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Langona Manicata
''Langona manicata'' is a species of jumping spider in the genus ''Langona'' that lives in South Africa. The spider was first described by Eugène Simon in 1901. It is large, between long, the female larger than the male. The female has a white-grey cephalothorax with a stripe down the middle while the male has a black cephalothorax. The female also has a stripe of its abdomen, which the male lacks. It is hard to differentiate from other ''Langona'' spiders, particularly ''Langona avara''. The main distinguishing characteristic is the colour of the hairs on the single apophysis on the male pedipalp. Taxonomy ''Langona manicata'' is a jumping spider first described by Eugène Simon in 1901. He placed the species in the genus ''Langona'', which he also first described at the same time. The genus was listed in the subtribe Aelurillina in the tribe Aelurillini by Wayne Maddison in 2015. These were allocated to the clade Saltafresia. In 2017, the genus was grouped with nine other ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. Phylogeneti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade (biology)
In biology, a clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach to taxonomy adopted by most biological fields. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed ''monophyletic'' (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms that the molecular biology arm of cladistics has revealed i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salticidae
Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family (biology), family Salticidae. , this family contained over 600 species description, described genus, genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiderscomprising 13% of spider species. Jumping spiders have some of the best visual perception, vision among arthropods — being capable of stereoptic color vision — and use sight in courtship, hunting, and navigation. Although they normally move unobtrusively and fairly slowly, most species are capable of very agile jumps, notably when hunting, but sometimes in response to sudden threats or crossing long gaps. Both their book lungs and Invertebrate trachea, tracheal system are well-developed, and they use both systems (bimodal breathing). Jumping spiders are generally recognized by their eye pattern. All jumping spiders have four pairs of eyes, with the Anatomical terms of location, anterior median pair (the two front middle eyes) being pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Spiders Of South Africa
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or becomi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mokopane
Mokopane, formerly known as Potgietersrus, is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town name was changed to Mokopane in 2003 in honour of a local Ma Nrebele leader, King Mghombane Gheghana, who ruled the area before being conquered by the Voortrekkers. Mokopane is the Northern Sotho form of the king's name and is hence erroneous, even though the majority language in the area is Northern Sotho. Five kingdoms in the vicinity of the town are Kekana (Moshate), Langa (Mapela), Lebelo (Garasvlei), and Langa (Bakenburg). It is still referred to as Potgietersrus or "Potties". Two hours from Gauteng by road, the town acts as a getaway destination and as a stop-over for travelers "en route" to Botswana, Zimbabwe and Kruger National Park. The area is typical bushveld with many Vachellia and Senegalia trees (formerly part of the acacia genus) as well as aloes, which blooms in June and July. The Zebediela Citrus Estate, 55 km to the southeast, is one of the largest citrus fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept. For example, the holotype for the butterfly '' Plebejus idas longinus'' is a preserved specimen of that subspecies, held by the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. In botany and mycology, an isotype is a duplicate of the holotype, generally pieces from the same individual plant or samples from the same genetic individual. A holotype is not necessarily "ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthropod Leg
The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip (anatomy), hip, : ''coxae''), ''trochanter'', ''femur'' (: ''femora''), ''tibia'' (: ''tibiae''), ''tarsus'' (: ''tarsi''), ''ischium'' (: ''ischia''), ''metatarsus'', ''carpus'', ''dactylus'' (meaning finger), ''patella'' (: ''patellae''). Homology (biology), Homologies of leg segments between groups are difficult to prove and are the source of much argument. Some authors posit up to eleven segments per leg for the most recent common ancestor of Neontology, extant arthropods but modern arthropods have eight or fewer. It has been argued that the ancestral leg need not have been so complex, and that other events, such as successive loss of function of a Homeobox, ''Hox''-gene, could result in Parallel evolution, parallel gains of leg segments ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opisthosoma
The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma ( cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects to an abdomen (and is often referred to as such), the opisthosoma is differentiated by its inclusion of the respiratory organs ( book lungs or book gills) and the heart. Segments The number of segments and appendages on the opisthosoma vary. Scorpions have 13, but the first is only seen during its embryological development. Other arachnids have fewer; harvestmen, for instance, have only ten. In general, appendages are absent or reduced, although in horseshoe crabs they persist as large plate-like limbs, called opercula or branchiophores, bearing the book gills, and that function in locomotion and gas exchange. In most chelicerates the opisthosomal limbs are greatly reduced and persist only as specialized structures, such as the silk- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spider Vision
The eyes of spiders vary significantly in their structure, arrangement, and function. They usually have eight, each being a simple eye with a single lens (optics), lens rather than multiple units as in the compound eyes of insects. The specific arrangement and structure of the eyes is one of the features used in the identification and classification of different species, genera, and families. Most Haplogynae, haplogynes have six eyes, although some have eight (Plectreuridae), four (e.g., ''Tetrablemma'') or even two (most Caponiidae). In some cave species, there are no eyes at all (e.g. ''Stalita taenaria''). Sometimes one pair of eyes is better developed than the rest. Several families of hunting spiders, such as jumping spiders and wolf spiders, have fair to excellent vision. The main pair of eyes in jumping spiders even sees in colour. Structure and anatomy Spiders' eyes are Simple eye in invertebrates, simple eyes, or ''ocelli'' (singular ''ocellus''), meaning their eyes have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aelurillus
''Aelurillus'' is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders). Description Species of the genus ''Aelurillus'' are typically about 7 mm long in females, and up to five mm in males. They are stout, squat-shaped and rather furry, with females often uniformly mottled sandy brown, while males are often black, sometimes with a pattern and with light, annulated legs.Murphy & Murphy 2000: 273 Habits Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (myrmecophagy). A Southeast Asian species of the genus ''Aelurillus'' has been observed to jump around 30-40 times its body length straight onto the back of a large gnaphosid spider and kill it. They like hot, dry, stony places or small bare open areas with dead twigs or similar amongst low vegetation. Distribution Species of the genus ''Aelurillus'' occur in the Palaearctic and Africa, with a few species known from India (''A. improvisus'', ''A. minimontanus'') and Sri Lanka (''A. kronestedti'', ''A. quadrimacul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Maddison
Wayne Paul Maddison (born 1958) is a Canadian evolutionary biologist, arachnologist, and biological illustrator. He is Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity and a professor at the departments of zoology and botany at the University of British Columbia, and the Director of the Spencer Entomological Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Education and career Maddison was born in London, Ontario and his interests in studying spiders started while he was a teenager exploring Lake Ontario. Maddison studied zoology at the University of Toronto, where he obtained his BSc in 1980. He went on to study at Harvard University in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, where he obtained his PhD in 1988 under the supervision of Herbert W. Levi. He was a NSERC postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley from 1988 to 1990, where he worked with Montgomery Slatkin. Maddison became an assistant professor and later associate professor at the University o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
