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Sigelus
The fiscal flycatcher (''Sigelus silens'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Sigelus''. It is a resident breeder in Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland, and a vagrant to Namibia. This species is found in subtropical open woodland, dry savanna, shrubland and suburban gardens. Taxonomy The fiscal flycatcher was previously the only member of the genus ''Sigelus'' but was moved to ''Melaenornis'' based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010. Description This black and white bird gets its name from its resemblance to the northern and southern fiscal shrikes (previously considered one species, common fiscal), shrikes that in turn get the name from their black and white suit-and-tie appearance reminiscent of the taxman (‘fiscal’). The male may be confused with the fiscal shrikes, but the shrikes have heavy, hooked bills, white patches on the shoulder rather t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old World Flycatcher
The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and northern wheatear (''Oenanthe oenanthe''), found also in North America. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The family is relatively large and includes 357 species, which are divided into 57 genera. Taxonomy The name Muscicapa for the family was introduced by the Scottish naturalist John Fleming in 1822. The word had earlier been used for the genus '' Muscicapa'' by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Muscicapa comes from the Latin '' musca'' meaning a fly, and '' capere'' to catch. In 1910, the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert found it impossible to define boundaries between the three families Muscicapidae, Sylviidae (Old World warblers) and Tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melaenornis
''Melaenornis'' is a genus of small passerine birds in the large family Muscicapidae commonly known as the Old World flycatchers. They are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa. Taxonomy The genus ''Melaenornis'' was introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray, George Gray. It was a replacement name for ''Melasoma'' that had been introduced in 1837 by William Swainson with the northern black flycatcher as the type species. ''Melasoma'' was Homonym (biology), pre-occupied by "''Melasoma'' Dillwyn" that had been introduced in 1831 by James Francis Stephens, James Stephens for a genus of insects. The name ''Melaenornis'' combines the Ancient Greek ''melas'', ''melaina'' meaning "black" with ''ornis'' meaning "bird". Species The genus contains the following seven species: This genus formerly included fewer species. The results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 led to a reorganization of the Old World flycatchers family in which the four species in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Cabanis
Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie'' in 1853''.'' Biography Cabanis was born in Berlin to an old Huguenot family who had moved from France. His father Benoit-Jean (1774–1838) and mother Maria Luise (1783–1849) both came from families that were in the textile industry. Little is known of his early life. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1835 to 1839, and then travelled to North America, working as a museum assistant in Carolina. He returned in 1841 with a large natural history collection. He was assistant at the Natural History Museum, Berlin, Natural History Museum of Berlin (which was at the time the Berlin University Museum) and in 1850 he became the curator of birds, taking over from Martin Lichtenstein. Charles Lucien Bonaparte had offered him a positio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aloe
''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering plant, flowering succulent plant, succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Accessed on: 06 Nov 2022 The most widely known species is ''Aloe vera'', or "true aloe". It is called this because it is cultivated as the standard source for assorted pharmaceutical purposes. Other species, such as ''Aloe ferox'', are also cultivated or harvested from the wild for similar applications. The APG IV system (2016) places the genus in the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Asphodeloideae. Within the subfamily it may be placed in the tribe Aloeae.Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards).Asphodelaceae. ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website''. Retrieved 2016-06-09. In the past, it has been assigned to the family Aloaceae (now included in the Asphodeloidae) or to a broadly Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed family Liliaceae (the lily family). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chrysanthemoides
''Osteospermum'' , is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Calenduleae, one of the smaller tribes of the sunflower/daisy family Asteraceae. They are known as the daisybushes or African daisies. Its species have been given several common names, including African daisy, South African daisy, Cape daisy and blue-eyed daisy. In horticulture, several widely cultivated species continue to be sold, grown and referred to as ''Osteospermum'', however some of these species have been scientifically reclassified as being members of the genus ''Dimorphotheca'', including ''Dimorphotheca barberae'' (synonym ''Osteospermum barberae);'' ''Dimorphotheca ecklonis (synonym Osteospermum ecklonis),'' ''Dimorphotheca fruticosa (synonym Osteospermum fruticosum);'' ''and Dimorphotheca jucunda (synonym Osteospermum jucundum).'' Description Their alternate (rarely opposite) leaves are green, but some variegated forms exist. The leaf form is lanceolate. The leaf margin is entire, but hardy types are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halleria (plant)
''Halleria '' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Stilbaceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. ''Halleria'' is native to eastern and southern Africa and to Madagascar. ;Species # '' Halleria elliptica'' L. - South Africa, Malawi # '' Halleria ligustrifolia'' Baker - Madagascar # ''Halleria lucida'' L. - South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda # '' Halleria ovata'' Benth. - South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ... References Lamiales genera Stilbaceae {{Lamiales-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arctiinae
The Arctiinae (formerly called the family Arctiidae) are a large and diverse subfamily of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species.Scoble, MJ. (1995). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity''. Second ed. Oxford University Press. This subfamily includes the groups commonly known as tiger moths (or tigers), which usually have bright colours, footmen, which are usually much drabber, lichen moths, and wasp moths. Many species have "hairy" caterpillars that are popularly known as woolly bears or woolly worms. The scientific name Arctiinae refers to this hairiness (Gk. αρκτος = a bear). Some species within the Arctiinae have the word "tussock"' in their common names because they have been misidentified as members of the Lymantriinae subfamily based on the characteristics of the larvae. Taxonomy The subfamily was previously classified as the family Arctiidae of the superfamily Noctuoidea and is a monophyletic group. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Fiscal
The southern fiscal or fiscal shrike (''Lanius collaris'') is a member of the shrike family found through most of southern Africa. It is also sometimes named jackie hangman or butcher bird due to its habit of impaling its prey on acacia thorns to store the food for later consumption. It was previously lumped together with the northern fiscal (''Lanius humeralis''). Together they were known as the common fiscal. Taxonomy In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the southern fiscal in his ''Ornithologie'' based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name ''La pie-griesche du Cap de Bonne Espérance'' and the Latin ''Lanius capitis Bonae Spei''. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collared Flycatcher
The collared flycatcher (''Ficedula albicollis'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family, one of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers. It breeds in southeast Europe (isolated populations are present in the islands of Gotland and Öland in the Baltic Sea, Sweden) and Eastern France to the Balkan Peninsula and Ukraine and is migratory, wintering in sub Sahara Africa. It is a rare vagrant in western Europe. This is a 12–13.5 cm long bird. The breeding male is mainly black above and white below, with a white collar, large white wing patch, black tail (although some males have white tail sides) and a large white forehead patch. It has a pale rump. The bill is black and has the broad but pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores. As well as taking insects in flight, this species hunts caterpillars amongst the oak foliage, and will take berries. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles have the black replaced by a pale b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Vocalization
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs (often simply ''birdsong'') are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by function from calls (relatively simple vocalizations). Definition The distinction between songs and calls is based upon complexity, length, and context. Songs are longer and more complex and are associated with territory and courtship and mating, while calls tend to serve such functions as alarms or keeping members of a flock in contact. Other authorities such as Howell and Webb (1995) make the distinction based on function, so that short vocalizations, such as those of pigeons, and even non-vocal sounds, such as the drumming of woodpeckers and the " winnowing" of snipes' wings in display flight, are considered songs. Still others require song to have syllabic diversity and temporal regularity akin to the re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batesian Mimicry
Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, who worked on butterflies in the rainforests of Brazil. Batesian mimicry is the most commonly known and widely studied of mimicry complexes, such that the word mimicry is often treated as synonymous with Batesian mimicry. There are many other forms however, some very similar in principle, others far separated. It is often contrasted with Müllerian mimicry, a form of mutually beneficial convergence between two or more harmful species. However, because the mimic may have a degree of protection itself, the distinction is not absolute. It can also be contrasted with functionally different forms of mimicry. Perhaps the sharpest contrast here is with aggressive mimicry where a predator or parasite mimics a harmless species, avoiding detection and improving its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and carrying objects, killing prey, or fighting), preening, courtship, and feeding young. The terms ''beak'' and '' rostrum'' are also used to refer to a similar mouth part in some ornithischians, pterosaurs, cetaceans, dicynodonts, rhynchosaurs, anuran tadpoles, monotremes (i.e. echidnas and platypuses, which have a bill-like structure), sirens, pufferfish, billfishes, and cephalopods. Although beaks vary significantly in size, shape, color and texture, they share a similar underlying structure. Two bony projections–the upper and lower mandibles–are covered with a thin keratinized layer of epidermis known as the rhamphotheca. In most species, two holes called ''nares'' lead to the respiratory system. Etymology Although the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
