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New Zealand Swan
The New Zealand swan (Moriori: , ''Cygnus sumnerensis'') is an extinct indigenous swan from the Chatham Islands and the South Island of New Zealand. Discovered as archaeological remains in 1889, it was originally considered a separate species from the Australian black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') because of its slightly larger bones, and swans not having been introduced to New Zealand until 1864. From 1998 until 2017, it was considered to be simply a New Zealand population of '' Cygnus atratus'', until DNA recovered from fossil bones determined that it was indeed a separate species, much larger and heavier than its Australian relative. Description Based on numerous bone measurements, ''C. sumnerensis'' was distinctly larger than its Australian relative, weighing an estimated 10 kg to the 6 kg of ''C. atratus'', a clear display of island gigantism. Standing about 1 m tall, it was "more like a rugby player compared with the Australian swan's (''Cygnus atratus'') smaller and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek () 'most' and (; Latinized as ) 'new'. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold Glacial period, glacial periods and warmer Interglacial, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canterbury Museum, Christchurch
The Canterbury Museum is a museum located in the Christchurch Central City, central city of Christchurch, New Zealand, in the city's Cultural Precinct. The museum was established in 1867 with Julius von Haast – whose collection formed its core – as its first director. The building is registered as a "Historic Place – Category I" by Heritage New Zealand. History Construction The building, a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival constructed on a design by Benjamin Mountfort, opened in 1870. Two years after its opening, the single-storey building was expanded with an additional floor in the Gothic Revival architecture, Victorian Gothic style. The museum continued to grow over the next decade, with an addition built on in 1876 and an interior courtyard roofed in 1882. In 1958, a new wing was added adjacent to Christ's College, Christchurch, Christ's College, and another was built on in 1977. The building was strengthened in the mid-1990s and a four-storey block was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Te Whanga Lagoon
Te Whanga Lagoon dominates the geography of Chatham Island, in the South Pacific Ocean off New Zealand's east coast. It covers . It is the outflow of several small rivers in the island's hilly south, and drains to the Pacific via gaps in Hanson Bay on the east coast of the island. It contains many fossilized shark teeth that can be collected from the edges of the lagoon. Over time the lagoon is likely to silt up. When first described by Dr E Dieffenbach in 1841, the lagoon was only slightly brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ... and separated from the sea by a low sand bar and was about above high tide. Gallery File:Hikurangi Channel, Te Whaanga Lagoon.jpg, Hikurangi Channel, Te Whanga Lagoon. This drainage channel was dug in the 1880s to give more fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient DNA
Ancient DNA (aDNA) is DNA isolated from ancient sources (typically Biological specimen, specimens, but also environmental DNA). Due to degradation processes (including Crosslinking of DNA, cross-linking, deamination and DNA fragmentation, fragmentation) ancient DNA is more degraded in comparison with present-day genetic material. Genetic material has been recovered from paleo/archaeological and historical skeletal material, Mummy, mummified tissues, archival collections of non-frozen medical specimens, preserved plant remains, ice and from permafrost cores, marine and lake sediments and Excavation (archaeology), excavation dirt. Even under the best preservation conditions, there is an upper boundary of 0.4–1.5 million years for a sample to contain sufficient DNA for sequencing technologies. The oldest DNA sequenced from physical specimens are from mammoth molars in Siberia over 1 million years old. In 2022, two-million-year-old genetic material was recovered from sediments in G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Grassmere
Lake Grassmere / Kapara Te Hau is a New Zealand waituna-type lagoon in the northeastern South Island, close to Cook Strait. The lake is used for the production of salt. Geography Lake Grassmere, south of Blenheim and south of the mouth of the Awatere River, is a shallow lagoon protected from the open sea by a single barrier beach covered by sand dunes. It is on the north-easterly extension of the Ward depression. Covering an area of , it has no natural inflow and is prone to strong warm winds. Close to the sea, it also has very high salinity. Because of these geographical characteristics, it is ideal for natural salt extraction. Grassmere has been divided into solar evaporation ponds. Seawater is pumped in, and moved between ponds over several months, increasing in salinity with each evaporation period. As salinity increases, crystallised salt forms and is extracted. These crystals give the lake a distinctive pink colour. Grassmere's area varies between ; this maximum i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trevor H
Trevor ( Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', meaning "large, big". The Cornish language equivalent is Trevorrow and is most associated with Ludgvan. Trevor is also a reduced Anglicized form of the Gaelic ''Ó Treabhair'' (descendant of Treabhar), which may derive from the original Welsh name. As a surname People * Claire Trevor (1910–2000), American actress *Hugh Trevor (1903–1933), American actor * John Trevor (other), various people * William Trevor (1928–2016), Irish writer * William Spottiswoode Trevor (1831–1907), recipient of the Victoria Cross Fictional characters *Steve Trevor, in the DC Comics, 1970s television series and 2017 film ''Wonder Woman'' As a given name People *Trevor Ariza (born 1985), American basketball player *Trevor Bailey, English cricketer * Trevor Bauer, American baseball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synonym (taxonomy)
In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The Botanical nomenclature, botanical and Zoological nomenclature, zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In nomenclature, botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a Binomial nomenclature, scientific name that applies to a taxon that now goes by a different scientific name. For example, Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name (under the currently used system of scientific nomenclature) to the Norway spruce, which he called ''Pinus abies''. This name is no longer in use, so it is now a synonym of the current scientific name, ''Picea abies''. * In zoology, moving a species from one genus to another results in a different Binomial nomenclature, binomen, but the name is considered an alternative combination rather than a synonym. The concept of synonymy in zoology is reserved f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nomen Nudum
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate description. This makes it a "bare" or "naked" name, which cannot be accepted as it stands. A largely equivalent but much less frequently used term is ''nomen tantum'' ("name only"). Sometimes, "''nomina nuda''" is erroneously considered a synonym for the term "unavailable names". However, not all unavailable names are ''nomina nuda'' which applies to published names, ''i.e.'' any published name that does not fulfill the requirements of Article 12 (if published before 1931) or Article 13 (if published after 1930). In zoology According to the rules of zoological nomenclature a ''nomen nudum'' is unavailable name, unavailable; the glossary of the ''International Code of Zoological Nomenclature'' gives this definition: And ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Oliver
Walter Reginald Brook Oliver (7 September 1883 – 16 May 1957) was a New Zealand naturalist, ornithologist, malacologist, and museum curator. Biography Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Oliver emigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1896, settling in Tauranga. Having already developed an interest in nature during his childhood, he systematically recorded natural observations throughout much of his life, including joining other naturalists on an expedition to the Kermadec Islands in 1908. In 1910, Oliver became a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) for which body he served as branch secretary for New Zealand from 1914 to his death in 1957, a period of office of 43 years. During this period, he also served as RAOU vice-president from 1942 to 1943, and as president from 1943 to 1944. Oliver was appointed director of the Dominion Museum in 1928, and in 1930, he published the seminal guide ''New Zealand Birds'', which was updated and expanded in 1955. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Type (biology)
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the defining features of that particular taxon. In older usage (pre-1900 in botany), a type was a taxon rather than a specimen. A taxon is a scientifically named grouping of organisms with other like organisms, a set that includes some organisms and excludes others, based on a detailed published description (for example a species description) and on the provision of type material, which is usually available to scientists for examination in a major museum research collection, or similar institution. Type specimen According to a precise set of rules laid down in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) and the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN), the scientific name of every taxon is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Swan
The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent on climatic conditions. It is a large bird with black plumage and a red beak, bill. It is a Monogamy in animals, monogamous breeder, with both partners sharing incubation and Swan#Etymology and terminology, cygnet-rearing duties. The black swan was introduced to various countries as an ornamental bird in the 1800s, but has managed to escape and form stable populations. Described scientifically by English naturalist John Latham (ornithologist), John Latham in 1790, the black swan was formerly placed into a monotypic genus, ''Chenopis''. Black swans can be found singly, or in loose companies numbering into the hundreds or even thousands. It is a popular bird in zoological gardens and bird collections, and escapees are sometimes seen outside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humerus
The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity of humerus, upper extremity consists of a rounded head, a narrow neck, and two short processes (tubercles, sometimes called tuberosities). The body of humerus, body is cylindrical in its upper portion, and more prism (geometry), prismatic below. The lower extremity of humerus, lower extremity consists of 2 epicondyles, 2 processes (trochlea of the humerus, trochlea and capitulum of the humerus, capitulum), and 3 fossae (radial fossa, coronoid fossa, and olecranon fossa). As well as its true anatomical neck, the constriction below the greater and lesser tubercles of the humerus is referred to as its Surgical neck of the humerus, surgical neck due to its tendency to fracture, thus often becoming the focus of surgeons. Etymology The word ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
