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Southern Hawker
The southern hawker or blue hawker (''Aeshna cyanea'') is a species of hawker dragonfly. Distribution The species is one of the most common and most widespread dragonflies in Europe. The total range is West Palearctic and covers a large part of Europe (to Scotland and southern Scandinavia in the North to Italy (without the Southwest) and the northern Balkans to the South); the Eastern boundary is formed by the Ural and the West by Ireland. It is also found in Northwest Africa (Algeria). In Central Europe the species is very common. Habitat These dragonflies mainly inhabit well-vegetated, small ponds and garden ponds, but they wander widely, and they are often seen in gardens and open woodland. Description ''Aeshna cyanea'' can reach a body length of about , with a wingspan up to .Richard Robinson Askew, The Dragonflies of Europe, Harley Books, 2004, p. 109. It is a large, brightly coloured dragonfly, with a long body. The thorax is brown, with two ante-humeral wide green longit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of , with a population of almost 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeshnidae - Aeshna Cyanea (male Close-up)
The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North America and Europe and among the largest dragonflies on the planet. Description Common worldwide or nearly worldwide genera are ''Aeshna'' and ''Anax''. The African '' Anax tristis'' has a wingspan over 125 mm, making it one of the world's largest known dragonflies. There are 41 North American species in 11 genera in this family. Most European species belong to ''Aeshna''. Their American name "darner" stems from the female abdomens looking like a sewing needle, as they cut into plant stem when they lay their eggs through the ovipositor. The dragonflies mate in flight. The eggs are deposited in water or close by. The larvae (nymphs or naiads) are generally slender compared to those of other families, with a long and flat extensible lower lip (labium). The larvae are aquatic predators, feeding on other insects and even small fish. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragonflies Of Europe
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threatens dragonfly populations around the world. Adult dragonflies are characterized by a pair of large, multifaceted compound eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches, and an elongated body. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structural colouration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly's compound eyes have nearly 24,000 ommatidia each. Dragonflies can be mistaken for the closely related damselflies, which make up the other odonatan infraorder ( Zygoptera) and are similar in body plan though usually lighter in build; however, the wings of most dragonflies are held flat and away from the body, while damselflies hold their wings folded at rest, along or a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odonata Of Africa
Odonata is an Order (biology), order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and Damselfly, damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their Crown group, total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous. The two common groups are distinguished with dragonflies, placed in the suborder Epiprocta, usually being larger, with eyes together and wings up or out at rest, while damselflies, suborder Zygoptera, are usually smaller with eyes placed apart and wings along body at rest. All Odonata have Aquatic animal, aquatic larvae called naiads (nymphs), and all of them, larvae and adults, are carnivorous. The adults can land, but rarely walk. Their legs are specialised for catching prey. They are almost entirely insectivorous. Etymology and terminology Johan Christian Fabricius, Fabricius coined the term ''Odonata'' in 1793 from the Ancient Greek (Ionic Greek, Ionic form of ) 'tooth'. One hypothesis is that it was bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of British Dragonflies
There are 57 recorded species of Odonata in Britain, made up of 21 damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) and 36 dragonflies (suborder Anisoptera). Of these, 42 species (17 damselflies and 25 dragonflies) are resident breeders, and the remainder are either extinct species, or vagrants - in respect of the latter, this list follows the decisions of the Odonata Records Committee. Some of these rare species have not been seen since the 19th Century; however, the British Odonata list is also currently undergoing a period of unprecedented change, as new species are being discovered for the first time, some going on to become breeding species. This list is based on the following principal references: * Merritt, R., N. W. Moore and B. C. Eversham (1996), '' Atlas of the dragonflies of Britain and Ireland'', HMSO () * Parr, A. J. (1996), Dragonfly movement and migration in Britain and Ireland, ''Journal of the British Dragonfly Society'' Vol. 12 No. 2 pp. 33–50 * Parr, Adrian (2000a), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exuvia
In biology, exuviae are the remains of an exoskeleton and related structures that are left after ecdysozoans (including insects, crustaceans and arachnids) have moulted. The exuviae of an animal can be important to biologists as they can often be used to identify the species of the animal and even its sex. As studying insects, crustaceans, or arachnids directly is not always possible, and because exuviae can be collected fairly easily, they can play an important part in helping to determine some general aspects of a species' overall life cycle such as distribution, sex ratio, production, and proof of breeding in a habitat. Exuviae have been suggested as a "gold standard" for insect monitoring. For instance, when monitoring dragonfly populations the presence of exuviae of a species demonstrates that the species has completed its full life cycle from egg to adult in a habitat. However, it has also been suggested that the fact that exuviae can be hard to find could lead to an undere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moulting
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer layer or covering), either at specific times of the year, or at specific points in its life cycle. In medieval times it was also known as "mewing" (from the French verb "muer", to moult), a term that lives on in the name of Britain's Royal Mews where the King's hawks used to be kept during moulting time before becoming horse stables after Tudor times. Moulting can involve shedding the Epidermis (skin), epidermis (skin), pelage (hair, feathers, fur, wool), or other external layer. In some groups, other body parts may be shed, for example, the entire exoskeleton in arthropods, including the wings in some insects. Examples In birds In birds, moulting is the periodic replacement of feathers by shedding old feathers while producing new o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. Their blood is not totally contained in vessels; some circulates in an open cavity known as the haemocoel. Insects are the most diverse group of animals; they include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The total number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million; In: potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on Earth are insects. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, which are dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans, which recent research has indicated insects are nested within. Nearly all insects hatch from eggs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterostigma
The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer insect wing, wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonfly, dragonflies, but present also in other insect groups, such as snakefly, snakeflies, hymenopterans, and megalopterans. Purpose The pterostigma, a heavier section of the wing than nearby sections, assists in gliding. Without the pterostigmata, self-exciting vibrations known as aeroelastic flutter, flutter would set in on the wing above a certain critical speed, making gliding impossible. Tests show that with the pterostigmata, the critical gliding speed is increased 10–25% on one species of dragonfly. Pseudopterostigma Some female damselfly, damselflies in the family Calopterygidae possess a ''pseudopterostigma''. This is similar in location on the wing to a true pterostigma but is crossed by veins and is only defined by its paler colour compared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urals
The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through European Russia, western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.Ural Mountains Encyclopædia Britannica on-line The mountain range forms part of the Boundaries between the continents of Earth, conventional boundary between the regions of Europe and Asia. Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean. The Ural Mountains are one of the richest mineral regions in the world, containing more than 1,000 varieties of valuable minerals. The mountains lie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Friedrich Müller
Otto Friedrich Müller, also known as Otto Friedrich Mueller (2 November 1730 – 26 December 1784) was a Danish naturalist and scientific illustrator. Biography Müller was born in Copenhagen. He was educated for the church, became tutor to a young nobleman, and after several years' travel with him, settled in Copenhagen in 1767, and married a lady of wealth. His first important works, ''Fauna Insectorum Friedrichsdaliana'' (Leipzig, 1764), and ''Flora Friedrichsdaliana'' (Strasbourg, 1767), giving accounts of the insects and flora of the estate of Frederiksdal, near Copenhagen, recommended him to Frederick V of Denmark, by whom he was employed to continue the ''Flora Danica'' a comprehensive atlas of the flora of Denmark. Müller added two volumes to the three published by Georg Christian Oeder since 1761. The study of invertebrates began to occupy his attention almost exclusively, and in 1771 he produced a work in German on “Certain Worms inhabiting Fresh and Salt Water, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Siberian region; the Mediterranean Basin; the Sahara and Arabian Deserts; and Western, Central and East Asia. The Palaearctic realm also has numerous rivers and lakes, forming several freshwater ecoregions. The term 'Palearctic' was first used in the 19th century, and is still in use as the basis for zoogeographic classification. History In an 1858 paper for the ''Proceedings of the Linnean Society'', British zoologist Philip Sclater first identified six terrestrial zoogeographic realms of the world: Palaearctic, Aethiopian/Afrotropic, Indian/Indomalayan, Australasian, Nearctic, and Neotropical. The six indicated general groupings of fauna, based on shared biogeography and large-scale geographic barriers to migration. Alfred Wallace a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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