranges across the tropical Atlantic, eastern Pacific, and Indian Oceans. The nominate is found in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the subspecies ''indicus'' in the waters off of the Middle East and in the Indian Ocean, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swallow-tailed Gull
The swallow-tailed gull (''Creagrus furcatus'') is an equatorial seabird in the gull family, Laridae. It is the only species in the genus ''Creagrus'', which derives from the Latin ''Creagra'' and the Greek ''kreourgos'' which means butcher, also from ''kreas'', meat; according to Jobling it would mean "hook for meat" referring to the hooked bill of this species. It was first described by French naturalist and surgeon Adolphe-Simon Neboux in 1846. Its scientific name is originally derived from the Greek word for gull, "Glaros" and via Latin ''Larus'', "gull" and ''furca'' "two-tined fork". It spends most of its life flying and hunting over the open ocean. The main breeding location is in the Galápagos Islands, particularly the rocky shores and cliffs of Hood, Tower and Wolf Islands, with lower numbers on most of the other islands. It is more common on the eastern islands where the water is warmer. It is the only fully nocturnal gull and seabird in the world, preying on squid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia Galapageia
''Opuntia galapageia'' is a species of cactus. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, part of Ecuador. Forms occurring on different islands have been treated as separate species and subtaxa of these species. ''Opuntia echios'', ''Opuntia helleri'', ''Opuntia insularis'', ''Opuntia megasperma'', ''Opuntia myriacantha'' and ''Opuntia saxicola'' are now sunk within ''O. galapageia''. Taxonomy ''Opuntia galapageia'' was first described by John Stevens Henslow in 1837. It was first recorded by Charles Darwin on Santiago (James) Island. Darwin was ashore there for nine days in 1835. Subsequently, at least five other species of ''Opuntia'' were described from the Galápagos: ''Opuntia helleri'', ''Opuntia insularis'', ''Opuntia megasperma'', ''Opuntia myriacantha'' and ''Opuntia saxicola''. All were treated by David Hunt in 2006 as included within ''O. galapageia'', a placement accepted by the IUCN Red List as of 2017, although they had been assessed as separate species ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Land Iguana
The Galápagos land iguana (''Conolophus subcristatus'') is a very large species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. It is one of three species of the genus ''Conolophus''. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, in the dry lowlands of the islands of Fernandina, Isabela, Santa Cruz, North Seymour, Baltra, and South Plaza. Taxonomy The land iguanas in the Galápagos vary in morphology and coloration among different populations. In addition to the relatively widespread and well-known Galápagos land iguana (''C. subcristatus''), there are two other species of ''Conolophus'': the Galápagos pink land iguana (''C. marthae'') from northern Isabela Island and the Santa Fe land iguana (''C. pallidus'') from Santa Fe Island. Based on mtDNA, land iguanas and marine iguanas diverged about 8–10 million years ago. Within the land iguana genus, the oldest split based on mtDNA, about 5.7 million years old, is between ''C. subcristatus'' and ''C. marthae''. A more recent study that in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Iguana
The marine iguana (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus''), also known as the sea iguana, saltwater iguana, or Galápagos marine iguana, is a species of iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). Unique among modern lizards, it is a marine reptile that has the ability to forage in the sea for algae, which makes up almost all of its diet. Marine iguanas are the only extant lizard that spends time in a marine environment. Large males are able to dive to find this food source, while females and smaller males feed during low tide in the intertidal zone. They mainly live in colonies on rocky shores where they bask after visiting the relatively cold water or intertidal zone, but can also be seen in marshes, mangrove swamps and beaches. Large males defend territories for a short period, but smaller males have other breeding strategies. After mating, the female digs a nest hole in the soil where she lays her eggs, leaving them to hatch on their own a few months later. Marine iguanas va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hybrid Iguana
The hybrid iguana is a first-generation hybrid, the result of intergeneric breeding between a male marine iguana (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus'') and a female Galapagos land iguana (''Conolophus subcristatus'') on South Plaza Island in the Galápagos Islands, where the territories of the two species overlap. Hybrid iguanas are dark with light speckles or bands of mottling near the head and a banded body. By contrast, marine iguanas are a solid blackish color, while land iguanas are reddish-yellow; neither are banded. The first hybrid iguana was discovered in 1981. In 1997, high ocean temperatures during a severe El Niño season caused failure of the seaweed beds around the Galapagos Islands and about half the marine iguanas starved to death. Others searched inland for plants to eat. There they mated with the land iguanas, producing an unusual number of hybrid iguanas. As of 2003, 20 had been found. Four were known to be alive as of a 2013 census. DNA testing by a German research ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sesuvium
''Sesuvium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. The roughly eight species it contains are commonly known as sea-purslanes. Selected species * ''Sesuvium crithmoides'' Welw. – Tropical sea-purslane * '' Sesuvium edmonstonei'' Hook.f. – Galápagos carpet weed * ''Sesuvium maritimum'' ( Walter) B.S.P. – Slender sea-purslane * ''Sesuvium microphyllum'' Willd. * '' Sesuvium portulacastrum'' (L.) L. – Shoreline sea-purslane * ''Sesuvium sessile'' Pers. – Western sea-purslane * ''Sesuvium trianthemoides'' Correll – Texas sea-purslane * ''Sesuvium verrucosum ''Sesuvium verrucosum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Aizoaceae known by the common names western sea-purslane and verrucose sea-purslane. It is a perennial herb producing many branching prostrate stems up to long, forming a mat ...'' Raf. – Verrucose sea-purslane References External links Aizoaceae genera Taxonomy articl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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