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Common Blue
The common blue butterfly or European common blue (''Polyommatus icarus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae and subfamily Polyommatinae. The butterfly is found throughout the Palearctic. Butterflies in the Polyommatinae are collectively called blues, from the coloring of the wings. Common blue males usually have wings that are blue above with a black-brown border and a white fringe. The females are usually brown above with a blue dusting and orange spots. Taxonomy and phylogeny This species was first described by Siegmund Adrian von Rottemburg in 1775. Vernacular names that have been given to ''P. icarus'' include little blew argus, blew argus, mixed argus, selvedg’d argus, ultramarine blue, caerulean butterfly, and alexis. Subspecies Subspecies include: * ''P. i. icarus'' (Europe, Caucasus, Transcaucasia) * ''P. i. mariscolore'' ( Kane, 1893) (Ireland) * ''P. i. fuchsi'' ( Sheljuzhko, 1928) (South Siberia, Transbaikalia) * ''P. i. omelkoi'' Dubatolov & Korshunov, 199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily due to the work of the University of Oxford and several notable science parks. These include the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and Milton Park, both situated around the towns of Didcot and Abingdon-on-Thames. It is a landlocked county, bordered by six counties: Berkshire to the south, Buckinghamshire to the east, Wiltshire to the south west, Gloucestershire to the west, Warwickshire to the north west, and Northamptonshire to the north east. Oxfordshire is locally governed by Oxfordshire County Council, together with local councils of its five non-metropolitan districts: City of Oxford, Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Oxfordshire. Present-day Oxfordshire spanning the area south of the Thames was h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escher's Blue
''Polyommatus escheri'', Escher's blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Southern Europe and Morocco. Description in Seitz L. ''escheri'' Hbn. (81 a, b). male and female above similar to ''icarus'', but much larger; the underside more prominently spotted, with more numerous ocelli, but the forewing beneath always without basal ocelli; the ground-colour of the underside in the male more shaded with grey and in the female sometimes darkened to a chocolate-brown; moreover, the discal row of ocelli of the hindwing is more proximal, standing nearer the discocellular spot than in ''icarus''. Southern Europe, from Spain to the Balkan Peninsula, northwards extending into the Alps. Females with the upperside strongly dusted with blue are ab. ''subapennina'' Tur. — ''dalmatica'' Spey. (81 b) is the form from Dalmatia; the male is lighter blue, more similar in colour to ''hylas'' than to ''icarus''; the black margin, which is very narrow in ''escheri'' is here br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirabel, Quebec
Mirabel is a suburb of Montreal, located on the North Shore in southern Quebec. Mirabel is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Mirabel. Its geographical code is 74. Prior to 2002, Mirabel was not only a city but also comprised the Mirabel Regional County Municipality. The city is home to Montréal–Mirabel International Airport. History Mirabel was formed through the expropriation of private lands and the merger of 8 municipalities in 1971. The former municipalities were (with their individual founding dates in brackets): Saint-Augustin (1855); Saint-Benoît (1855); Saint-Hermas (1855); Saint-Janvier-de-Blainville (1855); Sainte-Scholastique (1855); Saint-Canut (1857); Sainte-Monique (1872), and Saint-Janvier-de-la-Croix (1959). Initially called Ville de Sainte-Scholastique but renamed Mirabel in 1973, the city was planned to become a vast transportation and industrial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Introduced Species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there by human activity, directly or indirectly, and either deliberately or accidentally. Non-native species can have various effects on the local ecosystem. Introduced species that become established and spread beyond the place of introduction are considered naturalized. The process of human-caused introduction is distinguished from biological colonization, in which species spread to new areas through "natural" (non-human) means such as storms and rafting. The Latin expression neobiota captures the characteristic that these species are ''new'' biota to their environment in terms of established biological network (e.g. food web) relationships. Neobiota can further be divided into neozoa (also: neozoons, sing. neozoon, i.e. animals) and neophyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The islands are geographically coextensive with , one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. They form part of the archipelago of the Hebrides, separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch, the Little Minch, and the Sea of the Hebrides. Scottish Gaelic is the predominant spoken language, although in a few areas English speakers form a majority. Most of the islands have a bedrock formed from ancient metamorphic rocks, and the climate is mild and oceanic. The 15 inhabited islands have a total population of and there are more than 50 substantial uninhabited islands. The distance from Barra Head to the Butt of Lewis is roughly . There are various important prehisto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, Orkney, Mainland, has an area of , making it the List of islands of Scotland, sixth-largest Scottish island and the List of islands of the British Isles, tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney’s largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall. Orkney is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland, council areas of Scotland, as well as a Orkney (Scottish Parliament constituency), constituency of the Scottish Parliament, a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area, and an counties of Scotland, historic county. The local council is Orkney Islands Council, one of only three councils in Scotland with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, and over six thousand smaller islands."British Isles", ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. They have a total area of and a combined population of almost 72 million, and include two sovereign states, the Republic of Ireland (which covers roughly five-sixths of Ireland), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Channel Islands, off the north coast of France, are normally taken to be part of the British Isles, even though they do not form part of the archipelago. The oldest rocks are 2.7 billion years old and are found in Ireland, Wales and the northwest of Scotland. During the Silurian period, the north-western regions collided with the south-east, which had been part of a separate continental landmass. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocco. They are the southernmost of the autonomous communities of Spain. The islands have a population of 2.2 million people and they are the most populous special territory of the European Union. The seven main islands are (from largest to smallest in area) Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro. The archipelago includes many smaller islands and islets, including La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste, and Roque del Este. It also includes a number of rocks, including those of Salmor, Fasnia, Bonanza, Garachico, and Anaga. In ancient times, the island chain was often referred to as "the Fortunate Isles". The Canary Islands are the southernmost region of Spain, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in the west, to Egypt's Suez Canal. Varying sources limit it to the countries of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, a region that was known by the French during colonial times as "''Afrique du Nord''" and is known by Arabs as the Maghreb ("West", ''The western part of Arab World''). The United Nations definition includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, and the Western Sahara, the territory disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi Republic. The African Union definition includes the Western Sahara and Mauritania but not Sudan. When used in the term Middle East and North Africa (MENA), it often refers only to the countries of the Maghreb. North Africa includes the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and plazas de s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyommatus Icarus - Keila
''Polyommatus'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. Its species are found in the Palearctic realm. Taxonomy Recent molecular studies have demonstrated that ''Cyaniris'', ''Lysandra'', and ''Neolysandra'' are different genera from ''Polyommatus'', where they had been included, sometimes as subgenera. Some authors still recognize other subgenera, such as ''Agrodiaetus'', ''Bryna'', ''Meleageria'', and ''Plebicula''. List of species References * (2012): Establishing criteria for higher-level classification using molecular data: the systematics of ''Polyommatus'' blue butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). ''Cladistics''. 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2012.00421.x * (2010): "How common are dot-like distributions? Taxonomical oversplitting in western European ''Agrodiaetus'' (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) revealed by chromosomal and molecular markers. ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 101:130-154 (2010)abstract Further reading *French Wikipedia has more information ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slug
Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a small internal shell, particularly sea slugs and semislugs (this is in contrast to the common name ''snail'', which applies to gastropods that have a coiled shell large enough that they can fully retract their soft parts into it). Various taxonomic families of land slugs form part of several quite different evolutionary lineages, which also include snails. Thus, the various families of slugs are not closely related, despite a superficial similarity in the overall body form. The shell-less condition has arisen many times independently as an example of convergent evolution, and thus the category "slug" is polyphyletic. Taxonomy Of the six orders of Pulmonata, two – the Onchidiacea and Soleolifera – solely comprise slugs. A third family, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Symphyta) are commonly called caterpillars as well. Both lepidopteran and symphytan larvae have eruciform body shapes. Caterpillars of most species eat plant material ( often leaves), but not all; some (about 1%) eat insects, and some are even cannibalistic. Some feed on other animal products. For example, clothes moths feed on wool, and horn moths feed on the hooves and horns of dead ungulates. Caterpillars are typically voracious feeders and many of them are among the most serious of agricultural pests. In fact, many moth species are best known in their caterpillar stages because of the damage they cause to fruits and other agricultural produce, whereas the moths are obscure and do no direct harm. Conversely, various species of caterpi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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