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Damselflies Of Europe
Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along the body when at rest, unlike dragonflies which hold the wings flat and away from the body. Damselflies have existed since the Late Jurassic, and are found on every continent except Antarctica. All damselflies are predatory insects: both nymphs and adults actively hunt and eat other insects. The nymphs are aquatic, with different species living in a variety of freshwater habitats including acidic bogs, ponds, lakes and rivers. The nymphs moult repeatedly, at the last moult climbing out of the water to undergo metamorphosis. The skin splits down the back, they emerge and inflate their wings and abdomen to gain their adult form. Their presence on a body of water indicates that it is relatively unpolluted, but their dependence on fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calopteryx Virgo
The beautiful demoiselle (''Calopteryx virgo'') is a species of damselfly belonging to the family Calopterygidae. It is found in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and are often found nearby fast-flowing waters. Subspecies There are currently five known subspecies: *''Calopteryx virgo britannica'' Conci, 1952 *''Calopteryx virgo festiva'' (Gaspard Auguste Brullé, Brullé, 1832) (eastern Mediterranean) *''Calopteryx virgo meridionalis'' Edmond de Sélys Longchamps, Sélys, 1853 (western Mediterranean and south-west France) *''Calopteryx virgo padana'' Conci, 1956 (northern Italy) *''Calopteryx virgo virgo'' (Linnaeus, 1758) File: Calopteryx virgo meridionalis.jpg, ''Calopteryx virgo meridionalis'' File:Calopteryx virgo meridionalis MHNT.jpg, ''C. v. meridionalis''. Mounted specimen Description Eggs and larvae Females can lay up to 300 eggs at a time on floating plants, such as water-crowfoot. Like the banded demoiselle, they often submerge underwater to do so, and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemiphlebiidae
Hemiphlebiidae is a family of damselflies. It contains only one extant species, the ancient greenling, native to Southern Australia and Tasmania. The fossil record of the group extends back to the Late Jurassic, making them the oldest known crown group damselflies. Taxonomy Extant genus * '' Hemiphlebia'' Selys, 1869, Australia, Extant. Extinct genera * †'' Burmahemiphlebia'' Zheng et al. 2017 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) 99 Ma * †'' Electrohemiphlebia'' Lak et al. 2009 Charentese Amber, France, Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) 105-99 Ma * †'' Enteropia'' Pritykina and Vassilenko 2014 Shar Teg, Mongolia, Late Jurassic (Tithonian) 145 Ma. * †'' Jordanhemiphlebia'' Kaddumi 2009 Jordanian Amber, Jordan, Early Cretaceous (Albian) 112.6 to 99.7 Ma *†'' Jurahemiphlebia'' Bechly, 2019 Solnhofen Limestone, Germany, Late Jurassic (Tithonian) 145 Ma. * †'' Kachinhemiphlebia'' Zheng 2020 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) 99 Ma * ... [...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] |
Predatory Insect
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge; it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators. Predation behavior varies significantly depending on the organism. Many predators, especially carnivores, have evolved distinct hunting strategies. Pursuit predation involves the active search for and pursuit of prey, whilst ambush predators instead wait for prey to present an opportunity for capture, and often use stealth or aggressive mimicry. Other predators are opportunistic or omnivorous and only practice predation occasionally. Most obligate carnivores are specialized for hunting. They may have acute se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of . Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of . Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual Climate of Antarctica#Precipitation, precipitation of over along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost . Antarctica holds the record for the Lowest temperature recorded on Earth, lowest measured temperature on Earth, . The coastal regions can reach temperatures over in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age. In the past, ''Malm'' was also used to indicate the unit of geological time, but this usage is now discouraged to make a clear distinction between lithostratigraphic and geochronologic/chronostratigraphic units. Subdivisions The Late Jurassic is divided into three ages, which correspond with the three (faunal) stages of Upper Jurassic rock: Paleogeography During the Late Jurassic Epoch, Pangaea broke up into two supercontinents, Laurasia to the north, and Gondwana to the south. The result of this break-up was the emergence of the Atlantic Ocean, which initially was relatively narrow. Life forms This epoch is well known for many famous types of d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epiprocta
Epiprocta, also called Epiproctophora, is one of the two extant suborders of the Odonata, which contains living dragonflies (Anisoptera), as well as Epiophlebioptera, which has a single known living genus '' Epiophlebia.'' Crown group Epiprocta first appeared during the Early Jurassic. It was proposed in 1992 by Heinrich Lohmann to accommodate the inclusion of the Anisozygoptera. The latter has been shown to be not a natural suborder, but rather a paraphyletic collection of lineages, so it has been combined with the previous suborder Anisoptera, the well-known dragonflies, into the Epiprocta. The old suborder Anisoptera is proposed to become an infraorder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between Family_(biology), family and Class_(biology), class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classific ... within the Epiprocta, whereas the "anisozygopterans" included here form the i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragonflies
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threatens dragonfly populations around the world. Adult dragonflies are characterised by a pair of large, multifaceted, compound eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches, and an elongated body. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structural coloration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly's compound eyes have nearly 24,000 ommatidia each. Dragonflies can be mistaken for the closely related damselflies, which make up the other odonatan infraorder ( Zygoptera) and are similar in body plan, though usually lighter in build; however, the wings of most dragonflies are held flat and away from the body, while damselflies hold their wings folded at rest, alo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odonata
Odonata is an order of predatory flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies (as well as the '' Epiophlebia'' damsel-dragonflies). The two major groups are distinguished with dragonflies (Anisoptera) usually being bulkier with large compound eyes together and wings spread up or out at rest, while damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are usually more slender with eyes placed apart and wings folded together along body at rest. Adult odonates can land and perch, but rarely walk. All odonates have aquatic larvae called naiads or nymphs, and all of them, larvae and adults, are carnivorous and are almost entirely insectivorous, although at the larval stage they will eat anything that they can overpower, including small fish, tadpoles, and even adult newts. The adults are superb aerial hunters and their legs are specialised for catching prey in flight. Odonata in its narrow sense forms a subgroup of the broader Odonatoptera, which contains other dragonfly-like insects ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flying Insect
Pterygota ( ) is a subclass of insects that includes all winged insects and groups who lost them secondarily. Pterygota group comprises 99.9% of all insects. The orders not included are the Archaeognatha (jumping bristletails) and the Zygentoma (silverfishes and firebrats), two primitively wingless insect orders. Unlike Archaeognatha and Zygentoma, the pterygotes do not have styli or vesicles on their abdomen (also absent in some zygentomans), and with the exception of the majority of mayflies, are also missing the median terminal filament which is present in the ancestrally wingless insects. The oldest known representatives of the group appeared during the mid-Carboniferous, around 328–324 million years ago, and the group subsequently underwent rapid diversification. Claims that they originated substantially earlier during the Silurian or Devonian based on molecular clock estimates are unlikely based on the fossil record, and are likely analytical artefacts. __TOC__ Syste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platystictidae
Platystictidae is a family of damselflies, commonly known as shadowdamsels. They look very similar to the threadtail damselfly family ( Protoneuridae). They can mostly be found throughout Asia, Central America, and South America. Most members of this family live in dense forests in the tropics where they are found around streams. Their wings are narrow and their abdomen slender and elongated. The adults probably do not disperse far as many species are known from a single location or have small ranges and there are probably other species as yet undescribed. The oldest members of the family belong to the genus '' Mesosticta'' from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ... of Myanmar. Taxonomy Platystictidae has 10 genera with over 200 spec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platystictoidea
Platystictidae is a family (biology), family of damselfly, damselflies, commonly known as shadowdamsels. They look very similar to the threadtail damselfly family (Protoneuridae). They can mostly be found throughout Asia, Central America, and South America. Most members of this family live in dense forests in the tropics where they are found around streams. Their wings are narrow and their abdomen slender and elongated. The adults probably do not disperse far as many species are known from a single location or have small ranges and there are probably other species as yet undescribed. The oldest members of the family belong to the genus ''Mesosticta'' from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber of Myanmar. Taxonomy Platystictidae has 10 genera with over 200 species and is the only family in the superfamily Platystictoidea. See also * List of damselflies of the world (Platystictidae) References {{Taxonbar, from1=Q2215068, from2=Q21076668 Platystictidae, Odonata familie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
