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Common Pipistrelle
The common pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus pipistrellus'') is a small pipistrelle microbat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, South Asia, and may extend into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the British Isles. In Europe, the northernmost confirmed records are from southern Finland near 60°N. In 1999, the common pipistrelle was split into two species on the basis of different-frequency echolocation calls. The common pipistrelle uses a call of 45 kHz, while the soprano pipistrelle echolocates at 55 kHz. Since the two species were distinguished, a number of other differences, in appearance, habitat and food, have also been discovered. Taxonomy and etymology It was described as a new species in 1774 by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber. Schreber initially placed it in the genus ''Vespertilio'', calling it ''Vespertilio pipistrellus''. In 1839, Keyserling and Blasius reclassified the species, namin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Christian Daniel Von Schreber
Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (17 January 1739 in Weißensee, Thuringia – 10 December 1810 in Erlangen), often styled J.C.D. von Schreber, was a German naturalist. Career He was appointed professor of'' materia medica'' at the University of Erlangen in 1769. In 1774, he began writing a multivolume set of books entitled ''Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen'', which focused on the mammals of the world. Many of the animals included were given a scientific name for the first time, following the binomial system of Carl Linnaeus. From 1791 until his death in 1810, he was the president of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1787. In April 1795, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Numerous honors were bestowed on him, including the office of an imperial count palatine. Schreber also wrote on entomology, notably ''Schreberi Novae Species Insectorvm''. His herba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pipistrellus
''Pipistrellus'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae and subfamily Vespertilioninae. The name of the genus is derived from the Italian word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the genus has been considerably reduced as a result of work during the 1990s and 2000s, with genera such as '' Arielulus'', ''Hypsugo'', '' Falsistrellus'', '' Neoromicia'', '' Parastrellus'', '' Perimyotis'', '' Scotozous'', and '' Vespadelus'' being split off. Still, molecular evidence suggests the genus is not monophyletic. Several other genera in the subfamily Vespertilioninae have also been merged with ''Pipistrellus'' in previous classifications. Species in the genus may be referred to as "pipistrelles" or "pipistrelle bats", though these terms are also used for species now placed in other genera, such as the western pipistrelle (''Parastrellus hesperus'') and eastern pipistrelle (''Perimyotis subflavus'') of North America. Species of the southern hemi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lactation
Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The process of feeding milk in all animals (including humans) is called ''nursing'', and in humans it is also called ''breastfeeding''. Newborn infants often produce some milk from their own breast tissue, known colloquially as witch's milk. In most species, lactation is a sign that the female has been pregnant at some point in her life, although it can happen without pregnancy. Nearly every species of mammal has nipples; except for monotremes, egg-laying mammals, which instead release milk through ducts in the abdomen. In only one species of mammal, the Dayak fruit bat from Southeast Asia, is milk production a normal male function. ''Galactopoiesis'' is the maintenance of milk production. This stage requires prolactin. Oxytocin is critical fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maternity Colony (bats)
A maternity colony refers to a temporary association of reproductive female bats for giving birth to, nursing, and weaning their pups. The colonies are initiated by pregnant bats. After giving birth, the colony consists of the lactating females and their offspring. After weaning, juveniles will leave the maternity colony, and the colony itself will break apart. The size of a maternity colony is highly variable by species, with some species forming colonies consisting of ten or fewer individuals, while the largest maternity colony in the world in Bracken Cave is estimated to have over 15 million bats. Benefits of a maternity colony Maternity colonies are especially prevalent in temperate regions due to the thermal benefits of roosting with other individuals.Dietz, M., & Kalko, E. K. (2006). Seasonal changes in daily torpor patterns of free-ranging female and male Daubenton’s bats (Myotis daubentonii). Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 176(3), 223-231. Outside of the winter mont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Female Sperm Storage
Female sperm storage is a biological process and often a type of sexual selection in which sperm cells transferred to a female during mating are temporarily retained within a specific part of the reproductive tract before the oocyte, or egg, is fertilized. The site of storage is variable among different animal taxa and ranges from structures that appear to function solely for sperm retention, such as insect spermatheca and bird sperm storage tubules (bird anatomy), to more general regions of the reproductive tract enriched with receptors to which sperm associate before fertilization, such as the caudal portion of the cow oviduct containing sperm-associating annexins. Female sperm storage is an integral stage in the reproductive process for many animals with internal fertilization. It has several documented biological functions including: * Supporting the sperm by: a.) enabling sperm to undergo biochemical transitions, called capacitation and motility hyperactivation, in which they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lek Mating
A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. A lek can also indicate an available plot of space able to be utilized by displaying males to defend their own share of territory for the breeding season. A lekking species is characterised by male displays, strong female mate choice, and the conferring of indirect benefits to males and reduced costs to females. Although most prevalent among birds such as black grouse, lekking is also found in a wide range of vertebrates including some bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and arthropods including crustaceans and insects. A classical lek consists of male territories in visual and auditory range of each other. An exploded lek, as seen in the kakapo (the owl parrot), has more widely separated territories, but still in auditory range. Lekking is associated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mate Choice
Mate choice is one of the primary mechanisms under which evolution can occur. It is characterized by a "selective response by animals to particular stimuli" which can be observed as behavior.Bateson, Paul Patrick Gordon. "Mate Choice." Mate Choice, Cambridge University Press, 1985 In other words, before an animal engages with a potential mate, they first evaluate various aspects of that mate which are indicative of quality—such as the resources or phenotypes they have—and evaluate whether or not those particular trait(s) are somehow beneficial to them. The evaluation will then incur a response of some sort. These mechanisms are a part of evolutionary change because they operate in a way that causes the qualities that are desired in a mate to be more frequently passed on to each generation over time. For example, if female peacocks desire mates who have a colourful plumage, then this trait will increase in frequency over time as male peacocks with a colourful plumage will hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snout
A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is called the rhinarium (colloquially this is the "cold wet snout" of some mammals). The rhinarium is often associated with a stronger sense of olfaction. Variation Snouts are found on many mammals in a variety of shapes. Some animals, including ursines and great cats, have box-like snouts, while others, like shrews, have pointed snouts. Pig snouts are flat and cylindrical. Primates Strepsirrhine primates have muzzles, as do baboons. Great apes have reduced muzzles, with the exception being human beings, whose face does not have protruding jaws nor a snout but merely a human nose. Dogs The muzzle begins at the stop, just below the eyes, and includes the dog's nose and mouth. In the domestic dog, most of the upper muzzle contains org ... [...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 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genetic Divergence
Genetic divergence is the process in which two or more populations of an ancestral species accumulate independent genetic changes ( mutations) through time, often leading to reproductive isolation and continued mutation even after the populations have become reproductively isolated for some period of time, as there isn’t genetic exchange anymore. In some cases, subpopulations living in ecologically distinct peripheral environments can exhibit genetic divergence from the remainder of a population, especially where the range of a population is very large (see parapatric speciation). The genetic differences among divergent populations can involve silent mutations (that have no effect on the phenotype) or give rise to significant morphological and/or physiological changes. Genetic divergence will always accompany reproductive isolation, either due to novel adaptations via selection and/or due to genetic drift, and is the principal mechanism underlying speciation. On a molecular ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Echolocation
Echolocation, also called bio sonar, is a biological sonar used by several animal species. Echolocating animals emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes of those calls that return from various objects near them. They use these echoes to locate and identify the objects. Echolocation is used for navigation, foraging, and hunting in various environments. Echolocating animals include some mammals (most notably Laurasiatheria) and a few birds, especially some bat species and odontocetes (toothed whales and dolphins), but also in simpler forms in other groups such as shrews, and two cave-dwelling bird groups, the so-called cave swiftlets in the genus ''Aerodramus'' (formerly ''Collocalia'') and the unrelated oilbird ''Steatornis caripensis''. Early research The term ''echolocation'' was coined in 1938 by the American zoologist Donald Griffin, who, with Robert Galambos, first demonstrated the phenomenon in bats. As Griffin described in his book, the 18th centur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Segregate (taxonomy)
In taxonomy, a segregate, or a segregate taxon is created when a taxon is split off from another taxon. This other taxon will be better known, usually bigger, and will continue to exist, even after the segregate taxon has been split off. A segregate will be either new or ephemeral: there is a tendency for taxonomists to disagree on segregates, and later workers often reunite a segregate with the 'mother' taxon. If a segregate is generally accepted as a 'good' taxon it ceases to be a segregate. Thus, this is a way of indicating change in the taxonomic status. It should not be confused with, for example, the subdivision of a genus into subgenera. :For example, the genus ''Alsobia'' is a ''segregate'' from the genus ''Episcia''; The genera ''Filipendula'' and ''Aruncus'' are segregates from the genus ''Spiraea''. External links A more detailed explanation with multiple examples on mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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