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Polynesian Starling
The Polynesian starling (''Aplonis tabuensis'') is a species of starling of the family Sturnidae. It is found in the Samoan Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tonga, the Santa Cruz Islands and Wallis and Futuna. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and tropical moist forests. Various subspecies exist throughout this wide range, some darker in coloration and some lighter. Its call is a raspy buzz or rattle. Diet is fruit and insects. On islands where the Samoan starling is present, the Polynesian starling is less conspicuous and keeps to the forest, feeding on harder, less edible fruit. Taxonomy The Polynesian starling was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the shrikes in the genus '' Lanius'' and coined the binomial name ''Lanius tabuensis''. The specific epithet is from the toponym Tongatapu, one of the main islands of Tonga. G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Friedrich Gmelin
Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp Friedrich Gmelin in 1748 in Tübingen. He studied medicine under his father at University of Tübingen and graduated with a Master's degree in 1768, with a thesis entitled: ', defended under the presidency of Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger, whom he thanks with the words '. Career In 1769, Gmelin became an adjunct professor of medicine at University of Tübingen. In 1773, he became professor of philosophy and adjunct professor of medicine at University of Göttingen. He was promoted to full professor of medicine and professor of chemistry, botany, and mineralogy in 1778. He died in 1804 in Göttingen and is buried there in the Albanifriedhof, Albani cemetery with his wife Rosine Louise Gmelin (1755–1828, née Schott). Johann Friedrich Gm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lanius
''Lanius'', the typical shrikes, are a genus of passerine birds in the shrike family Laniidae. The majority of the family's species are placed in this genus. The genus name, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits. The common English name "shrike" is from Old English ''scríc'', "shriek", referring to the shrill call. Some African species are known as fiscals. That name comes from the Afrikaans word ''fiskaal'' ("public official", especially a hangman), because they hang their prey on thorns for storage. Most ''Lanius'' species occur in Eurasia and Africa, but the Northern shrike is found in eastern Asia and North America, while the loggerhead shrike is confined to North America. There are no members of this genus or the shrike family in South America or Australia. ''Lanius'' shrikes are birds of open habitats typically seen perched upright on a prominent perch like a tree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotuma
Rotuma () is a self-governing heptarchy, generally designated a Local government in Fiji, dependency of Fiji. Rotuma commonly refers to the Rotuma Island, the only permanently inhabited and by far the largest of all the islands in the Rotuma Group. Officially, the Rotuma Act declares that Rotuma consists of Rotuma Island as well as its neighbouring islands, rocks, and reefs across the entire Rotuma Group. The dependency is situated around 500 km west of the French islands of Wallis and Futuna and a similar distance north of the Fijian mainland. Its capital is Ahau, a hamlet consisting of a number of Colony of Fiji, colonial-era buildings. Rotuma exists as a dependency of Fiji but itself contains its own socioreligious enclave, pene-enclave known traditionally as ''Faguta'' where the chiefs (of Juju (district), Juju and Pepjei) and their villages adhere to the practices of worship, Fara (Rotuman festivity), festival dates, and French language, French-based writing system of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tikopia
Tikopia is a volcanic island in Temotu Province, in the independent nation of Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Although most of Solomon Islands is Melanesian, Tikopia is culturally Polynesian. Its remoteness has enabled much of its culture to persist. One overview calls it "arguably the most thoroughly documented small-scale society in the ethnographic record". Tikopia played a significant role in solving the mystery of the Lapérouse expedition, which had disappeared in 1788. The ''Calcutta Government Gazette'' wrote in 1828, "It is a curious fact that the discovery of the wreck of LaPerouse's ships arose out of a massacre at the Fejee Islands, in 1813". Survivors from this massacre were put ashore at the nearest landfall, which turned out to be Tikopia, and thus began a chain of events which resulted in this tiny island becoming a recognised name around the world. Location and geography Covering an area of , this Pacific island is the remn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, to the northeast of Australia. It is directly adjacent to Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Bougainville, a part of Papua New Guinea to the west, Australia to the southwest, New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the southeast, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, and Tuvalu to the east, and Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia to the north. It has a total area of 28,896 square kilometres (11,157 sq mi), and a population of 734,887 according to the official estimates for mid-2023. Its capital and largest city, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the wider area of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the Autonomous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temotu Province
Temotu (or Te Motu, literally "the island" in Polynesian) is the easternmost province of Solomon Islands. The province was formerly known as Santa Cruz Islands Province. It consists, essentially, of two chains of islands which run parallel to each other from the northwest to the southeast. Its area is . Administrative divisions Temotu Province is sub-divided into the following wards: Temotu Province (pop 21,362) * Reef Islands ** Polynesian Outer Islands (353) ** Fenualoa (1,305) ** Nipua/Nopoli (880) ** Lipe/Temua (796) ** Manuopo (1,030) ** Nenumpo (1,163) * Santa Cruz Islands ** Graciosa Bay (1,264) ** North East Santa Cruz (1,843) ** Nanggu/Lord Howe (1,863) ** Nea/Noole (1,770) ** Nevenema (947) ** Luva Station (2,335) ** Neo (1,558) * isolated islands and groups ** Duff Islands (509) ** Utupua (1,168) ** Vanikoro (1,293) ** Tikopia (1,285) Islands The islands or island groups which make up the province are: * Anuta * Duff Islands (including Taumako) * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tinakula
Tinakula is a conical stratovolcano which forms an island north of Nendo in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. It lies at the north end of the Santa Cruz Islands. It is about wide and rises above sea level, rising from the sea floor. The volcano was first recorded in eruption in 1595 when Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña sailed past it during his second expedition across the Pacific Ocean. Tinakula has also been known in the past as Tamami or Volcano Island. History and occupation The island is uninhabited. A population was eradicated when the volcano erupted around 1840 and pyroclastic flows swept all sides of the island. The island was reportedly inhabited in 1887. In 1951, Polynesians from Nukapu and Nupani settled on the island, reaching a peak population of 160 before the island had to be evacuated with the 1971 eruption. The village of ''Temateneni'' was on the southeast coast. In the late 1980s, two families (fewer than 10 people) from Nupani made another attempt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Eduard Hellmayr
Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 – 24 February 1944) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete his degree. After his studies he worked in Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Paris, Tring (England), and Chicago. He spent the years 1905–1908 studying Baron Rothschild's private collection of natural history specimens at Tring, near London. There he received guidance from the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert. In 1908, Hellmayr was appointed Curator of the Bird Department at the Bavarian State Museum, which he had helped organize in 1903 and where he became a specialist in Neotropical birds, studying Johann Baptist von Spix's collection of Brazilian birds. In 1922, he was made Curator in Zoology at the Field Museum in Chicago. He stayed there until 1931. His books included 13 of the 15 volumes of the ''Catalogue of Birds of the Americas'' (1918–1949), a work initiated by Hellmayr's pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species have subspecies, but for those that do there must be at least two. Subspecies is abbreviated as subsp. or ssp. and the singular and plural forms are the same ("the subspecies is" or "the subspecies are"). In zoology, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the subspecies is the only taxonomic rank below that of species that can receive a name. In botany and mycology, under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, other infraspecific name, infraspecific ranks, such as variety (botany), variety, may be named. In bacteriology and virology, under standard International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, bacterial nomenclature and virus clas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. Because of his 1840s seven-volume series ''The Birds of Australia (Gould), The Birds of Australia'' and its updates he has been considered the father of bird study in Australia, and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, ''On the Origin of Species''. Early life John Gould was born in Lyme Regis, the first son of a gardener. Both father and son probably had little education. After working on Dowager Lady Poulett's glass house, his father obtained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aplonis
''Aplonis'' is a genus of starlings. These are essentially island species of Indonesia and Oceania, although some species' ranges extend to the Malay Peninsula, southern Vietnam and northeastern Queensland. The typical adult ''Aplonis'' starling is fairly uniformly plumaged in black, brown or dark green, sometimes with a metallic gloss. The eye ring is often distinctively coloured. Immatures of several species have dark streaked pale underparts. Several species have restricted ranges, and, like other island endemics, have become endangered or extinct as a result of habitat loss or introduced mammals such as rats. Taxonomy The genus ''Aplonis'' was introduced in 1836 by the English ornithologist John Gould. He listed two species in the new genus but did not specify which was the type species. In 1840 George Gray designated the ''Aplonis fusca'' Gould 1836 as the type. This is the extinct Tasman starling. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''haploos '' meaning "simple" or "plain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leverian Collection
The Leverian collection was a natural history and ethnographic collection assembled by Ashton Lever. It was noted for the content it acquired from the voyages of Captain James Cook. For three decades it was displayed in London, being broken up by auction in 1806. The first public location of the collection was the Holophusikon, also known as the Leverian Museum, at Leicester House, Westminster, Leicester House, on Leicester Square, from 1775 to 1786. After it passed from Lever's ownership, it was displayed for nearly twenty years more at the purpose-built Blackfriars Rotunda#James Parkinson and the Leverian collection, Blackfriars Rotunda just across the Thames, sometimes called Parkinson's Museum for its subsequent owner, James Parkinson (c. 1730–1813). At Alkrington Lever collected fossils, shells, and animals (birds, insects, reptiles, fish, monkeys) for many years, accumulating a large collection at his home at Alkrington, near Manchester. Admittance to the collection was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
