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Silver-studded Blue
The silver-studded blue (''Plebejus argus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It has bright blue wings rimmed in black with white edges and silver spots on its hindwings, lending it the name of the silver-studded blue. ''P. argus'' can be found across Europe and east across the Palearctic, but is most often studied in the United Kingdom in which the species has experienced a severe decline in population due to habitat loss and fragmentation. ''P. argus'' engages in mutualism with ants that contribute to the butterflies' reproductive fitness by providing protection from predation and parasitism from the point of egg laying to their emergence as adults. ''P. argus'' adults emerge in the end of June and beginning of July and engage in flight into the beginning of August. The butterfly is adaptable to different habitats and is found in heathland, mossland, and limestone grassland. Tending towards a sedentary lifestyle and typically flying less than a day, ''P. argus'' main ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is the 9th-most populous county in England. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, located in the north of the county. The county is bordered by Dorset to the south-west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, and West Sussex to the south east. The county is geographically diverse, with upland rising to and mostly south-flowing rivers. There are areas of downland and marsh, and two national parks: the New Forest and part of the South Downs, which together cover 45 per cent of Hampshire. Settled about 14,000 years ago, Hampshire's recorded history dates to Roman Britain, when its chief town was Venta Belgarum (now Winchester). The county was recorded in Domesday Book as divided into 44 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it the 14th most species-rich family of flowering plants. The many well known and economically important members of the Ericaceae include the cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, rhododendron (including azaleas), and various common heaths and heathers ('' Erica'', '' Cassiope'', '' Daboecia'', and ''Calluna'' for example). Description The Ericaceae contain a morphologically diverse range of taxa, including herbs, dwarf shrubs, shrubs, and trees. Their leaves are usually evergreen, alternate or whorled, simple and without stipules. Their flowers are hermaphrodite and show considerable variability. The petals are often fused ( sympetalous) with shapes ranging from narrowly tubular to funnelform or widely urn-shaped. The corollas are usually rad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bracken
Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs and sperm). Brackens are noted for their large, highly divided leaves. They are found on all continents except Antarctica and in all environments except deserts, though their typical habitat is moorland. The genus probably has the widest distribution of any fern in the world. The word ''bracken'' is of Old Norse origin, related to Swedish ''bräken'' and Danish ''bregne'', both meaning fern. In the past, the genus was commonly treated as having only one species, ''Pteridium aquilinum'', but the recent trend is to subdivide it into about ten species. Like other ferns, brackens do not have seeds or fruits, but the immature fronds, known as '' fiddleheads'', are sometimes eaten, although some are thought to be carcinogenic. Description a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulex Europaeus
''Ulex europaeus'', the gorse, common gorse, furze or whin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the British Isles and Western Europe. Description Growing to tall, it is an evergreen shrub. The young stems are green, with the shoots and leaves modified into green spines, long. Young seedlings produce normal leaves for the first few months; these are trifoliate, resembling a small clover leaf. The solitary flowers are yellow, long, with the pea-flower structure typical of the Fabaceae; they are produced throughout the year, but mainly over a long period in spring. They are coconut-scented. The fruit is a legume (pod) long, dark purplish-brown, partly enclosed by the pale brown remnants of the flower; the pod contains 2–3 small blackish, shiny, hard seeds, which are ejected when the pod splits open in hot weather. Seeds remain viable for 30 years. Like many species of gorse, it is often a fire-climax plant, which readily catches fire but re-g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erica Cinerea
''Erica cinerea'', the bell heather, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to western and central Europe. The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 5 for most nectar production (nectar per unit cover per year) in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative. Description It is a low, spreading shrub growing to tall, with fine needle-like leaves long arranged in whorls of three. The flowers are bell-shaped, purple (rarely white), long, produced in mid- to late summer. The flowers are dry, similar in texture to the strawflower. The Latin specific epithet ''cinerea'' means "ash coloured". Distribution ''Erica cinerea'' is native to the west of Europe, where it is most abundant in Britain and Ireland, France, northern Spain and southern Norway. It also occurs in the Faroe Islands, Belgium, Germany, north-western Italy, and the Netherlands. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calluna
''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade. It is the dominant plant in most heathland and moorland in Europe, and in some bog vegetation and acidic pine and oak woodland. It is tolerant of grazing and regenerates following occasional burning, and is often managed in nature reserves and grouse moors by sheep or cattle grazing, and also by light burning. ''Calluna'' was separated from the closely related genus ''Erica'' by Richard Anthony Salisbury, who devised the generic name ''Calluna'' probably from the Ancient Greek (), "beautify, sweep clean", in reference to its traditional use in besoms. The specific epithet ''vulgaris'' is Latin for 'common'. ''Calluna'' is differentiate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erica Tetralix
''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe such as Austria and Switzerland. In bogs, wet heaths and damp coniferous woodland, ''E. tetralix'' can become a dominant part of the flora. It has also been introduced to parts of North America. Description It is a perennial subshrub with small pink bell-shaped drooping flowers borne in compact clusters at the ends of its shoots, and leaves in whorls of four (whence the name). The flowers appear in summer and autumn. The distinction between ''E. tetralix'' and the related species ''Erica cinerea'' is that the linear leaves are usually glandular and in whorls of four, while those of ''Erica cinerea'' are glabrous and borne in whorls of three. The leaves of '' Calluna vulgaris'' are much smaller and scale-like and borne in opposite and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plebeius Argus Egg
Plebeius may refer to: *The gossamer-winged butterfly genus ''Plebejus ''Plebejus'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. Its species are found in the Palearctic and Nearctic realms. Taxonomy As a result of studies of molecular phylogenetics, numerous species that were included in ''Plebejus'' by som ...'' *A member of the Plebs. {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helianthemum
''Helianthemum'' , known as rock rose, sunrose, rushrose, or frostweed,''Helianthemum''. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). is a of about 110''Helianthemum''. Flora of China. species of s in the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metapopulation
A metapopulation consists of a group of spatially separated populations of the same species which interact at some level. The term metapopulation was coined by Richard Levins in 1969 to describe a model of population dynamics of insect pests in agricultural fields, but the idea has been most broadly applied to species in naturally or artificially fragmented habitats. In Levins' own words, it consists of "a population of populations". A metapopulation is generally considered to consist of several distinct populations together with areas of suitable habitat which are currently unoccupied. In classical metapopulation theory, each population cycles in relative independence of the other populations and eventually goes extinct as a consequence of demographic stochasticity (fluctuations in population size due to random demographic events); the smaller the population, the more chances of inbreeding depression and prone to extinction. Although individual populations have finite life-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lasius Alienus
''Lasius alienus'', or cornfield ant, is a species of ant in the subfamily Formicinae (family Formicidae). Workers have a length of about 2–4 mm, Queens are larger (7–9 mm). Distribution They live in Europe, from Spain to the Caucasus; populations in North America are now considered to be a separate species, '' Lasius americanus''. Genetics Genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ... type ''Lasius alienus'': 0,31 m (C value)Tsutsui, ND, AV Suarez, J.C. Spagna, and J.S. Johnston (2008). The evolution of genome size in ants. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8: 64. Mutualism The butterfly '' Plebejus argus'' lays eggs near nests of the ant ''L. alienus'', forming a mutualistic relationship. This mutualistic relationship benefits the adult butterfly by reducing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Garden Ant
The black garden ant (''Lasius niger''), also known as the common black ant, is a formicine ant, the type species of the subgenus ''Lasius'', which is found across Europe and in some parts of North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. The European species was split into two species; ''L. niger'', which are found in open areas; and ''L. platythorax'', which is found in forest habitats. It is monogynous, meaning colonies contain a single queen. ''Lasius niger'' colonies can reach in size up to around 40,000 workers in rare cases, but 4,000–7,000 is around average. A ''Lasius niger'' queen can live for up to 29 years the longest recorded lifespan for any eusocial insect. ''Lasius niger'' queens in the early stages of founding can have two to three other queens in the nest. They will tolerate each other until the first workers come, then it is most likely they will fight until one queen remains. Under laboratory conditions, workers can live at least 4 years. ''Lasius n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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