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Common Walkingstick
The common walkingstick or northern walkingstick (''Diapheromera femorata'') is a species of phasmid or stick insect found across North America. The average length of this species is 75mm (3 in) for males and 95mm (3.7 in) for females. The insect is found in deciduous forest throughout North America, where it eats many types of plant foliage. Even though the common walkingstick is a generalist it does tend to prefer foliage from oak and hazelnut trees. Localised clusters of these insects sometimes occur; however, the insects have no wings, and dispersal from tree to tree is limited. Description The common walkingstick is a slender, elongated insect that camouflages itself by resembling a twig. The sexes differ, with the male usually being brown and about in length while the female is greenish-brown, and rather larger at . There are three pairs of legs, but at rest, the front pair is extended forward beside the antennae, forming an extension of the twig-like effect. N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Say
Thomas Say (June 27, 1787 – October 10, 1834) was an American entomologist, conchologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. His studies of insects and shells, numerous contributions to scientific journals, and scientific expeditions to Florida, Georgia, the Rocky Mountains, Mexico, and elsewhere made him an internationally known naturalist. Say has been called the father of American descriptive entomology and American conchology. He served as librarian for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, curator at the American Philosophical Society (elected in 1817), and professor of natural history at the University of Pennsylvania. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia into a prominent Religious Society of Friends, Quaker family, Thomas Say was the great-grandson of John Bartram, and the great-nephew of William Bartram. His father, Dr. Benjamin Say, was brother-in-law to another Bartram son, Moses Bartram. The Say family had a house, "The Cliffs" at Gray's Ferry Bridge, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nymph (biology)
In biology, a nymph (from Ancient Greek wikt:νύμφα, νύμφα ''nūmphē'' meaning "bride") is the juvenile (organism), juvenile form of some invertebrates, particularly insects, which undergoes gradual metamorphosis (biology), metamorphosis (hemimetabolism) before reaching its adult stage. Unlike a typical larva, a nymph's overall form already resembles that of the adult, except for a lack of wings (in winged species) and the emergence of genitalia. In addition, while a nymph ecdysis, moults, it never enters a pupal stage. Instead, the final moult results in an adult insect. Nymphs undergo multiple stages of development called instars. Taxa with nymph stages Many species of Arthropod, arthropods have nymph stages. This includes the insect orders such as Orthoptera (cricket (insect), crickets, grasshoppers and locusts), Hemiptera (cicadas, shield bugs, Whitefly, whiteflies, aphids, leafhoppers, froghoppers, treehoppers), mayfly, mayflies, termites, cockroaches, mantises, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Litter
Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent nutrients are added to the top layer of soil, commonly known as the litter layer or O-horizon ("O" for "organic"). Litter is an important factor in ecosystem dynamics, as it is indicative of ecological productivity and may be useful in predicting regional nutrient cycling and soil fertility. Characteristics and variability Litterfall is characterized as fresh, undecomposed, and easily recognizable (by species and type) plant debris. This can be anything from leaves, cones, needles, twigs, bark, seeds/nuts, logs, or reproductive organs (e.g. the stamen of flowering plants). Items larger than 2 cm diameter are referred to as coarse litter, while anything smaller is referred to as fine litter or litter. The type of litterfall is m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest Floor
The forest floor, also called detritus or wikt:duff#Noun 2, duff, is the part of a forest ecosystem that mediates between the living, aboveground portion of the forest and the mineral soil, principally composed of dead and decaying plant matter such as rotting wood and shed leaf, leaves. In some countries, like Canada, forest floor refers to L, F and H organic horizons. It hosts a wide variety of decomposers and predators, including invertebrates, fungi, algae, bacteria, and archaea. The forest floor serves as a bridge between the above ground living vegetation and the soil, and thus is a crucial component in nutrient transfer through the biogeochemical cycle. Leaf litter and other plant litter transmits nutrients from plants to the soil. The plant litter of the forest floor (or L horizon) prevents erosion, conserves moisture, and provides nutrients to the entire ecosystem. The F horizon consists of plant material in which decomposition is apparent, but the origins of plant res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemimetabolism
Hemimetabolism or hemimetaboly, also called partial metamorphosis and paurometabolism,McGavin, George C. ''Essential Entomology: An Order-by-Order Introduction''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. pp. 20. is the mode of development of certain insects that includes three distinct stages: the egg, nymph, and the adult stage, or imago. These groups go through gradual changes; there is no pupal stage. The nymph often has a thin exoskeleton and resembles the adult stage but lacks wings and functional reproductive organs. The hemimetabolous insects differ from ametabolous taxa in that the one and only adult instar undergoes no further moulting. Orders All insects of the Pterygota except Holometabola belong to hemimetabolous orders: * Hemiptera (scale insects, aphids, whitefly, cicadas, leafhoppers, and true bugs) * Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets) * Mantodea (praying mantises) * Blattodea (cockroaches and termites) * Dermaptera (earwigs) * Odonata (dragonflie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robinia Pseudoacacia
''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to a few small areas of the United States, but it has been widely planted and naturalisation (biology), naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas, such as the temperate east coast of Australia where the cultivar "Frisia" (Golden Robinia) was widely planted as a street tree before being classed as a weed. Another common name is false acacia, a literal translation of the specific name (botany), specific name (''pseudo'' [Greek ''ψευδο-''] meaning fake or false and ''Acacia sensu lato, acacia'' referring to the genus of plants with the same name). Description The roots of black locust contain Root nodule, nodules that allow it to nitrogen fixation, fix nitrogen, as is common within the pea family. Trees reach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Velutina
''Quercus velutina'' (Latin 'velutina', "velvety") , the black oak, is a species of oak in the red oak group (''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae''), native and widespread in eastern and central North America. It is sometimes called the eastern black oak. ''Quercus velutina'' was previously known as yellow oak due to the yellow pigment in its inner bark. It is a close relative of the California black oak (''Quercus kelloggii'') found in western North America. Description In the northern part of its range, ''Quercus velutina'' is a relatively small tree, reaching a height of and a diameter of , but it grows larger in the south and center of its range, where heights of up to are known. The leaves of the black oak are alternately arranged on the twig and are long with 5–7 bristle-tipped lobes separated by deep U-shaped notches. The upper surface of the leaf is a shiny deep green, and the lower is yellowish-brown. There are also stellate hairs on the underside of the leaf that grow in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Alba
''Quercus alba'', the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old. Although called a white oak, it is very unusual to find an individual specimen with white bark; the usual colour is a light gray. The name comes from the colour of the finished wood. In the forest it can reach a magnificent height and in the open it develops into a massive broad-topped tree with large branches striking out at wide angles. Description ''Quercus alba'' typically reaches heights of at maturity, and its canopy can become quite massive as its lower branches are apt to extend far out laterally, parallel to the ground. Trees growing in a forest will become much taller than ones in an open area which develop to be short and mass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prunus Serotina
''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub in the rose family Rosaceae. Despite its common names, it is not very closely related to commonly cultivated cherries. It is found in the Americas. Description ''Prunus serotina'' is a medium-sized, fast-growing forest tree growing to a height of . The leaves are long, ovate-lanceolate in shape, with finely toothed margins. Fall leaf color is yellow to red. Flowers are small, white and 5-petalled, in racemes long which contain several dozen flowers. The flowers give rise to reddish-black "berries" (drupes) fed on by birds, in diameter. For about its first decade the bark of a black cherry tree is thin, smooth, and banded, resembling a birch. A mature tree has very broken, dark gray to black bark. The leaves are long and shiny, resembling a so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corylus Americana
''Corylus americana'', the American hazelnut or American hazel, is a species of deciduous shrub in the genus '' Corylus'', native to the eastern and central United States and extreme southern parts of eastern and central Canada. Description The American hazelnut grows to a height of roughly , with a crown spread of . It is a medium to large shrub, which under some conditions can take the likeness of a small tree. It is often multi-stemmed with long outward growing branches that form a dense spreading or spherical shape. It spreads by sending up suckers from underground rhizomes below the surface. It blooms in very early to mid spring, producing hanging male ( staminate) catkins long, and clusters of 2–5 tiny female ( pistillate) flowers enclosed in the protective bracts of a bud, with their red styles sticking out at the tip. The male catkins develop in the fall and remain over the winter. Each male flower on a catkin has a pair of bracts and four stamens. American haze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbivore
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat non-vascular autotrophs such as mosses, algae and lichens, but do not include those feeding on decomposed plant matters (i.e. detritivores) or macrofungi (i.e. fungivores). As a result of their plant-based diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouth structures ( jaws or mouthparts) well adapted to mechanically break down plant materials, and their digestive systems have special enzymes (e.g. amylase and cellulase) to digest polysaccharides. Grazing herbivores such as horses and cattles have wide flat- crowned teeth that are better adapted for grinding grass, tree bark and other tougher lignin-containing materials, and many of them evolved rumination or cecotropic behaviors to better extract nutrients from plants. A larg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Walkingstick
The common walkingstick or northern walkingstick (''Diapheromera femorata'') is a species of phasmid or stick insect found across North America. The average length of this species is 75mm (3 in) for males and 95mm (3.7 in) for females. The insect is found in deciduous forest throughout North America, where it eats many types of plant foliage. Even though the common walkingstick is a generalist it does tend to prefer foliage from oak and hazelnut trees. Localised clusters of these insects sometimes occur; however, the insects have no wings, and dispersal from tree to tree is limited. Description The common walkingstick is a slender, elongated insect that camouflages itself by resembling a twig. The sexes differ, with the male usually being brown and about in length while the female is greenish-brown, and rather larger at . There are three pairs of legs, but at rest, the front pair is extended forward beside the antennae, forming an extension of the twig-like effect. N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
