|
Réunion Pochard
The Réunion pochard (''Aythya'' sp.), also known as the Mascarene Islands pochard, is an undescribed extinct species of diving duck that lived on the island of Réunion. In 1999 there were two carpometacarpi subfossils found by Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Cécile Mourer-Chauviré (born 1939) is a French paleontologist specializing in birds of the Eocene and the Oligocene. In her early career, she discovered with her husband the Laang Spean cave site of prehistoric humans in Cambodia. Career Cé .... There are only two historical records of a bird that meets its description, one from Bernardin in 1687 and one from Boucher in 1710. It is likely similar to the Madagascar pochard if not the same species. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q117200078 Extinct animals of Africa Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands Aythya Undescribed vertebrate species ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Undescribed Taxon
In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. Until such a description has been published, the taxon has no formal or official name, although a temporary, informal name is often used. A published scientific name may not fulfil the requirements of the Codes for various reasons. For example, if the taxon was not adequately described, its name is called a ''nomen nudum''. It is possible for a taxon to be "undescribed" for an extensive period of time, even if unofficial descriptions are published. An undescribed species may be referred to with the genus name, followed by "sp.", but this abbreviation is also used to label specimens or images that are too incomplete to be identified at the species level. In some cases, there is more than one undescribed species in a genus. In this case, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinction
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and recover. As a species' potential Range (biology), range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxon, Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the Fossil, fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. Over five billion species are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryotes globally, possibly many times more if microorganisms are included. Notable extinct animal species include Dinosaur, non-avian dinosaurs, Machairodontinae, saber-toothed cats, and mammoths. Through evolution, species arise through the process of specia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diving Duck
The diving ducks, commonly called pochards or scaups, are a category of duck which feed by diving beneath the surface of the water. They are part of Anatidae, the diverse and very large family that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The diving ducks are placed in a distinct tribe in the subfamily Anatinae, the Aythyini. While morphologically close to the dabbling ducks, there are nonetheless some pronounced differences such as in the structure of the trachea. mtDNA cytochrome ''b'' and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data indicate that the dabbling and diving ducks are fairly distant from each other, the outward similarities being due to convergent evolution. Alternatively, the diving ducks are placed as a subfamily Aythyinae in the family Anatidae which would encompass all duck-like birds except the whistling-ducks. The seaducks commonly found in coastal areas, such as the long-tailed duck (formerly known in the U.S. as oldsquaw), scoters, goldeneyes, mergansers, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Réunion
Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the island of Madagascar and southwest of the island of Mauritius. , it had a population of 896,175. Its capital and largest city is Saint-Denis, La Réunion, Saint-Denis. Réunion was uninhabited until French immigrants and colonial subjects settled the island in the 17th century. Its tropical climate led to the development of a plantation economy focused primarily on sugar; slaves from East Africa were imported as fieldworkers, followed by Malays, Annamite, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Indians as indentured laborers. Today, the greatest proportion of the population is of mixed descent, while the predominant language is Réunion Creole, though French remains the sole official language. Since 1946, Réunion has been governed as a regions of France, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carpometacarpi
The carpometacarpus is a bone found in the hands of birds. It results from the fusion of the carpal and metacarpal bone, and is essentially a single fused bone between the wrist and the knuckles. It is a smallish bone in most birds, generally flattened and with a large hole in the middle. In flightless birds, however, its shape may be slightly different, or it might be absent entirely. It forms the tip of the wing skeleton in birds. To it, most of the primary remiges attach. The alula, by contrast, is formed by the thumb, which does not completely fuse with the other hand-bones. Likewise, the tipmost primaries attach to the phalanx bones. To non-biologists the carpometacarpus may be best known from buffalo wings. Buffalo wings come in two basic sizes, a large angled one containing three major bones, and a smaller flat one containing only two. The bone missing in the latter is the carpometacarpus. See also * Carpometacarpal joint The carpometacarpal (CMC) joints are five joi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subfossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Though the fossil record is incomplete, numerous studies have demonstrated that there is enough information available to give a good understanding of the pattern of diversification of life on Earth. In addition, the record can predict and fill gaps such as the discovery of ''Tiktaalik'' in the arctic of Canada. Paleontology includes the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are sometimes considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. The ob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cécile Mourer-Chauviré
Cécile Mourer-Chauviré (born 1939) is a French paleontologist specializing in birds of the Eocene and the Oligocene. In her early career, she discovered with her husband the Laang Spean cave site of prehistoric humans in Cambodia. Career Cécile Chauviré was born on 5 November 1939 in Lyon, France. She studied at University of Lyon. Her early work was on large Quaternary mammals. She then proceeded in 1961 to a doctorate in Centre national de la recherche scientifique focusing on Pleistocene birds, a topic few at the time studied in France or Europe. Following her marriage in 1964 to Roland Mourer, she relocated to Cambodia where he was assigned by the French military as a "coopérant" in Kampong Chhnang. In 1965 she was appointed as a geology professor at Royal University of Phnom Penh, a post she held until the civil war in 1970. During this time she discovered with her husband the Laang Spean cave site of prehistoric humans.Sophady, Heng, et al. "Laang Spean cave (Batt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madagascar Pochard
The Madagascar pochard or Madagascan pochard (''Aythya innotata''; ) is an extremely rare diving duck of the genus ''Aythya''. Thought to be extinct in the late 1990s, specimens of the species were rediscovered at Lake Matsaborimena near Bemanevika in Madagascar in 2006. By 2017, a captive breeding program had produced a population of around 90 individuals. The birds were reintroduced to the wild in December 2018. The Madagascar pochard feeds mainly on aquatic insects, unlike other diving ducks in the same genus, The population is small, fluctuating around 25 individuals, and mainly utilises two small volcanic lakes in the far north of Madagascar. ''Aythya''. Ducklings begin making short dives at around 14 days old, before which they feed on the surface. Taxonomy The Madagascar pochard was largely overlooked by scientists in the 19th century, as those that saw it assumed they were seeing ferruginous ducks instead. Even after its description in 1894 little notice was taken of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct Animals Of Africa
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its last member. A taxon may become functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to reproduce and recover. As a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. Over five billion species are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryotes globally, possibly many times more if microorganisms are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, and mammoths. Through evolution, species arise through the process of speciation. Species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aythya
''Aythya'' is a genus of diving ducks, with twelve species currently accepted. The genus was described in 1822 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie, with the type species being greater scaup. The name ''Aythya'' comes from the Ancient Greek word (), which referred to an unknown diving-bird. The species are plump, compact, medium-sized ducks ranging from 37–61 cm long, 60–84 cm wingspan, and weighing 410–1600 g, with canvasback the largest, and ring-necked duck and ferruginous duck marginally the smallest. The body plumage is variably white, grey, red-brown, or black, often with a finely vermiculated pattern; in several species, the flanks are white or pale grey, the back darker grey to black, and the breast and tail black. The heads are strongly coloured in the males, orange-red in some species, and black with a green to purple sheen ( structural colour) in good light; the sheen colour varies with both species and angle of light incidence – in for exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
