|
Tiger Worm
''Eisenia fetida'', known under various common names such as manure worm, redworm, brandling worm, panfish worm, trout worm, tiger worm, red wiggler worm, etc., is a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. These worms thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure. They are epigean, rarely found in soil. In this trait, they resemble ''Lumbricus rubellus''. Red wigglers are reddish-brown in color, have small rings around their body and have a yellowish tail. They have groups of bristles (called setae) on each segment that move in and out to grip nearby surfaces as the worms stretch and contract their muscles to push themselves forward or backward. ''Eisenia fetida'' worms are native to Europe, but have been introduced (both intentionally and unintentionally) to every other continent except Antarctica. ''Eisenia fetida'' also possess a unique natural defense system in their coelomic fluid: cells called coelomocytes secrete a protein called lysenin, whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Jules César Savigny
Marie Jules César Lelorgne de Savigny (; 5 April 1777 – 5 October 1851) was a French zoologist. Savigny was born at Provins. In 1798 he travelled to Egypt with the Emperor Napoleon as part of the French scientific expedition to that country, and contributed to the publication of the findings of the expedition in 1809 (''Description de l'Égypte''; published more fully in 1822). He wrote about the fauna in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. He is also known for proposing a theory that the mouth-parts of insects are homologous with locomotory organs (e.g. legs). Education and travel to Egypt At age 16, Savigny traveled from his home of Provins, in the department of Seine et Marne, to Paris to finish his studies. Being very interested in botany, he worked at the ''Muséum national d'histoire naturelle'' with Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. Cuvier suggested to Napoleon that the 21-year-old Savigny should follow him as zoologist to Egypt. Savigny became responsible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacillus Megaterium
''Bacillus megaterium'' is a rod-like, Gram-positive, mainly aerobic spore forming bacterium found in widely diverse habitats.De Vos, P. ''et al.'' Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology: Volume 3: The Firmicutes. ''Springer'' (2009) It has a cell length of up to 4 µm and a diameter of 1.5 µm, which is quite large for a bacteria. The cells often occur in pairs and chains, where the cells are joined together by polysaccharides on the cell walls. In the 1960s, prior to the utilization of ''Bacillus subtilis'' for this purpose, ''B. megaterium'' was the main model organism among Gram-positive bacteria for intensive studies on biochemistry, sporulation and bacteriophages. Recently, its popularity has started increasing in the field of biotechnology for its recombinant protein production capacity.Bunk, B. ''et al.'' A short story about a big magic bug. ''Bioengineered Bugs'' 1:85–91 (2010) This species has been recently transferred into the genus ''Priestia''. The c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animals Described In 1826
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in which their body consists of a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described—of which around 1 million are insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million animal species in total. Animals range in length from to . They have complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology. Most living animal species are in Bilateria, a clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric body plan. The Bilateria include the protostomes, containing animals such as nematodes, arthropods, flatworms, annelids and molluscs, and the deuterostomes, containing the echinoderms and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lumbricidae
The Lumbricidae are a family of earthworms. About 33 lumbricid species have become naturalized around the world, but the bulk of the species are in the Holarctic region: from Canada (e.g. ''Bimastos lawrenceae'' on Vancouver Island) and the United States (e.g. ''Eisenoides carolinensis'', ''Eisenoides lonnbergi'' and most ''Bimastos'' spp.) and throughout Eurasia to Japan (e.g. ''Eisenia japonica'', ''E. koreana'' and ''Helodrilus hachiojii''). An enigmatic species in Tasmania is ''Eophila eti''. Currently, 670 valid species and subspecies in about 42 genera are recognized. This family includes the majority of earthworm species well known to Europeans. Genera The family consists of the following genera: * ''Allolobophora'' Eisen, 1874 * '' Alpodinaridella'' Mršić, 1987 * ''Aporrectodea'' Orley, 1885 * ''Bimastos'' Moore, 1893 * '' Castellodrilus'' Qiu & Bouché, 1998 stat. nov. * '' Cataladrilus'' Qiu & Bouché, 1998 * '' Cernosvitovia'' Omodeo, 1956 * '' Creinella'' Mrši ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sperm
Sperm is the male reproductive cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm with a tail known as a flagellum, which are known as spermatozoa, while some red algae and fungi produce non-motile sperm cells, known as spermatia. Flowering plants contain non-motile sperm inside pollen, while some more basal plants like ferns and some gymnosperms have motile sperm. Sperm cells form during the process known as spermatogenesis, which in amniotes ( reptiles and mammals) takes place in the seminiferous tubules of the testes. This process involves the production of several successive sperm cell precursors, starting with spermatogonia, which differentiate into spermatocytes. The spermatocytes then undergo meiosis, reducing their chromosome number by half, which produces spermatids. The spermatids then mature and, in animals, construct a tail, or flagellum, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clitella
The clitellum is a thickened glandular and non-segmented section of the body wall near the head in earthworms and leeches, that secretes a viscid sac in which eggs are stored. It is located near the anterior end of the body, between the fourteenth and seventeenth segments. The number of the segments to where the clitellum begins and the number of segments that make up the clitellum are important for identifying earthworms. In microdrile earthworms, the clitellum has only one layer, resulting in a smaller quantity of eggs than that of the megadrile earthworms, which have larger multi-layered clitellum that have special cells that secrete albumin into the worms' egg sac. The clitellum is part of the reproductive system of clitellates, a subgroup of annelids which contains oligochaetes (earthworms) and hirudineans (leeches). The clitellum is a thick, saddle-like ring found in the epidermis (skin) of the worm, usually with a light-colored pigment. To form a cocoon for its eggs, the cli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hybrid (biology)
In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in blending inheritance), but can show hybrid vigor, sometimes growing larger or taller than either parent. The concept of a hybrid is interpreted differently in animal and plant breeding, where there is interest in the individual parentage. In genetics, attention is focused on the numbers of chromosomes. In taxonomy, a key question is how closely related the parent species are. Species are reproductively isolated by strong barriers to hybridisation, which include genetic and morphological differences, differing times of fertility, mating behaviors and cues, and physiological rejection of sperm cells or the developing embryo. Some act before fertilization and others after it. Similar barriers exist in plants, with differences in flowering tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eisenia Andrei
''Eisenia andrei'' is a close relative of the 'brandling' or 'tiger' worm ''Eisenia fetida''. Like its sibling species, it is epigeic, i.e. it prefers to live in compost or leaf litter rather than mineral soils. It can be distinguished from ''E. fetida'' as it is darker in colour, and the characteristic stripes are less pronounced. Although its status as a separate species was fully confirmed in the mid-1980s by molecular analyses (based on electrophoresis of protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ... isoforms), ''E. andrei'' is still often misidentified and confused with '' E. fetida''. The muscles of the ''Eisenia andrei'' embryos appear in groups of at least two distinct muscles that cross the ventral midline and initially reach towards the lateral side of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antipredator Adaptation
Anti-predator adaptations are mechanisms developed through evolution that assist prey organisms in their constant struggle against predators. Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptations have evolved for every stage of this struggle, namely by avoiding detection, warding off attack, fighting back, or escaping when caught. The first line of defence consists in avoiding detection, through mechanisms such as camouflage, masquerade, apostatic selection, living underground, or nocturnality. Alternatively, prey animals may ward off attack, whether by advertising the presence of strong defences in aposematism, by mimicking animals which do possess such defences, by startling the attacker, by signalling to the predator that pursuit is not worthwhile, by distraction, by using defensive structures such as spines, and by living in a group. Members of groups are at reduced risk of predation, despite the increased conspicuousness of a group, through improved vigilance, predator confusion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
