|
Bipes (lizard)
''Bipes'' is a genus of amphisbaenians (or worm lizards) found only in Mexico, the sole living member of the family (biology), family Bipedidae. They are carnivorous, Fossorial, burrowing reptiles, but unlike other species of amphisbaenians, they possess two stubby forelimbs placed far forward on the body. They also retain an almost complete pectoral girdle. The shovel-like limbs are used to scrape away soil while burrowing, in a manner similar to a mole (animal), mole. Evidence for their occurrence in the United States is reviewed by Somma (1993). References Further reading *Pierre André Latreille, Latreille PA (1801). ''In'': Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt, Sonnini CS, Latreiile PA (1801). ''Histoire naturelle des reptiles, avec figures desinées d'après nature; Tome II. Premiere partie. Quadrupèdes et bipèdes ovipares''. Paris: Crapalet. 332 pp. (''Bipes'', pp. 90–96.) *Edward Harrison Taylor, Taylor EH (1951). "Concerning Oligocene Amphisbaenid Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Mole Lizard
The Mexican mole lizard (''Bipes biporus''), also Common name, commonly known as the five-toed worm lizard, or simply as ''Bipes (lizard), Bipes'', is a species of amphisbaenian in the Family (biology), family Bipedidae. The species is Endemism, endemic to the Baja California Peninsula. It is one of three species of Amphisbaenia, amphisbaenians that have legs. Genetic Variation Studies demonstrate that Mexican mole lizards have very low genetic variation among the three Allopatric speciation, allopatric species found in this genus. All three allopatric species have seven fixed identical loci and only six different fixed loci. This is due to the similar environments that all three species are found in. Description ''B. biporus'' is pink and worm-like, in snout-to-vent length (SVL) and in width. It lives for one to two years. Its skin is closely segmented to give a corrugated appearance, and like earthworms, its underground movement is by peristalsis of the segments. Its blunt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bipedidae
Bipedidae is a family of amphisbaenians that includes the extant genus '' Bipes'' represented by three species from Baja California and the southern coast of Mexico and the extinct genus '' Anniealexandria'' represented by one species that lived in what is now Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ... during the earliest Eocene around 55 million years ago. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Bipedidae is most closely related to the family Blanidae, which includes the living genus '' Blanus''. Bipedidae are very small, usually ranging from 120 to 240 mm. They lack external hind limbs and are the only amphisbaenians with well-developed fossorial front limbs, which each include five claws. They have a short tail that does not regenerate if lost. They use thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lizard Genera
Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic islands, oceanic Archipelago, island chains. The grouping is Paraphyly, paraphyletic as some lizards are more closely related to snakes than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter-long Komodo dragon. Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Some lineages (known as "legless lizards") have secondarily lost their legs, and have long snake-like bodies. Some lizards, such as the forest-dwelling ''Draco (genus), Draco'', are able to glide. They are often Territory (animal), territorial, the males fighting off other males and signalling, often with bright colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are mainly carnivorous, often b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bipes (lizard)
''Bipes'' is a genus of amphisbaenians (or worm lizards) found only in Mexico, the sole living member of the family (biology), family Bipedidae. They are carnivorous, Fossorial, burrowing reptiles, but unlike other species of amphisbaenians, they possess two stubby forelimbs placed far forward on the body. They also retain an almost complete pectoral girdle. The shovel-like limbs are used to scrape away soil while burrowing, in a manner similar to a mole (animal), mole. Evidence for their occurrence in the United States is reviewed by Somma (1993). References Further reading *Pierre André Latreille, Latreille PA (1801). ''In'': Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt, Sonnini CS, Latreiile PA (1801). ''Histoire naturelle des reptiles, avec figures desinées d'après nature; Tome II. Premiere partie. Quadrupèdes et bipèdes ovipares''. Paris: Crapalet. 332 pp. (''Bipes'', pp. 90–96.) *Edward Harrison Taylor, Taylor EH (1951). "Concerning Oligocene Amphisbaenid Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Harrison Taylor
Edward Harrison Taylor (April 23, 1889 – June 16, 1978) was an American herpetologist from Missouri. Early life Taylor was born in Maysville, Missouri, to George and Loretta Taylor. He had an older brother, Eugene. Taylor studied at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, graduating with a B.A. in 1912. Field trips during his time at the University of Kansas with Dr. Clarence McClung and Dr. Roy Moody helped prepare Taylor for his future endeavors. Between 1916 and 1920 he returned briefly to Kansas to finish his M.A. Career Upon completing his bachelor's degree, Taylor went to the Philippines, where at first he held a teacher's post in a village in central Mindanao, in the Industrial School for Manobo now known as the Agusan del Sur State College of Agriculture and Technology (ASSCAT). He collected and studied the local herpetofauna extensively and published many papers. He returned to the Philippines after completing his master's degree and was appointed Chief of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini De Manoncourt
Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1 February 1751 – 9 May 1812) was a French people, French naturalist. Career Between 1799 and 1808, Sonnini de Manoncourt wrote 127 volumes of the ''Histoire naturelle''. Noteworthy among these, especially for herpetologists, is ''Histoire naturelle des Reptiles, avec figures desinées d'après nature'', in four volumes, which he wrote with Pierre André Latreille. This work includes descriptions and illustrations of many North American reptiles. Another important work attributed to him is ''The Lost Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles'', also dubbed the ''Sonnini manuscript'', which was allegedly found in his publication ''Voyage en Grèce et en Turquie'' and later published and translated to English sometime not earlier than 1801. The work, which first appeared in London in 1871, has received mixed opinions from different Christians, with most scholars rejecting it as a modern pseudepigrapha, modern pseudepigraph. Publicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mole (animal)
Moles are small, fossorial, subterranean mammals. They have cylindrical bodies, velvety fur, very small, inconspicuous eyes and ears, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging. The word "mole" most commonly refers to many species in the family Talpidae (which are named after the Latin word for mole, ''talpa''). True moles are found in most parts of North America, Europe (except for Ireland) and Asia. Other mammals referred to as moles include the African Golden mole, golden moles and the Australian Marsupial mole, marsupial moles, which have a similar ecology and lifestyle to true moles but are unrelated. Moles may be viewed as pests to gardeners, but they provide positive contributions to soil, gardens, and ecosystems, including soil aeration, feeding on slugs and small creatures that eat plant roots, and providing prey for other wildlife. They eat earthworms and other small invertebrates in the soil. Terminology In Middle English, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by restricting the former term specifically to displaced soil. Soil consists of a solid collection of minerals and organic matter (the soil matrix), as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil solution). Accordingly, soil is a three- state system of solids, liquids, and gases. Soil is a product of several factors: the influence of climate, relief (elevation, orientation, and slope of terrain), organisms, and the soil's parent materials (original minerals) interacting over time. It continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering with associated erosion. Given its complexity and strong internal connectedness, soil ecologists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour, or ecological niche. In addition, palaeontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. About 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomen". The first part of a binomen is the name of a genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name (zoology), specific name or the specific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossorial
A fossorial animal () is one that is adapted to digging and which lives primarily (but not solely) underground. Examples of fossorial vertebrates are Mole (animal), moles, badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamanders. Among invertebrates, many molluscs (e.g., clams), insects (e.g., beetles, wasps, bees), and arachnids (e.g. spiders) are fossorial. Prehistoric evidence The physical adaptation of fossoriality is widely accepted as being widespread among many Prehistory, prehistoric Phylum, phyla and Taxon, taxa, such as bacteria and early eukaryotes. Furthermore, fossoriality has evolved independently multiple times, even within a single Family (biology), family. Fossorial animals appeared simultaneously with the colonization of land by arthropods in the late Ordovician period (over 440 million years ago). Other notable early burrowers include ''Eocaecilia'' and possibly ''Dinilysia''. The oldest example of burrowing in synapsids, the lineag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carnivorous
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other soft tissues) as food, whether through predation or scavenging. Nomenclature Mammal order The technical term for mammals in the order Carnivora is ''carnivoran'', and they are so-named because most member species in the group have a carnivorous diet, but the similarity of the name of the order and the name of the diet causes confusion. Many but not all carnivorans are meat eaters; a few, such as the large and small cats (Felidae) are ''obligate'' carnivores (see below). Other classes of carnivore are highly variable. The ursids (bears), for example: while the Arctic polar bear eats meat almost exclusively (more than 90% of its diet is meat), almost all other bear species are omnivorous, and one species, the gia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family (, : ) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family—or whether a described family should be acknowledged—is established and decided upon by active taxonomists. There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to a lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
