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Azteca Alfari
''Azteca alfari'' is a species of ant in the genus '' Azteca''. Described by Carlo Emery in 1893, the species is widespread in Mexico, Central and South America.Emery, C. 1893. Studio monografico sul genere ''Azteca'' Forel. ''Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna'' (5)3:119-152 This ant has a mutualistic relationship with a ''Cecropia'' tree. The specific name ''alfari'' honours a Costa Rican zoologist Anastasio Alfaro. Distribution and habitat ''Azteca alfari'' is native to the tropical and subtropical Neotropics. Its range extends from Mexico to Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is an obligatory symbiont of evergreen trees in the genus ''Cecropia'', forming colonies in the hollow stems. These trees grow in moist lowland rainforest, riparian forest, Cerrado, forest clearings and secondary forest. Ecology A founding queen of ''Azteca alfari'' establishes a colony in a young ''Cecropia'' sapling, typically ''Cecropia pachystachya'', having chewed her way inside a youn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Emery
Carlo Emery (25 October 1848, Naples – 11 May 1925) was an Italian entomologist. He is remembered for Emery's rule, which states that insect social parasites are often closely related to their hosts. Early in his career Carlo Emery pursued a course in general medicine, and in 1872 narrowed his interests to ophthalmology. In 1878 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the University of Cagliari, remaining there for several years until 1881 when he took up an appointment at the University of Bologna as Professor of Zoology, remaining there for thirty-five years until his death. Emery specialised in Hymenoptera, but his early work was on Coleoptera. Prior to 1869, his earliest works were a textbook of general zoology and papers on fishes and molluscs. From 1869 to 1925 he devoted himself almost entirely to the study of ants. Emery published extensively between 1869 and 1926 describing 130 genera and 1057 species mainly in Wytsman's ''Genera Insectorum'' series. Emery’ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest, but other types have been described. Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic species being indigenous to the rainforests. There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the " world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and pollution of the atmosphere. Definition Rainforest are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, high humidity, the presence of moisture-dependent vegetation, a moist layer of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymenoptera Of North America
Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or places that are otherwise inaccessible. This ovipositor is often modified into a stinger. The young develop through holometabolism (complete metamorphosis)—that is, they have a wormlike larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature. Etymology The name Hymenoptera refers to the wings of the insects, but the original derivation is ambiguous. All references agree that the derivation involves the Ancient Greek πτερόν (''pteron'') for wing. The Ancient Greek ὑμήν (''hymen'') for membrane provides a plausible etymology for the term because species in this order have membranous wings. However, a key characteristic of this order is that the hindwings are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domatium
A domatium (plural: domatia, from the Latin "domus", meaning home) is a tiny chamber that houses arthropods, produced by a plant. Ideally domatia differ from galls in that they are produced by the plant rather than being induced by their inhabitants, but the distinction is not sharp; the development of many types of domatia is influenced and promoted by the inhabitants. Most domatia are inhabited either by mites or ants, in what can be a mutualist relationship, but other arthropods such as thrips may take parasitic advantage of the protection offered by this structure. Domatia occupied by ants are called myrmecodomatia. An important class of myrmecodomatia comprise large, hollow spines of certain acacias such as ''Acacia sphaerocephala'', in which ants of the genera '' Pseudomyrmex'' and '' Tetraponera'' make their nests. Plants that provide myrmecodomatia are called myrmecophytes. The variety of the plants that provide myrmecodomatia, and the ranges of forms of such domatia a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pearl Body
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate (mainly aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite) in minute crystalline form, which has deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality of natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, ''pearl'' has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable. The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as ''natural'' pearls. ''Cultured'' or ''farmed'' pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority of those currently sold. Imitation pearls are also widely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Müllerian Bodies
Müllerian may refer to: *Müllerian mimicry Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon in which two or more well-defended species, often foul-tasting and sharing common predators, have come to mimicry, mimic each other's honest signal, honest aposematism, warning signals, to their mutuali ..., a type of mimicry or convergence named after Fritz Müller * Müllerian ducts, which enter the cloaca of an embryo (named after Johannes Peter Müller) * Mullerian anomalies are structural anomalies caused by errors in embryonic müllerian duct development * Mixed Müllerian tumor {{Disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cecropia Pachystachya
''Cecropia pachystachya'', commonly known as Ambay pumpwood, is a species of tree in the family Urticaceae. It is native to Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil where it grows near the edges of moist forests. Description ''Cecropia pachystachya'' is a small evergreen tree growing to a height of about , and a trunk diameter of . The tree has an open structure, with a small number of branches forking at an obtuse angle, and often forms a parasol-like shape. The twigs are hollow and are filled with mucilage, and both twigs and branches exude a mucilaginous sap when damaged. The large leaves are almost circular, and are deeply divided into nine to ten lobes which are separated by gaps of two or three centimetres. The upper surfaces of the leaves are rough and the lower surfaces are felted with pale-coloured hairs. It is a dioecious species, male and female flowers occurring on separate trees. The tree has a mutualistic relationship with ants from the genus '' Azteca'' which protect the tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colony (biology)
In biology, a colony is composed of two or more conspecific individuals living in close association with, or connected to, one another. This association is usually for mutual benefit such as stronger defense or the ability to attack bigger prey. Colonies can form in various shapes and ways depending on the organism involved. For instance, the bacterial colony is a cluster of identical cells (clones). These colonies often form and grow on the surface of (or within) a solid medium, usually derived from a single parent cell. Colonies, in the context of development, may be composed of two or more unitary (or solitary) organisms or be modular organisms. Unitary organisms have determinate development (set life stages) from zygote to adult form and individuals or groups of individuals (colonies) are visually distinct. Modular organisms have indeterminate growth forms (life stages not set) through repeated iteration of genetically identical modules (or individuals), and it can be diffi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerrado
The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the Brazilian highlands – the ''Planalto''. The main habitat types of the Cerrado consist of forest savanna, wooded savanna, park savanna and gramineous-woody savanna. The ''Cerrado'' also includes savanna wetlands and gallery forests. The second largest of Brazil's major habitat types, after the Amazonian rainforest, the Cerrado accounts for a full 21 percent of the country's land area (extending marginally into Paraguay and Bolivia). The first detailed European account of the Brazilian cerrados was provided by Danish botanist Eugenius Warming (1892) in the book ''Lagoa Santa'', : The above is the original. There are other, later French and Portuguese translations not listed here. in which he describes the main features of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symbiosis
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic. The organisms, each termed a symbiont, must be of different species. In 1879, Heinrich Anton de Bary defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms". The term was subject to a century-long debate about whether it should specifically denote mutualism, as in lichens. Biologists have now abandoned that restriction. Symbiosis can be obligatory, which means that one or more of the symbionts depend on each other for survival, or facultative (optional), when they can generally live independently. Symbiosis is also classified by physical attachment. When symbionts form a single body it is called conjunctive symbiosis, while all other arrangements are called disjunctive symbiosis."symbiosis." Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azteca (genus)
''Azteca'' is a strictly Neotropical genus of ants in the subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus is very diverse and contains around 84 extant species and two fossil species. They are essentially arboreal and many species have mutualistic associations with particular plant species, where the genus ''Cecropia'' presents the most conspicuous association. In the Brazilian Amazonia, ''Azteca'' species are associated with species of '' Codonanthopsis''. Species *'' Azteca adrepens'' Forel, 1911 *'' Azteca aesopus'' Forel, 1908 *''Azteca alfari'' Emery, 1893 *†'' Azteca alpha'' Wilson, 1985 *'' Azteca andreae'' Guerrero, Delabie & Dejean, 2010 *'' Azteca angusticeps'' Emery, 1893 *'' Azteca aragua'' Longino, 1991 *''Azteca aurita'' Emery, 1893 *''Azteca australis'' Wheeler, 1942 *''Azteca barbifex'' Forel, 1906 *'' Azteca beltii'' Emery, 1893 *'' Azteca bequaerti'' Wheeler & Bequaert, 1929 *'' Azteca brevicornis'' (Mayr, 1878) *'' Azteca brevis'' Forel, 1899 *'' Azteca chartifex'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anastasio Alfaro
Anastasio Alfaro (February 16, 1865 – January 20, 1951) was a Costa Rican zoologist, geologist and explorer. Alfaro was director of the National Museum of Costa Rica, and whilst holding this position arranged the Costa Rican display at the Historical American Exposition in Madrid.Watters, D.R. & Zamora, O.F., (2005). World’s Fairs and Latin American Archaeology: Costa Rica at the 1892 Madrid Exposition. Bulletin of the History of Archaeology. 15(1), pp. 4–11. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/bha.15102 Limon worm salamander ''Oedipina alfaroi ''Oedipina alfaroi'' is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is found in the Caribbean versant of eastern Costa Rica ( Limón Province) and northwestern Panama ( Bocas del Toro Province). It is commonly known as the Limon wor ...'' is named after him. References External links Biography (in Spanish) 1865 births 1951 deaths 19th-century zoologists Costa Rican biologists Costa Rican geologists Costa Rican expl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
