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Piaya
''Piaya'' is a small genus of relatively large and long-tailed cuckoos, which occur in Mexico, Central America and South America. Species The two species in taxonomic order are: The little cuckoo has been found to be closer to some species traditionally placed in '' Coccyzus'' or ''Micrococcyx''. These are now again separated in '' Coccycua''. Description and ecology These birds are birds with relatively slender bodies, long tails and strong legs. The black-bellied cuckoo is essentially restricted to rainforest, but the more widespread squirrel cuckoo also occurs in other forest types, woodlands or mangroves. ''Piaya'' cuckoos, unlike many Old World species, are not brood parasites; they build their own nests in trees and lay two eggs. Parasitic cuckoos lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts, but the non-parasitic ''Piaya'' species, like most other non-passerines, lay white eggs. These are vocal species with persistent and loud calls. They feed on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squirrel Cuckoo
The squirrel cuckoo (''Piaya cayana'') is a large and active species of cuckoo found in wooded habitats from northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad. Some authorities have split off the western Mexican form as the Mexican squirrel-cuckoo (''Piaya mexicana''). Description This large and extremely long-tailed cuckoo is long and weighs . The adult has mainly chestnut upperparts and head, becoming paler on the throat. The lower breast is grey and the belly is blackish. The central tail feathers are rufous, but the outer are black with white tips. The bill is yellow and the iris is red. Immature birds have a grey bill and eyering, brown iris, and less white in the tail. It resembles the little cuckoo, but that species is smaller and has a darker throat. There are a number of subspecies with minor plumage variations. For example, ''P. c. mehleri'', one of the South American subspecies, has mainly brown (not black) outer tail feathers. Additionally, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piaya
''Piaya'' is a small genus of relatively large and long-tailed cuckoos, which occur in Mexico, Central America and South America. Species The two species in taxonomic order are: The little cuckoo has been found to be closer to some species traditionally placed in '' Coccyzus'' or ''Micrococcyx''. These are now again separated in '' Coccycua''. Description and ecology These birds are birds with relatively slender bodies, long tails and strong legs. The black-bellied cuckoo is essentially restricted to rainforest, but the more widespread squirrel cuckoo also occurs in other forest types, woodlands or mangroves. ''Piaya'' cuckoos, unlike many Old World species, are not brood parasites; they build their own nests in trees and lay two eggs. Parasitic cuckoos lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts, but the non-parasitic ''Piaya'' species, like most other non-passerines, lay white eggs. These are vocal species with persistent and loud calls. They feed on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuckoo
Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae, respectively. The cuckoo order Cuculiformes is one of three that make up the Otidimorphae, the other two being the turacos and the bustards. The family Cuculidae contains 150 species, which are divided into 33 genera. The cuckoos are generally medium-sized, slender birds. Most species live in trees, though a sizeable minority are ground-dwelling. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution; the majority of species are tropical. Some species are migratory. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae, and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Some species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species and giving rise to the terms " cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Cuckoo
The little cuckoo (''Coccycua minuta'') is a species of bird in the cuckoo family (Cuculidae) from South America and Panama. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Piaya'', but was moved to the reinstated genus ''Coccycua'' following the discovery that its closest living relatives are a couple species traditionally placed in '' Coccyzus'' or ''Micrococcyx'', rather than the other members of ''Piaya''.IUCN (2008) Description This species is about long and weighs . The adult is mainly chestnut brown, with a greyish lower belly, browner tail and white tips to the tail feathers. The bill is yellow, short, and decurved; the iris of the eyes is red. Immature birds are dark brown with a black bill and no white tail tips. It is smaller and the throat is darker than in the squirrel cuckoo. The little cuckoo makes harsh ''chek'' and ''kak'' calls. Range, habitat and behavior This small cuckoo occurs from Panama and Trinidad south through Colombia to Bolivia, Peru and Brazil; in Ecuador ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coccycua
''Coccycua'' is a small genus of birds in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. Its three species are found in the tropical Americas. Formerly, they were divided among in ''Coccyzus'' (two species) and ''Piaya'' (one species), or the former were assigned to ''Micrococcyx'' and only the latter to ''Coccycua''. Following the discovery that they form a monophyletic lineage equidistant to both related genera, ''Coccycua'' has been revalidated. Species The species are: Synonyms The genus name ''Coccycua'' has often been believed to be a misspelling, and various :wikt:emendation, emendations have been proposed. However, the name as originally written is valid. The junior synonyms are: * ''Coccicua'' Lesson, 1837 (unjustified emendation) * ''Coccygua'' Fitzinger, 1856 (unjustified emendation) * ''Coccyzaea'' Hartlaub, 1842 (unjustified emendation) * ''Coccyzusa'' Cabanis & Heine, [1863] (unjustified emendation) * ''Micrococcyx'' Ridgway, 1912 References Coccycua, Bird genera Bir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coccyzus
''Coccyzus'' is a genus of cuckoos which occur in the Americas. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kokkuzo'', which means to call like a common cuckoo. The genus includes the lizard cuckoos that were formerly included in the genus ''Saurothera''. Taxonomy The genus ''Coccyzus'' was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot to accommodate a single species, Comte de Buffon's "Coucou de la Caroline", now the yellow-billed cuckoo. This which is therefore the type species. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek ''kokkuzō'' meaning "to cry cuckoo". The results of a molecular phylogenetic study of the cuckoo family by Michael Sorenson and Robert Payne that was published in 2005 lead to a reorganization of some of the genera. Based on this study, the genera ''Saurothera'' (the lizard cuckoos) and ''Hyetornis'' (chestnut-bellied and bay-breasted cuckoos) were lumped with ''Coccyzus'' while the ash-colored cuckoo and dwarf cuckoo, at one time separat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cicada
The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two families, the Tettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and the Cicadidae, with more than 3,000 species Taxonomy (biology)#Taxonomic descriptions, described from around the world; many species remain Undescribed taxon, undescribed. Nearly all cicada species are annual cicadas with the exception of the few North American periodical cicada species, genus ''Magicicada'', which in a given region emerge en masse every 13 or 17 years. Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous front wings. They have an exceptionally loud song, produced in most species by the rapid buckling and unbuckling of drum-like tymbals. The earliest known fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey. The most commonly known wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, are in the family Vespidae and are eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers. Eusociality is favoured by the unusual haplodiploid system of sex determination in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other. However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently. Females typically have an oviposit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vertebrate
Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebrata with some 65,000 species, by far the largest ranked grouping in the phylum Chordata. The vertebrates include mammals, birds, amphibians, and various classes of fish and reptiles. The fish include the jawless Agnatha, and the jawed Gnathostomata. The jawed fish include both the Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fish and the Osteichthyes, bony fish. Bony fish include the Sarcopterygii, lobe-finned fish, which gave rise to the tetrapods, the animals with four limbs. Despite their success, vertebrates still only make up less than five percent of all described animal species. The first vertebrates appeared in the Cambrian explosion some 518 million years ago. Jawed vertebrates evolved in the Ordovician, followed by bony fishes in the Devonian. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Symphyta) are commonly called caterpillars as well. Both lepidopteran and symphytan larvae have eruciform body shapes. Caterpillars of most species eat plant material ( often leaves), but not all; some (about 1%) eat insects, and some are even cannibalistic. Some feed on other animal products. For example, clothes moths feed on wool, and horn moths feed on the hooves and horns of dead ungulates. Caterpillars are typically voracious feeders and many of them are among the most serious of agricultural pests. In fact, many moth species are best known in their caterpillar stages because of the damage they cause to fruits and other agricultural produce, whereas the moths are obscure and do no direct harm. Conversely, various species of ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
