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Snow Scorpionflies
Boreidae, commonly called snow scorpionflies, or in the British Isles, snow fleas (no relation to the snow flea ''Hypogastrura nivicola'') are a very small family of scorpionflies, containing only around 30 species, all of which are boreal or high-altitude species in the Northern Hemisphere. These insects are small (typically 6 mm or less), with the wings reduced to bristles or absent, and they are somewhat compressed, so in fact some resemblance to fleas is noted. They are most commonly active during the winter months, towards the transition into spring, and the larvae and adults typically feed on mosses. The adults will often disperse between breeding areas by walking across the open snow, thus the common name. The males use their bristle-like wings to help grasp the female over their backs while mating, while the wings of females are vestigial small oval pads with no ability to allow them to fly. The adults have a long rostrum formed from the clypeus and labrum, genae, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boreus Hyemalis
''Boreus hyemalis'' is an insect, 3 to 4.5 millimetres long from the family of ''Boreidae''. Its common name is snow scorpionfly, also known in Britain as the snow flea. It has stubby, grey-brown wings with a metallic sheen. Snow fleas crawl or hop over the snow at temperatures around freezing point and thus resemble glacier fleas and snow flies. The males have 4 short, wing vestiges which curve downwards at their ends. The females only have two scale-like wing vestiges. In general, the female may be recognised from a curved, sabre-like pipe that acts as an ovipositor. In their fully formed state, these animals are only found in the colder period of the year between October and March. During this time mating takes place. The larvae live on moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the pare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nannochoristidae
Nannochoristidae is a family of scorpionflies with many unusual traits. It is a tiny, relict family with a single extant genus, ''Nannochorista'', with eight species occurring in New Zealand, southeastern Australia, Tasmania, Argentina and Chile. Due to the group's distinctiveness from other scorpionflies, it is sometimes placed in its own order, the Nannomecoptera. Some studies have placed them as the closest living relatives of fleas. Most mecopteran larvae are eruciform, or shaped like caterpillars. Nannochoristid larvae, however, are elateriform, and have elongated and slender bodies. The larvae are aquatic, which is unique among mecopterans. The larvae are predatory, hunting on the beds of shallow streams, primarily on the larvae of aquatic Diptera like chironomids. The adults are thought probably to be adapted to liquid feeding, likely on flower nectar and/or the juice of fruits. Adults of Australian and South American species are often found in habitats like the edges of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convergent Evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last common ancestor of those groups. The cladistic term for the same phenomenon is Cladogram#Homoplasies, homoplasy. The recurrent evolution of flight is a classic example, as flying pterygota, insects, birds, pterosaurs, and bats have independently evolved the useful capacity of flight. Functionally similar features that have arisen through convergent evolution are ''analogous'', whereas ''homology (biology), homologous'' structures or traits have a common origin but can have dissimilar functions. Bird, bat, and pterosaur wings are analogous structures, but their forelimbs are homologous, sharing an ancestral state despite serving different functions. The opposite of convergence is divergent evolution, where related species evolve different trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snow Flies
''Chionea'' is a genus of wingless limoniid crane flies. It consists of two subgenera, the holarctic ''Chionea'' and palaearctic ''Sphaeconophilus''. About 37 species are currently recognized in the northern hemisphere, but there are probably several undescribed species. They are commonly called snow flies. Description Adults are found during the winter season in forested environments, where they can be observed walking across the surface of the snow. Many species live at high elevations, with some examples of ''C. nigra'' found in the Rocky Mountains above 3400 m. Adults seem to actively seek out the coldest place they can find and drink water by pressing their proboscis against the snow (Marchand, 1917). Adults are not known to feed. Adults have a significantly longer lifespan than other crane flies, living as long as two months. ''Chionea'' are highly active in cold environments that are lethal to most insect species. Adults are often found in motion as they move across t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glacier Flea
The glacier flea (''Desoria saltans'', sometimes also ''Isotoma saltans'') is a species of springtail. ''D. saltans'' is the common glacier flea, but there are several springtail species that are also called glacier fleas, and which catch the attention on snow surfaces due to their dark body colouring, their hopping motion and the fact that they often gather in large groups. These include, for example, ''Desoria nivalis'' (formerly also: ''Isotoma pseudomaritima'') or ''Vertagopus alpinus''. ''D. saltans'' is 1.5 – 2.5 millimetres long and lives on the glaciers and snowfields of the Alps, where it feeds on substances such as cryoconite, pollen and plant remains and snow algae of the genus ''Chlamydomonas''. The jet black animal is easy to spot on light backgrounds and gathers in great numbers on surfaces during the melt season. __NOTOC__ See also * Snow flea * ''Boreus hyemalis ''Boreus hyemalis'' is an insect, 3 to 4.5 millimetres long from the family of ''Boreid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mecoptera
Mecoptera (from the Greek language, Greek: ''mecos'' = "long", ''ptera'' = "wings") is an Order (biology), order of insects in the superorder Holometabola with about six hundred species in nine Family (biology), families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals raised over the body that look similar to the stingers of scorpions, and long beaklike Rostrum (anatomy), rostra. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are another prominent family and are known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered to them by the males. A smaller group is the snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae, adults of which are sometimes seen walking on snowfields. In contrast, the majority of species in the order inhabit moist environments in tropical locations. The Mecoptera are closely related to the Siphonaptera (fleas), and a little more distantly to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boreus Hiemalis2 Detail
''Boreus'' is the most diverse of three genera of insects in the family Boreidae. They are commonly known as winter scorpionflies due to their close relation to the true scorpionflies and preference for cold habitats. Description and distribution Species of ''Boreus'' are dark in color, 3 to 5 mm long, and have reduced, non-functional wings. In males, the wings resemble straps, while in females they are short stubs. Females also have a pointed ovipositor. Both sexes have an elongated head, or rostrum. Larvae are grublike, mostly hairless and lacking prolegs. They have a holarctic distribution and are found in boreal and high altitude habitats. Biology ''Boreus'' species are highly adapted to cold environments and often found on the surface of snow. Although they cannot fly, they have the ability to hop or jump. All species are known to feed on mosses, both as adults and larvae. Males use their hardened wing straps to grasp the female and lift her above their back during m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulex Irritans Female ZSM
''Pulex'' is a genus of fleas. It comprises seven species. One is the human flea (''P. irritans''), and five of the others are confined to the Nearctic and Neotropical realms. Species ''Encyclopedia of Life'' lists seven species: *'' Pulex alvarezi'' Barrera, 1955 *'' Pulex echidnophagoides'' (Wagner, 1933) *'' Pulex irritans'' Linnaeus, 1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ... *'' Pulex larimerius'' Lewis et Grimaldi, 1997 *'' Pulex porcinus'' Jordan et Rothschild, 1923 *'' Pulex simulans'' Baker, 1895 *'' Pulex sinoculus'' Traub, 1950 References Siphonaptera genera Pulicidae Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Flea-stub ... [...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] |
Pistillifera
Pistillifera is a suborder of endopterygote insects within the Mecoptera that contains the scorpionflies and hangingflies Bittacidae is a family of Mecoptera, scorpionflies commonly called hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies. The genus ''Bittacus'', comprising approximately 75% of all species within the family, occurs worldwide. Other genera are mostly confined .... It was described by R. Willmann in 1987. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q108687888 Antliophora Insect suborders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common House Fly, Musca Domestica
Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally common land, now a park in London, UK * Common Moss, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Lexington Common, a common land area in Lexington, Massachusetts * Salem Common Historic District, a common land area in Salem, Massachusetts People * Common (rapper) (born 1972), American hip hop artist, actor, and poet * Andrew Ainslie Common (1841–1903), English amateur astronomer * Andrew Common (1889–1953), British shipping director * John Common, American songwriter, musician and singer * Thomas Common (1850–1919), Scottish translator and literary critic Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Common'' (film), a 2014 BBC One film, written by Jimmy M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
