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Sitana Visiri
''Sitana visiri'', the palm leaf fan-throated lizard, is a species of agamid lizard. It is endemic to the Tamil Nadu region of India. Etymology The ''Sitana visiri'' species epithet is derived from the regional Tamil language word for a hand-crafted fan made from palm leaf (also the source of the common name), because the dewlap of ''S. visiri'' resembles a local palm-leaf fan. Description ''Sitana visiri'' can be distinguished from other members of Sitana genus in the spinaecephalus clade by a strongly serrated dewlap with a large orange spot surrounded by extensive blue color. The dewlap of ''S. visiri'' extends up to 56% of its trunk, which is proportionally larger than that of ''Sitana ponticeriana'', '' S. bahiri'', and '' S. devakai''. ''S. visiri'' is differentiated from the species in the ponticeriana clade in having a larger snout-vent length. Ecology ''Sitana visiri'' is endemic to the Tamil Nadu region of India where it lives in coastal sand dunes, grasslands, pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veerappan Deepak
Koose Munisamy Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004) was an Indian bandit turned domestic terrorist who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching of elephants in the scrub lands and forests in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. He was wanted for killing approximately 184 people, about half of whom were police officers and forest officials and was also wanted for poaching more than 2000 elephants and smuggling ivory worth US$2,600,000 (₹16 crore) and about 65000 kilograms of sandalwood worth approximately US$22,000,000 (₹143 crore). The battle to capture Veerappan cost the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over ₹100 crore. Personal life Veerappan was born into a Tamil Vanniyar family in Gopinatham, Kollegal, Coimbatore District (Madras State) in 1952. In 1990, he was married to Muthulakshmi, who reportedly married him because of his "notoriety and moustach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reptiles Of India
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians (tuatara). As of March 2022, the Reptile Database includes about 11,700 species. In the traditional Linnaean classification system, birds are considered a separate class to reptiles. However, crocodilians are more closely related to birds than they are to other living reptiles, and so modern cladistic classification systems include birds within Reptilia, redefining the term as a clade. Other cladistic definitions abandon the term reptile altogether in favor of the clade Sauropsida, which refers to all amniotes more closely related to modern reptiles than to mammals. The study of the traditional reptile orders, historically combined with that of modern amphibians, is called herpetology. The earliest known proto-reptiles originate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviparity
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and monotremes. In traditional usage, most insects (one being ''Culex pipiens'', or the common house mosquito), molluscs, and arachnids are also described as oviparous. Modes of reproduction The traditional modes of reproduction include oviparity, taken to be the ancestral condition, traditionally where either unfertilised oocytes or fertilised eggs are spawned, and viviparity traditionally including any mechanism where young are born live, or where the development of the young is supported by either parent in or on any part of their body. However, the biologist Thierry Lodé recently divided the traditional category of oviparous reproduction into two modes that he named ovuliparity and (true) oviparity respectively. He distinguished the tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oriental Garden Lizard
The oriental garden lizard (''Calotes versicolor''), also called the eastern garden lizard, Indian garden lizard, common garden lizard, bloodsucker or changeable lizard, is an agamid lizard found widely distributed in indo-Malaya. It has also been introduced in many other parts of the world. Description It is an insectivore and the male gets a bright red throat in the breeding season. It measures over 10 cm (3.9 in) in length snout-to-vent. Total length including the tail is up to 37 cm (14.5 in). Two small groups of spines, perfectly separated from each other, above each tympanum. Dorsal crest moderately elevated on the neck and anterior part of the trunk, extending on to the root of the tail in large individuals, and gradually disappearing on the middle of the trunk in younger ones. No fold in front of the shoulder, but the scales behind the lower jaw are much smaller than the others; gular sac not developed. From thirty-nine to forty-three series of scale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eutropis Bibronii
''Eutropis bibronii'', also known commonly as Bibron's mabuya, Bibron's skink, and the seashore skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to India and Sri Lanka. Etymology The specific name, ''bibronii'', is in honor of French herpetologist Gabriel Bibron (1806–1848). Description The head of ''E. bibronii'' is somewhat flattened. The lower eyelid has a transparent disk. The scales on the dorsum and flanks are sharp, numbering 5–7. The scale rows at midbody number 28–30. There are 14–20 lamellae under the fourth toe. The dorsum is olive brown, with a light vertebral stripe which is dark-edged. A dark dorso-lateral stripe runs from the eye to the base of the tail. Ecology ''E. bibronii'' occurs is a fossorial species that has been observed burrowing in low vegetation on sand dunes. It is typically a coastal lowland (less than above sea level) species, but there are unconfirmed records from further inland as high as asl. Reproductio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eutropis Carinata
''Eutropis carinata'', commonly known as the keeled Indian mabuya, many-keeled grass skink or (ambiguously) "golden skink", is a species of skink found in South Asia. Description Body robust; snout moderate, obtuse. Lower eyelids scaly; vertebral scales smooth. Ear-opening roundish, sub-triangular. Brown to olive or bronze in color above, uniform or with dark-brown or black spots, or longitudinal streaks along the lateral margins of the scales. Sides are dark-brown or chestnut, with or without light spots. A light dorso-lateral line starting from above the eye and continued to the base of the tail. Lower parts whitish or yellowish. Maximum length: 37 cm. and Common length: 25, in which Snout-vent length is 9 cm. The Sri Lankan ''lankae'' is now treated as a full species, Eutropis lankae. Distribution Frequently found in Bangladesh, India (except in the North-West), Maldives, Myanmar, & Nepal and Possibly in Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ༠... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosopis Juliflora
''Prosopis juliflora'' ( es, bayahonda blanca, Cuji Venezuela, Trupillo Colombia, Aippia Wayuunaiki and long-thorn kiawe in Hawaii) is a shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, a kind of mesquite. It is native to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. It has become established as an invasive weed in Africa, Asia, Australia and elsewhere. It is a contributing factor to continuing transmission of malaria, especially during dry periods when sugar sources from native plants are largely unavailable to mosquitoes. Description Growing to a height of up to , ''P. juliflora'' has a trunk diameter of up to . Its leaves are deciduous, geminate-pinnate, light green, with 12 to 20 leaflets. Flowers appear shortly after leaf development. The flowers are in long green-yellow cylindrical spikes, which occur in clusters of 2 to 5 at the ends of branches. Pods are long and contain between 10 and 30 seeds per pod. A mature plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. See ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plain
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In a valley, a plain is enclosed on two sides, but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills, by mountains, or by cliffs. Where a geological region contains more than one plain, they may be connected by a pass (sometimes termed a gap). Coastal plains mostly rise from sea level until they run into elevated features such as mountains or plateaus. Plains are one of the major landforms on earth, where they are present on all continents, and cover more than one-third of the world's land area. Plains can be formed from flowing lava; from deposition of sediment by water, ice, or wind; or formed by erosion by the agents from hills and mountains. Biomes on plains include grassland ( temperate or subtr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grasslands
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica and are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. Furthermore, grasslands are one of the largest biomes on earth and dominate the landscape worldwide. There are different types of grasslands: natural grasslands, semi-natural grasslands, and agricultural grasslands. They cover 31–69% of the Earth's land area. Definitions Included among the variety of definitions for grasslands are: * "...any plant community, including harvested forages, in which grasses and/or legumes make up the dominant vegetation." * "...terrestrial ecosystems dominated by herbaceous and shrub vegetation, and maintained by fire, grazing, drought and/or freezing temperatures." (Pilot Assessment of Global Ecosystems, 2000) * "A r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand Dunes
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat regions covered with wind-swept sand or dunes with little or no vegetation are called ''ergs'' or ''sand seas''. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, but most kinds of dunes are longer on the stoss (upflow) side, where the sand is pushed up the dune, and have a shorter ''slip face'' in the lee side. The valley or trough between dunes is called a ''dune slack''. Dunes are most common in desert environments, where the lack of moisture hinders the growth of vegetation that would otherwise interfere with the development of dunes. However, sand deposits are not restricted to deserts, and dunes are also found along sea shores, along streams in semiarid climates, in areas of glacial outwash, and in other areas where poorly cemented san ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitana Devakai
''Sitana devakai'' (Devaka's fan-throated lizard) is an endemic species of agamid lizards recently found from Sri Lanka. The species was first found from Puttalama district. The lizard is also known to found in Tamil Nadu of India, but not given valid identification. The species was named in honor of Dr. Devaka K. Weerakoon, who is a conservation biologist. He is a Professor of Zoology in University of Colombo. Descriptions The species was considered mainly as a subspecies or a color variation of much broader distributed ''Sitana ponticeriana The Pondichéry fan-throated lizard (''Sitana ponticeriana'') is a species of agamid lizard found in eastern peninsular India. It was earlier thought to be widespread but studies in 2016 resulted in the splitting of the group into several specie ...''. The lizard can be found in open scrub jungles. Cited references Other references Lanka newsline* https://window2nature.wordpress.com/2015/03/ {{Taxonbar, from=Q19849851 Sitana R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
