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Spix's Disk-winged Bat
Spix’s disk-winged bat (''Thyroptera tricolor''), is a species of bat in the family Thyropteridae. It is native to the Americas from Mexico to Brazil. The most prominent anatomical feature of this bat, which distinguishes it from other species, is the disks on its thumbs and hind feet. These circular disks act as suction cups, allowing the bats to cling onto and move along smooth surfaces. Distribution and habitat Spix's disk-winged bat is distributed in the nations of Venezuela, Tobago, Trinidad, Suriname, Peru, Panama, Mexico, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, French Guiana, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Belize, and Bolivia. It has a patchy distribution but a very wide range, and it is considered to be a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Species abundance of the bat may be limited by the availability of roosting sites. Whereas other species of bats are capable of aggregating in large numbers, hanging head-down by their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spix
Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. They constitute an important basis for today's National Zoological Collection in Munich. Numerous examples of his ethnographic collections, such as dance masks and the like, are now part of the collection of the Museum of Ethnography in Munich. Biography Spix was born in Höchstadt, in present-day Middle Franconia, as the seventh of eleven children. His childhood home is the site of the Spix Museum, open to the public since 2004. He studied philosophy in Bamberg and graduated with a doctoral degree. Later he studied theology in Würzburg. After attending lectures of the young professor F. W. J. Schelling, Spix became interested in nature. He quit his theology studies and began studying medicine, which he finished with a second doctoral d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a water boundary with Honduras to the southeast. It has an area of and a population of 441,471 (2022). Its mainland is about long and wide. It is the least populated and population density, least densely populated country in Central America. Its population growth rate of 1.87% per year (2018 estimate) is the second-highest in the region and one of the List of countries by population growth rate, highest in the Western Hemisphere. Its Capital city, capital is Belmopan, and its largest city is the namesake city of Belize City. Belize is often thought of as a Caribbean country in Central America because it has a history similar to that of English-speaking Caribbean nations. Indeed, Belize’s institutions and official language reflect its histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammals Of Colombia
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles (including birds) from which they diverged in the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. Around 6,400 extant species of mammals have been described divided into 29 orders. The largest orders, in terms of number of species, are the rodents, bats, and Eulipotyphla (hedgehogs, moles, shrews, and others). The next three are the Primates (including humans, apes, monkeys, and others), the Artiodactyla ( cetaceans and even-toed ungulates), and the Carnivora (cats, dogs, seals, and others). In terms of cladistics, which reflects evolutionary history, mammals are the only living members of the Synapsida (synapsids); this clade, together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insectivore
A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were amphibians. When they evolved 400 million years ago, the first amphibians were piscivores, with numerous sharp conical teeth, much like a modern crocodile. The same tooth arrangement is however also suited for eating animals with exoskeletons, thus the ability to eat insects is an extension of piscivory. At one time, insectivorous mammals were scientifically classified in an order called Insectivora. This order is now abandoned, as not all insectivorous mammals are closely related. Most of the Insectivora taxa have been reclassified; those that have not yet been reclassified and found to be truly related to each other remain in the order Eulipotyphla. Although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers. Insects make u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madagascar Sucker-footed Bat
The Madagascar sucker-footed bat, Old World sucker-footed bat, or simply sucker-footed bat (''Myzopoda aurita'') is a species of bat in the family Myzopodidae endemic to Madagascar, especially in the eastern part of the forests. The genus was thought to be monospecific until a second species, '' Myzopoda schliemanni'', was discovered in the central western lowlands. It was classified as Vulnerable in the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species but is now known to be more abundant and was reclassified in 2008 as of "Least Concern". The bat is named for the presence of small cups on its wrists and ankles. They roost inside the rolled leaves of the traveller's tree, using their suckers to attach themselves to the smooth surface. Despite the name, it is now known that the bats do not use suction to attach themselves to roost sites, but instead use a form of wet adhesion by secreting a body fluid at their pads.Brown University News, December 2009,Bats Don’t Use Suction After All ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flexor Pollicis Brevis Muscle
The flexor pollicis brevis is a muscle in the hand that flexes the thumb. It is one of three thenar muscles. It has both a superficial part and a deep part. Origin and insertion The muscle's superficial head arises from the distal edge of the flexor retinaculum and the tubercle of the trapezium, the most lateral bone in the distal row of carpal bones. It passes along the radial side of the tendon of the flexor pollicis longus. The deeper (and medial) head "varies in size and may be absent." It arises from the trapezoid and capitate bones on the floor of the carpal tunnel, as well as the ligaments of the distal carpal row. Both heads become tendinous and insert together into the radial side of the base of the proximal phalanx of the thumb; at the junction between the tendinous heads there is a sesamoid bone.''Gray's Anatomy'' 1918, see infobox Innervation The superficial head is usually innervated by the lateral terminal branch of the median nerve. The deep part is often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calathea
''Calathea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Marantaceae. They are commonly called calatheas or (like their relatives) prayer plants. About 200 species formerly assigned to ''Calathea'' are now in the genus ''Goeppertia''. Calathea currently contains around 60 species. Native to the tropical Americas, many of the species are popular as pot plants due to their decorative leaves and, in some species, colorful inflorescences. The young leaves and bracts can retain pools of water called phytotelmata, that provide habitat for many invertebrates.Jalinsky, J., T.A. Radocy, R. Wertenberger, & C.S. Chaboo. 2014. Insect diversity in phytotelmata habitats of two host plants, Heliconia stricta Huber (Heliconiaceae) and Calathea lutea Schult (Marantaceae) in the south-east Amazon of Peru. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 87(3): 299–311. Description Foliage Calathea leaves are often large and colorfully patterned. The leaves are often variegated with bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heliconia
''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku. Many species of ''Heliconia'' are found in the tropical forests of these regions. Most species are listed as either vulnerable or data deficient by the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia, and Thailand. Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, toucan beak, wild plantain, or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers ('' Strelitzia''). Collectively, these plants are also simply referred to as "heliconias". Description These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 m (1.5–15 ft) tall, depending on the species. The simple leaves of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Evolution
Parallel evolution is the similar development of a trait in distinct species that are not closely related, but share a similar original trait in response to similar evolutionary pressure.Zhang, J. and Kumar, S. 1997Detection of convergent and parallel evolution at the amino acid sequence level. ''Mol. Biol. Evol.'' 14, 527-36. Parallel vs. convergent evolution Given a particular trait that occurs in each of two lineages descended from a specified ancestor, it is possible in theory to define parallel and convergent evolutionary trends strictly, and distinguish them clearly from one another. However the criteria for defining convergent as opposed to parallel evolution often are unclear in practice, so that arbitrary diagnosis is common in some cases. When two species are similar in a particular character, evolution is defined as parallel if the ancestors shared that similarity; if they did not, the evolution of that character in those species is defined as convergent. However, thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myzopoda
''Myzopoda'', which has two described species, is the only genus in the bat family Myzopodidae. Myzopodidae is unique as the only family of bats presently endemic to Madagascar. However, fossil discoveries indicate that the family has an ancient lineage in Africa, extending from the Pleistocene as far back as the late Eocene. Based on nuclear DNA sequence data, Myzopodidae appears to be basal in the Gondwanan superfamily Noctilionoidea, most of whose members are neotropical. The origin and initial diversification of Noctilionoidea may have occurred in Africa prior to their dispersal to Australia and South America, probably via Antarctica. On the basis of fossil and molecular clock evidence, myzopodids are estimated to have split off from the rest of Noctilionoidea about 50 (46 to 57) million years ago. Species *Genus ''Myzopoda'' **Madagascar sucker-footed bat, ''Myzopoda aurita'' Milne-Edwards & Grandidier, 1878 **Western sucker-footed bat The western sucker-footed bat (' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species Abundance
In ecology, local abundance is the relative representation of a species in a particular ecosystem. It is usually measured as the number of individuals found per sample. The ratio of abundance of one species to one or multiple other species living in an ecosystem is referred to as relative species abundances. Both indicators are relevant for computing biodiversity. A variety of sampling methods are used to measure abundance. For larger animals, these may include spotlight counts, track counts and roadkill counts, as well as presence at monitoring stations. In many plant communities the abundances of plant species are measured by plant cover, i.e. the relative area covered by different plant species in a small plot. Abundance is in simplest terms usually measured by identifying and counting every individual of every species in a given sector. It is common for the distribution of species to be skewed so that a few species take up the bulk of individuals collected. Relative specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
