|
Small-headed Fly
The Acroceridae are a small family of odd-looking flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known. The most frequently applied common names are small-headed flies or hunch-back flies. Many are bee or wasp mimics. Because they are parasitoids of spiders, they also are sometimes known as spider flies. Description The Acroceridae vary in size from small to fairly large, about the size of large bees, with a wingspan over 25 mm in some species. As a rule, both sexes have tiny heads and a characteristic hump-backed appearance because of the large, rounded thorax. In appearance, they are compact flies without major bristles, but many species have a bee-like hairiness on their bodies, and some are bee or wasp mimics. In most species, the eyes are holoptic in both sexes, the heads seemingly composed mainly of the large faceted eyes. This is in contrast to many insects ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterodontia
''Pterodontia'' is a genus of small-headed flies (insects in the family Acroceridae). There are at least 20 described species in ''Pterodontia''. Description ''Pterodontia'' have eyes that are covered in hairs. Their antennae are attached below the middle of the head, and are small, short and inconspicuous. Their mouthparts are small and nearly imperceptible. The tibia have small, atypical spurs. The males have a tooth-like projection on the costal edge of the wing. Species These 19 species belong to the genus ''Pterodontia'': * '' Pterodontia aerivaga'' Seguy, 1962 * '' Pterodontia analis'' Macquart, 1846 * '' Pterodontia andina'' Brèthes, 1910 * '' Pterodontia davisi'' Paramonov, 1957 * '' Pterodontia dimidiata'' Westwood, 1876 * '' Pterodontia ezoensis'' Ouchi, 1942 * '' Pterodontia flavipes'' Gray, 1832 * '' Pterodontia flavonigra'' Carrera, 1947 * '' Pterodontia johnsoni'' Cole, 1919 * '' Pterodontia kashmirensis'' Lichtwardt, 1909 * '' Pterodontia longisquama'' Sabro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brachycera
The Brachycera are a suborder of the order Diptera. It is a major suborder consisting of around 120 families. Their most distinguishing characteristic is reduced antenna segmentation. Description A summary of the main physical characteristics is: * Antenna size (with eight or fewer flagellomeres) is reduced. * The maxillary palp (an elongated appendage near the mouth) has two segments or fewer. * The back portions of the larval head capsule extend into the prothorax (the anterior part of the thorax, which bears the first pair of legs). * Two distinct parts make up of the larval mandible (lower jaw). * The epandrium and hypandrium of the genitalia are separated in males. * No premandible is present on the lower surface of the labrum (the roof of the mouth). * The configuration of the CuA2 and A1 wing veins is distinct. Brachyceran flies can also be distinguished through behavior. Many of the species are predators or scavengers. Classification The structure of subgroups wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acroceridae Psilodera Small-headed Fly IMG 1338
The Acroceridae are a small family of odd-looking flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known. The most frequently applied common names are small-headed flies or hunch-back flies. Many are bee or wasp mimics. Because they are parasitoids of spiders, they also are sometimes known as spider flies. Description The Acroceridae vary in size from small to fairly large, about the size of large bees, with a wingspan over 25 mm in some species. As a rule, both sexes have tiny heads and a characteristic hump-backed appearance because of the large, rounded thorax. In appearance, they are compact flies without major bristles, but many species have a bee-like hairiness on their bodies, and some are bee or wasp mimics. In most species, the eyes are holoptic in both sexes, the heads seemingly composed mainly of the large faceted eyes. This is in contrast to many insects in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Lung
A book lung is a type of respiration organ used for atmospheric gas exchange that is present in many arachnids, such as scorpions and spiders. Each of these organs is located inside an open ventral abdominal, air-filled cavity (atrium) and connects with the surroundings through a small opening for the purpose of respiration. Structure and function Book lungs are not related to the lungs of modern land-dwelling vertebrates. Their name describes their structure and purpose. Stacks of alternating air pockets and tissue filled with hemolymph give them an appearance similar to a "folded" book. Their number varies from just one pair in most spiders to four pairs in scorpions. The unfolded "pages" (plates) of the book lung are filled with hemolymph. The folds maximize the surface exposed to air, and thereby maximize the amount of gas exchanged with the environment. In most species, no motion of the plates is needed to facilitate this kind of respiration. Occasionally absent Sometimes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geometer Moth
The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek ''geo'' γεω (derivative form of or "the earth"), and ''metron'' "measure" in reference to the way their larvae, or inchworms, appear to measure the earth as they move along in a looping fashion. A very large family, it has around 23,000 species of moths described, and over 1400 species from six subfamilies indigenous to North America alone. A well-known member is the peppered moth, ''Biston betularia'', which has been subject of numerous studies in population genetics. Several other geometer moths are notorious pests. Adults Many geometrids have slender abdomens and broad wings which are usually held flat with the hindwings visible. As such, they appear rather butterfly-like, but in most respects they are typical moths; the majority fly at night, they possess a frenulum to link the wings, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stylopidae
Stylopidae is a family of twisted-winged insects in the order Strepsiptera. There are about 15 genera and more than 330 described species in Stylopidae. Members of Stylopidae are parasitic insects. Host insects of this family that are afflicted are referred to as being "stylopized". Stylopidae are associated primarily with wasps and bees but are known to also use members of Blattodea, Mantodea, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, and other Hymenoptera as hosts. Stylopized hosts often display a variety of physical and behavioral changes. Life cycle As with others in the order Strepsiptera, Stylopidae larvae called triungulins enter their host and develop inside it. Females will remain inside the host. When females are ready to breed, they will push their head and brood canal opening, which is located just behind their head, out between the host insect's sclerites. Females draw males with pheromones who mate with them by means of the exposed brood canal. The eggs will hatch inside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planidium
A planidium is a specialized form of insect larva seen in the first-instar of a few families of insects that have parasitoidal ways of life. They are usually flattened, highly sclerotized (hardened), and quite mobile. The function of the planidial stage is to find a host on which the later larval instars may feed, generally until the insect pupates. Etymology The term "planidium" is derived from the Greek language ''πλανής'' (planis) meaning "wanderer". The term planula was similarly derived in reference to the wandering larvae of certain Cnidaria. Accordingly, "planidium" is the general term for such an adaptation, and it is not limited to any particular species or morphology. Planidia of different species differ variously from each other in form. The first instar larva in the beetle family Meloidae has three claws on each foot, and is therefore called a triungulin (plural ''triungula''). The term is derived from the Latin ''tri'' meaning "three" and ''ungula'' meaning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypermetamorphosis
Hypermetamorphosis, or heteromorphosis,P.J. Gullan & P.S. Cranston. 2010. The Insects: An Outline of Entomology, 4th Edition. Wiley-Blackwell. is a term used in entomology that refers to a class of variants of holometabolism, that is to say, complete insect metamorphosis, but where some larval instars are distinct from each other. Description Hypermetamorphosis, as the term normally is used in entomology, refers to a class of variants of holometabolism. In hypermetamorphosis some larval instars are functionally and morphologically distinct from each other. The general case in holometabolous insects such as flies, moths, or wasps, is that all larval stages look similar, growing larger as the insect matures. In hypermetamorphic insects however, at least one instar, usually the first, differs markedly from the rest. In many hypermetamorphic species, the first instars are numerous, tiny, very mobile larvae that must find their way to a food source. The general term for a mobi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clintonia Uniflora 4915 Cropped
''Clintonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family Liliaceae. Plants of the genus are distributed across the temperate regions of North America and eastern Asia, in the mesic understory of deciduous or coniferous forests. The genus, first described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1818, was named for DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828), a naturalist and politician from the U.S. state of New York. For this reason, plants of the genus are commonly known as Clinton's lily. The common name bluebead (and by extension bluebead lily) refer to the distinctive fruit of members of the genus. Since fruit color varies somewhat across species, the common name bead lily is used as well. Description The genus ''Clintonia'' is morphologically diverse. Species are herbaceous perennial plants growing from rhizomatous underground stems with thin, fibrous roots. They grow from 1.5 to 8 dm tall. They have 2 to 6 basal leaves arising from the rhizome crown, the basal leaves are s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karabastau Formation
The Karabastau Formation ( kk, Qarabastaý svıtasy) is a geological formation and lagerstätte in the Karatau Mountains of southern Kazakhstan whose strata date to the Middle to Late Jurassic. It is an important locality for insect fossils that has been studied since the early 20th century, alongside the rarer remains of vertebrates, including pterosaurs, salamanders, lizards and crocodiles.Barrett, P.M., Butler, R.J., Edwards, N.P., & Milner, A.R. Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas. p61-107. in Flugsaurier: Pterosaur papers in honour of Peter Wellnhofer. 2008. Hone, D.W.E., and Buffetaut, E. (eds). Zitteliana B, 28. 264p/ref> Lithology and depositional environment The primary lithology consists of 1 mm thick varve laminations of claystone, with a dark part and a light dolomitic part, which probably correspond to a wet and dry season respectively, alongside rare, several cm thick sandstone interbeds. These were deposited within an ancient freshwater paleol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archocyrtus
''Archocyrtus'' is an extinct genus of small-headed flies in the family Acroceridae. The genus is known from compression fossils from the Late Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan. The genus is the only member of the subfamily Archocyrtinae. A study on the holotype specimen of ''Archocyrtus kovalevi'' was published by Khramov & Lukashevich (2019). They reported evidence of an extremely long proboscis, almost twice the length of the body of the insect. They suggested that it was probably a pollinator of extinct seed plants belonging to the order Bennettitales Bennettitales (also known as cycadeoids) is an extinct order of seed plants that first appeared in the Permian period and became extinct in most areas toward the end of the Cretaceous. Bennettitales are among the most common Mesozoic seed plants .... Species Two species belong to the genus ''Archocyrtus'': * †''A. gibbosus'' Ussatchov, 1968 * †''A. kovalevi'' (Nartshuk, 1996) References † Prehistoric D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christine Lambkin
Christine Lynette Lambkin is an entomologist and scientific illustrator, and Curator of Entomology at the Queensland Museum. Career Lambkin began her career as a science teacher in Sydney and Brisbane after graduating from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Science and Diploma of Education in 1976. She then became a Scientific Illustrator at the Queensland Museum in 1986, then with the CSIRO Division of Entomology, Long Pocket, Queensland in 1993. In 1994 Lambkin completed a Certificate of Visual Art and Design at the Queensland College of Art. In 1995 she joined The Department of Entomology at the University of Queensland as a Scientific Illustrator and Research Assistant. In 2001 she attained a PhD at the University of Queensland, and became a Post-doctoral Fellow (2001–2005) and Research Scientist (2003-2006) at the CSIRO Division of Entomology, Canberra. In 2004 Lambkin was a visiting Post Doctoral Fellow at North Carolina State University, in their Depart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_caterpillar_-2.jpg "Click for more on -> Geometer Moth")
.JPG "Click for more on -> Karabastau Formation")