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Cryptogyps
''Cryptogyps'' is an extinct genus of Old World vulture from the Pleistocene of Australia. It was relatively small for a vulture but still larger than the extant wedge-tailed eagle. Originally described as an eagle in 1905 (under the binomial name ''Taphaetus lacertosus''), in 2022 it was reidentified as a vulture, the first known example from the continent. Phylogenetic analysis suggests it either being a sister species to the extant, widespread Eurasian vulture genus ''Gyps'' or as a more basal member of the subfamily. The identification of ''Cryptogyps'' as a vulture solves a longstanding mystery about the lack of specialized lineages of large scavenging birds in Australia despite being present on every other continent aside from Antarctica. It is likely that ''Cryptogyps'' went extinct towards the end of the Pleistocene due to the disappearance of the megafauna it depended on for carrion. The genus contains a single species, ''C. lacertosus''. History and naming ''Cryptogyps'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old World Vulture
Old World vultures are vultures that are found in the Old World, i.e. the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and which belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, buzzards, kites, and hawks. Old World vultures are not closely related to the superficially similar New World vultures and condors, and do not share that group's good sense of smell. The similarities between the two groups of vultures are due to convergent evolution, rather than a close relationship. They were widespread in both the Old World and North America during the Neogene. Old World vultures are probably a polyphyletic group within Accipitridae, belonging to two separate not closely related groups within the family. Most authorities refer to two major clades: Gypaetinae ('' Gypaetus, Gypohierax'' and '' Neophron'') and Aegypiinae ('' Aegypius'', '' Gyps'', '' Sarcogyps'', '' Torgos'', '' Trigonoceps'' and possibly '' Necrosyrtes''). The former seem to be nested with Perninae hawks, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek () 'most' and (; Latinized as ) 'new'. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold Glacial period, glacial periods and warmer Interglacial, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently defined as the time between 129,000 and c. 11,700 years ago. The late Pleistocene equates to the proposed Tarantian Age of the geologic time scale, preceded by the officially ratified Chibanian (commonly known as the Middle Pleistocene). The beginning of the Late Pleistocene is the transition between the end of the Penultimate Glacial Period and the beginning of the Last Interglacial around 130,000 years ago (corresponding with the beginning of Marine Isotope Stage 5). The Late Pleistocene ends with the termination of the Younger Dryas, some 10th millennium BC, 11,700 years ago when the Holocene Epoch began. The term Upper Pleistocene is currently in use as a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a land area of , and is also the List of country subdivisions by area, second-largest subdivision of any country on Earth. Western Australia has a diverse range of climates, including tropical conditions in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley, deserts in the interior (including the Great Sandy Desert, Little Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, and Great Victoria Desert) and a Mediterranean climate on the south-west and southern coastal areas. the state has 2.965 million inhabitants—10.9 percent of the national total. Over 90 percent of the state's population live in the South-West Land Division, south-west corner and around 80 percent live in the state capital Perth, leaving the remainder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, and occupies an area of about . At its widest point, it stretches about from east to west across the border between South Australia and Western Australia. History Historically, the Nullarbor was seasonally occupied by Indigenous Australian people, the Mirning clans and Yinyila people. Traditionally, the area was called ''Oondiri'', which is said to mean 'the waterless'. The first Europeans known to have sighted and mapped the Nullarbor coast were Captain François Thijssen and Councillor of the Indies, Pieter Nuyts, on the Dutch East Indiaman '''t Gulden Zeepaert (ship, 1626), 't Gulden Zeepaert'' (the Golden Seahorse). In 1626–1627, they charted a stretch of the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral Sea, Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. The Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory are Enclave and exclave, enclaves within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. , the population of New South Wales was over 8.3 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Almost two-thirds of the state's population, 5.3 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. The Colony of New South Wales was founded as a British penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised more than half of the Australian mainland with its Western Australia border, western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825. The colony then also includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington Caves
The Wellington Caves are a group of limestone caves located south of Wellington, New South Wales, Australia. History The Wellington region was long inhabited by the 'Binjang mob' of the Wiradjuri, Wiradjuri people. While there is no direct evidence that they entered any of the caves at Wellington, there is indirect evidence that they were well aware of them. A picture painted by Augustus Earle around 1826 (see image at right) clearly shows Aboriginal people in front of a fire at the entrance to Cathedral Cave; although labelled 'Mosman's Cave', it is clearly the entrance to Cathedral Cave and such is the first written record of the caves. First Europeans The first Europeans to explore the caves were probably associated with Lieutenant Percy Simpson's settlement (1823–1831), but the first written account was provided by explorer Hamilton Hume in 1828. Two years later George Ranken, a local magistrate, found fossil bones of both a diprotodon and a giant kangaroo in the cav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gypaetinae
The Gypaetinae is one of two subfamilies of Old World vultures the other being the Aegypiinae. Some taxonomic authorities place the Gypaetinae within the Perninae hawks. They are presently found throughout much of Africa, Asia, and southern Europe, hence being considered "Old World" vultures, but as recently as the Late Pleistocene, they were also present in North America. A 2005 study found ''Madagascar serpent eagle, Eutriorchis astur'' to be closely related. Species Extant genera Fossil genera Genera known only from fossils include: References Other sources * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1285640 Old World vultures, Accipitridae Vultures Birds of prey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lectotype
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the defining features of that particular taxon. In older usage (pre-1900 in botany), a type was a taxon rather than a specimen. A taxon is a scientifically named grouping of organisms with other like organisms, a set that includes some organisms and excludes others, based on a detailed published description (for example a species description) and on the provision of type material, which is usually available to scientists for examination in a major museum research collection, or similar institution. Type specimen According to a precise set of rules laid down in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) and the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN), the scientific name of every taxon is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haliaeetus
''Haliaeetus'' is a genus of four species of eagles, closely related to the sea eagles in the genus '' Ichthyophaga''. Taxonomy The genus ''Haliaeetus'' was introduced in 1809 by the French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny to accommodate a single species, the "L'aigle de mer" with the binomial name ''Haliaeetus nisus''. This is the type species. Savigny's binomial name is now regarded as a junior synonym of ''Falco albicilla'' (the white-tailed eagle) that had been described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The genus name is from Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ... ''haliaetus'' or ''haliaetos'' meaning "sea-eagle" or "osprey". This genus includes the following four species: References Haliaeetus Bird genera Accipitridae Taxa named by Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerard Frederick Van Tets
Gerard Frederick van Tets (19 January 1929 – 14 January 1995), otherwise known as Jerry van Tets, was a twentieth century British, Canadian and Australian ornithologist and palaeontologist. Born to Dutch parents, jhr. Hendrik Barthout van Tets, heer van Goidschalxoord and Thérèse van Heukelom, in London on 19 January 1929, Van Tets spent his childhood in the Netherlands. Following World War II, he moved to England to complete his schooling at Hazelmere. He completed two years of national service with the Royal Engineers in England and Austria before emigrating to Canada where he studied at the University of Toronto (1952–54) and the University of British Columbia (1954-1963), obtaining his PhD in 1963. He became a member of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1958. In November 1963, he married Patricia Anne Johnston in Vancouver, British Columbia, moving shortly thereafter to Australia, where he joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Code Of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted Convention (norm), convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific name, scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (which shares the acronym "ICZN"). The rules principally regulate: * How names are correctly established in the frame of Binomial nomenclature, binominal nomenclature * How to determine whether a given name is Available name, available * Which available name must be used in case of name conflicts (Valid name (zoology), valid name) * How scientific literature must cite names Zoological nomenclature is independent of other systems of nomenclature, for example botanical nomenclature. This implies that animals can have the same generic names as plants (e.g. there is a genus ''Abronia (other), Abronia'' in both animals and plants). The rules and re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
