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Uperodon Nagaoi
''Uperodon nagaoi'', also known as the Nagao's pug-snout frog or Nagao's globular frog, is a species of frogs in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka and is known from the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, and Western Provinces. The specific name ''nagaoi'' honours Eijiro Nagao, president of Marusan Securities who, through the Nagao Environmental Foundation, has supported research on Sri Lankan amphibians. Description Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The head is wider than it is long. The snout is truncate in dorsal view and rounded in lateral view. The tympanum is not externally visible but a tympanic ridge is present. The fingers have lateral dermal fringes and triangularly dilated tips. The toes have rudimentary webbing and slightly truncate or rounded, enlarged, fleshy and smooth tips. The colouration is dark brown. There are yellow spots near the eyes and on the upper lip. Reddish-orange patches are present on the snout, sides of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rohan Pethiyagoda
Rohan David Pethiyagoda is a Sri Lankan biodiversity scientist, amphibian and freshwater-fish taxonomist, author, conservationist and public-policy advocate. Early life and career Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 19 November 1955 Pethiyagoda had his secondary education at S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He was awarded a BSc (Eng.) Hons. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from King's College, University of London in 1977, and a M.Phil. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Sussex in 1980. Service From 1981 to 1982 Pethiyagoda served as an engineer in the Division of Biomedical Engineering of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, and from 1982 to 1987 as director of that institution. That same year he was awarded the Vadamarachchi Medal by President J.R. Jayewardene for his services to the Sri Lanka Armed Forces during the Vadamarachchi Campaign. In 1984 he was concurrently appointed chairman of Sri Lanka's Water Resources Board. He served as Advisor on Environment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tadpole
A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found in adult amphibians such as a lateral line, gills and swimming tails. As they undergo metamorphosis, they start to develop functional lungs for breathing air, and the diet of tadpoles changes drastically. A few amphibians, such as some members of the frog family Brevicipitidae, undergo direct development i.e., they do not undergo a free-living larval stage as tadpoles instead emerging from eggs as fully formed "froglet" miniatures of the adult morphology. Some other species hatch into tadpoles underneath the skin of the female adult or are kept in a pouch until after metamorphosis. Having no hard skeletons, it might be expected that tadpole fossils would not exist. However, traces of biofilms have been preserved and fossil tadpoles have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibians Described In 2001
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frogs Of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is a tropical island situated close to the southern tip of India. It is situated in the middle of Indian Ocean. Because of being an island, Sri Lanka has rich endemic terrestrial and freshwater fauna, including vertebrates and several invertebrates. Amphibian *Phylum: Chordata *Class: Amphibia Amphibians are ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. They have soft glandular skin and live in all habitats of the world except for the ice caps. They complete an amphibious lifestyle where larval stages live in water and adults live on or closer to land. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators. Sri Lanka is host to over 120 species of amphibians, of which over 90 species are endemic to the country. The 85% of endemicity ratio makes Sri Lanka the country which has the highest amphibian endemism in Asia. During the past decade many more new amphibians have been found in Sri Lanka. The first amphibian review ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Fauna Of Sri Lanka
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uperodon
''Uperodon'' is a genus of microhylid frogs. They occur in South Asia (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh) and Myanmar. ''Uperodon'' reached its current composition in 2016 when the genus Ramanella was brought into its synonymy. The common names of these frogs are globular frogs and balloon frogs in reference to their stout appearance, or dot frogs, the last specifically referring to the former Ramanella. ''Uperodon'' includes burrowing frogs that eat ants and termites. Species There are 12 recognized species: * ''Uperodon anamalaiensis'' (Rao, 1937) * ''Uperodon globulosus'' (Günther, 1864) * ''Uperodon montanus'' (Jerdon, 1853) * ''Uperodon mormoratus'' (Rao, 1937) * ''Uperodon nagaoi'' (Manamendra-Arachchi and Pethiyagoda, 2001) * ''Uperodon obscurus'' (Günther, 1864) * ''Uperodon palmatus'' (Parker, 1934) * ''Uperodon rohani'' Garg, Senevirathne, Wijayathilaka, Phuge, Deuti, Manamendra-Arachchi, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018 * ''Uperodon systoma'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xenesthis Immanis
''Xenesthis immanis'', the Colombian lesser black tarantula, is a terrestrial bird spider (tarantula) originating from Colombia. It is a relatively large spider with a body length reaching 6–7 cm and a length width reaching 19-22 cm. It frequently displays a commensal or mutualistic relationship with the microhylid frog '' Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata''.Reginald B. Cocroft and Keith Hambler"Observations on a Commensal Relationship of the Microhylid Frog ''Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata'' and the Burrowing Theraphosid Spider ''Xenesthis immanis'' in Southeastern Peru" ''Biotropica'' Vol. 21 No. 1 (1989) The relationship described is one where the spider may protect the frog and its eggs from predators while the frog protects the spider's eggs from ants. It has also been observed closely associating with ''Hamptophryne boliviana ''Hamptophryne boliviana'', also known as the Bolivian bleating frog or Amazon sheep frog, is a species of frogs in the family Microhylidae. It i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chiasmocleis Ventrimaculata
''Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata'', also known as the dotted humming frog, is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, swamps, and intermittent freshwater marshes. Description The ''Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata'' is a small nocturnal frog of a snout - vent size of approximately 2 cm. The ''Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata'' lack webbing on the hind foot. Furthermore, the ''Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata'' has heads that are more narrow and pointed and bodies that are slender as well. These frogs prefer to remain underground during the day and emerge after dusk alongside of their spider hosts and forage the surrounding areas. These frogs do not appear to be territorial, often several frogs ranging from 1 to 4, can be seen emerging from a tarantula’s burrow. As tadpoles, they are typically around 17 mm in length and a body length of 7 mm. Their bodies ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poecilotheria Subfusca
''Poecilotheria subfusca'', or the ivory ornamental, is a spider in the tarantula family, Theraphosidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka. , the World Spider Catalog regarded ''Poecilotheria bara'' as a synonym. Other sources, particularly in the pet trade, have treated highland and lowland forms as distinct species, with the lowland forms being ''P. bara''. Description The female is larger than the male, having a body length of 8–9 cm. Males are 6–7 cm. The species can distinguished from others in the genus due to its large black opisthosoma and the folium having three linked dark spots, that end halfway down the opisthosoma. The female has a carapace that dorsally is dark brown with pale edges and has a starburst appearance. The chelicerae are creamy colored. All four leg pairs are identical. The femur is blackish brown with a cream band, the patella is creamy and the tibia have two parallel lines of oblong spots. Ventrally the body is pale brownish with much dar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poecilotheria Ornata
''Poecilotheria ornata'', known as the fringed ornamental or ornate tiger spider, is a large arboreal tarantula, which is endemic to Sri Lanka. Their legspan sometimes reaches 10 inches (25 cm) in females, and is probably the second largest of the genus, behind '' Poecilotheria rufilata''. Name The name ''Poecilotheria'' is derived from Greek "poikilos" - spotted and "therion" - wild beast. Ornata refers to "adorned to". This whole genus of arboreal tarantulas exhibits an intricate fractal-like pattern on the abdomen. Identification The species is easily distinguishable by other tiger spiders due to greenish yellow or purplish carapace in dorsal surface. Ventrally, there is a proximal white spot on femur of fourth pair of legs. Description Female Dorsally, carapace has greenish yellow or purplish tinge. Femur is greenish tinge with a purplish tinge. Tibia has two parallel lines of oblong yellow spots. All legs possess reddish brown setae and setae are more prominent o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutualism (biology)
Mutualism describes the ecological interaction between two or more species where each species has a net benefit. Mutualism is a common type of ecological interaction. Prominent examples include most vascular plants engaged in mutualistic interactions with mycorrhizae, flowering plants being pollinated by animals, vascular plants being dispersed by animals, and corals with zooxanthellae, among many others. Mutualism can be contrasted with interspecific competition, in which each species experiences ''reduced'' fitness, and exploitation, or parasitism, in which one species benefits at the expense of the other. The term ''mutualism'' was introduced by Pierre-Joseph van Beneden in his 1876 book ''Animal Parasites and Messmates'' to mean "mutual aid among species". Mutualism is often conflated with two other types of ecological phenomena: cooperation and symbiosis. Cooperation most commonly refers to increases in fitness through within-species (intraspecific) interactions, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Type Locality (biology)
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the defining features of that particular taxon. In older usage (pre-1900 in botany), a type was a taxon rather than a specimen. A taxon is a scientifically named grouping of organisms with other like organisms, a set that includes some organisms and excludes others, based on a detailed published description (for example a species description) and on the provision of type material, which is usually available to scientists for examination in a major museum research collection, or similar institution. Type specimen According to a precise set of rules laid down in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), the scientific name of every taxon is almost a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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