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Allen's Gallinule
Allen's gallinule (''Porphyrio alleni''), formerly known as the lesser gallinule, is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. Taxonomy Its former binomial name is ''Porphyrula alleni''. ''Porphyrio'' is the Latin for "swamphen", and ''alleni'', like the English name, commemorates British naval officer Rear-Admiral William Allen (admiral), William Allen (1792–1864). Distribution and habitat Its breeding habitat is marshes and lakes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Remarkably, this apparently weakly flying bird is not only the only species with a purely sub-Saharan African range to have reached Great Britain, but has done so twice. It has also occurred as a vagrant in several other European countries. Description They are similar in size to the only slightly larger water rail. The Allen's gallinule has a short red bill, greenish back and purple upperparts. They have red legs with long toes, and a short tail which is white with a dark central bar underneath. Breeding males have a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Richard Heywood Thomson
Thomas Richard Heywood Thomson (1813–1876) was an English explorer and naturalist. He took part in the Niger expedition of 1841. He originally described the Allen's gallinule. Works *Captain William Allen (Royal Navy officer), William Allen & T. R. H. Thomson 1848: ''A narrative of the expedition sent by Her Majesty's government to the river Niger, in 1841, under the command of Capt. H. D. Trotter, R.N.''. 2 vols. – Richard Bentley, Lontoo. *T. R. H. Thomson 1854: Observations on the Reported Incompetency of the "Gins" or Aboriginal Females of New Holland, to Procreate with a Native Male after Having Borne Half-Caste Children to a European or White. ''Journal of the Ethnological Society of London'' (1848–1856), Vol. 3, 1854 (1854), ss. 243–246 References''A Narrative of the Expedition to the Niger in 1841'' English naturalists English ornithologists 1876 deaths 1813 births British explorers {{ornithologist-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frontal Shield
A frontal shield, also known as a facial shield or frontal plate, is a feature of the anatomy of several bird species. Located just above the upper mandible, and protruding along the forehead, it is composed of two main parts: a hard, proteinaceous callus and a soft, fleshy corium. It is thought to play roles in protection, mate identification, sexual selection, and territorial defense. Composition The callus is a hard, keratinous section of the frontal plate located highest on the forehead. It is generally more pigmented than the surrounding corium. Underneath the callus is a Malpighian layer of tissue that connects the structure to the maxilla. This layer is supplied with blood via vessel-containing dermal papillae. It has been observed to resemble the texture of calloused human skin. The corium is a thick, dense mass of connective tissue fibers that makes up the largest portion of the frontal plate. It contains layers of cells that aide in enlarging or flattening the structur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of The Comoros
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have furt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyrio
''Porphyrio'' is the swamphen or swamp hen bird genus in the rail family. It includes some smaller species of gallinules which are sometimes separated as genus ''Porphyrula'' or united with the gallinules proper (or "moorhens") in '' Gallinula''. The ''Porphyrio'' gallinules are distributed in the warmer regions of the world. The group probably originated in Africa in the Middle Miocene, before spreading across the world in waves from the Late Miocene to Pleistocene. The genus ''Porphyrio'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the western swamphen (''Porphyrio porphyrio'') as the type species. The genus name ''Porphyrio'' is the Latin name for "swamphen", meaning "purple". Species The genus contains ten extant species and two that have become extinct in historical times: Extant species * Purple swamphen complex ** Western swamphen, ''Porphyrio porphyrio'' ** African swamphen, ''Porphyrio madagascariensis'' ** Grey-headed swamphen, '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect
Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, Thorax (insect anatomy), thorax and abdomen (insect anatomy), abdomen), three pairs of jointed Arthropod leg, legs, compound eyes, and a pair of antenna (biology), antennae. Insects are the most diverse group of animals, with more than a million described species; they represent more than half of all animal species. The insect nervous system consists of a insect brain, brain and a ventral nerve cord. Most insects reproduce Oviparous, by laying eggs. Insects Respiratory system of insects, breathe air through a system of Spiracle (arthropods), paired openings along their sides, connected to Trachea#Invertebrates, small tubes that take air directly to the tissues. The blood therefore does not carry oxygen; it is only partly contained in ves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilization, fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to egg incubation, incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the animal hatches. Most arthropods, vertebrates (excluding live-bearing mammals), and Mollusca, mollusks lay eggs, although some, such as scorpions, do not. Reptile eggs, bird eggs, and monotreme eggs are laid out of water and are surrounded by a protective eggshell, shell, either flexible or inflexible. Eggs laid on land or in nests are usually kept within a warm and favorable temperature range while the embryo grows. When the embryo is adequately developed it hatches, i.e., breaks out of the egg's shell. Some embryos have a temporary egg tooth they use to crack, pip, or break the eggshell or covering. The largest recorded egg is from a whale shark and was in size. Whale shark eggs typically hatch within the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Migration
Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. The Arctic tern holds the long-distance migration record for birds, travelling between Arctic breeding grounds and the Antarctic each year. Some species of Procellariiformes, tubenoses, such as albatrosses, circle the Earth, flying over the southern oceans, while others such as Manx shearwaters migrate between their northern breeding grounds and the southern ocean. Shorter migrations are common, while longer ones are not. The shorter migrations include altitudinal migrations on mountains, including the Andes and Himalayas. The timing of migration seems to be controlled primarily by changes in day length. Migrating birds navigate using celestial cues from the Sun and stars, the Earth's magnetic field, and mental maps. Histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rallidae
Rails (avian family Rallidae) are a large, Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes such ubiquitous species as the crakes, coots, and gallinule; other rail species are extremely rare or endangered. Many are associated with wetland habitats, some being semi-aquatic like waterfowl (such as the coot), but many more are wading birds or shorebirds. The ideal rail habitats are marsh areas, including rice paddy, rice paddies, and flooded fields or open forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation for nesting.Horsfall & Robinson (2003): pp. 206–207 The rail family is found in every Terrestrial animal, terrestrial habitat with the exception of dry desert, Polar climate, polar or freezing regions, and Alpine climate, alpine areas (above the snow line). Members of Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Rail
The water rail, western water rail or European water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. The adult is long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally, allowing it easier passage through the reed beds it inhabits. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill. Immature birds are generally similar in appearance to the adults, but the blue-grey in the plumage is replaced by buff. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails. The former subspecies ''R. indicus'' has distinctive markings and a call that is very different from the pig-like squeal of the western races, and is now usually split as a separate species, the brown-cheeked rail. The w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Annals And Magazine Of Natural History, Including Zoology, Botany, And Geology
The ''Journal of Natural History'' is a scientific journal published by Taylor & Francis focusing on entomology and zoology. The journal was established in 1841 under the name ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' (''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'') and obtained its current title in 1967. The journal was formed by the merger of '' Loudon and Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural History'' (1828–1840) and the ''Annals of Natural History'' (1838–1840; previously the ''Magazine of Zoology and Botany'', 1836–1838). In September 1855, the ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' published "On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species", a paper which Alfred Russel Wallace had written while working in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo in February of that year. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allen's Gallinule, Porphyrio Alleni, At Chobe National Park, Botswana
Allen's, earlier A. W. Allen Limited, is an Australian brand of confectionery products produced by Nestlé. Allen's is the top brand of sugar confectionery in Australia. It is best known for Minties, a soft chewable mint-flavoured confectionery, and their varieties of 'Party Mix' lollies. History Allen's was founded by Alfred Weaver Allen (1870–1925), a Melbourne confectioner. Originally employed by MacRobertson's, he commenced confectionery production in 1891 at his Fitzroy confectionery shop. By 1909, Allen's was the third largest confectionery business in Melbourne, after those of MacRobertson and Abel Hoadley. It launched as a public company in 1922. It moved from an adjacent site to a vast factory built to the design of prominent Melbourne architect Joseph Plottel in South Melbourne on the banks of the Yarra River (which had formerly housed Holden's first Australian plant and Kraft Walker Foods), in the 1950s. Its animated neon sign was a local landmark up to its d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia. Europe is commonly considered to be Boundaries between the continents#Asia and Europe, separated from Asia by the Drainage divide, watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural (river), Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterway of the Bosporus, Bosporus Strait. "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles." Europe covers approx. , or 2% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface (6.8% of Earth's land area), making it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
