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Priocnemis Monachus
''Priocnemis monachus'' is a species of spider wasp Endemism, endemic to New Zealand, where it is known as the black hunting wasp or ngaro wīwī. It hunts large Mygalomorphae, tunnelweb or Cantuaria, trapdoor spiders, paralysing them with its sting and storing them in burrows for its larvae to eat alive. It is the largest member of the family Pompilidae in New Zealand. Taxonomy The holotype of this species was collected by Joseph Dalton Hooker, and is in the Joseph Banks, Banks collection of the British Museum of Natural History. It is one of a number of species named but not described by Adam White, and intended to appear in the series Voyage of the Erebus and Terror, but not in fact being published there. In error, Frederick Smith (entomologist), Frederick Smith in 1855 attributed the species to White, but Smith's listing of it as ''Pompilus monachus'' in his ''Catalogue of hymenopterous insects in the British Museum'' is the first published description. In the years followin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spider Wasp
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary (with the exception of some group-nesting Ageniellini), and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders. In South America, species may be referred to colloquially as or , though these names can be generally applied to any very large stinging wasps. Furthermore, in some parts of Venezuela and Colombia, it is called , or "horse killers", while in Brazil some particular bigger and brighter species of the general kind might be called /, or "throat locker". Morphology Like other strong fliers, pompilids have a thorax modified for efficient flight. The metathorax is solidly fused to the pronotum and mesothorax; moreover, the prothorax is best developed in Pompilidae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eumenidae
Potter wasps (or mason wasps), the Eumeninae, are a cosmopolitan wasp group currently considered a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae. Mud dauber wasps, which also build their nests with mud, are in the families Sphecidae and Crabronidae and not discussed here. Recognition Most eumenine species are black or brown, and commonly marked with strikingly contrasting patterns of yellow, white, orange, or red (or combinations thereof), but some species, mostly from tropical regions, show faint to strong blue or green metallic highlights in the background colors. Like most vespids, their wings are folded longitudinally at rest. They are particularly recognized by the following combination of characteristics: # a posterolateral projection known as a parategula on both sides of the mesoscutum; # tarsal claws cleft; # hind coxae with a longitudinal dorsal carina or folding, often developed into a lobe or tooth, and; # fore wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennantia Corymbosa
''Pennantia corymbosa'', commonly known as kaikomako (from the MÄori ), is a small dioecious tree endemic to New Zealand. Small, creamy flowers are produced between November and February, followed by a shiny black fruit in autumn. They are a favourite food of the New Zealand bellbird. The MÄori name means food () of the bellbird (). Traditionally, MÄori used the tree to make fire by repeatedly rubbing a pointed stick into a groove on a piece of mÄhoe. An English name is "duck's foot", coming from the shape of the juvenile plant's leaf. Juvenile plants have small leaves with tangled, divaricating stems, while mature plants have much larger leaves and a normal tree architecture. Description Identifying ''P. corymbosa'' is different at each stage of its life. As a seedling, KaikÅmako has cotyledons which are entire and oval shaped, and are about in size. As the plant grows, the first true leaves are about 9 x 8mm and are three-toothed. As a juvenile, the plant grows i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptospermum Scoparium
''Leptospermum'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae commonly known as tea trees, although this name is sometimes also used for some species of '' Melaleuca''. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greatest diversity in the south of the continent, but some are native to other parts of the world, including New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Leptospermums all have five conspicuous petals and five groups of stamens which alternate with the petals. There is a single style in the centre of the flower and the fruit is a woody capsule. The first formal description of a leptospermum was published in 1776 by the German botanists Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Johann Georg Adam Forster, but an unambiguous definition of individual species in the genus was not achieved until 1979. Leptospermums grow in a wide range of habitats but are most commonly found in moist, low-nutrient soils. They have important uses in horticulture, in the produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uliodon
''Uliodon'' is a genus of spiders endemic to New Zealand and possibly Australia. They are commonly referred to as vagrant spiders. Vagrant spiders vary in colour from dark brown to almost black, they typically have a body length of 20mm and a 50mm leg span. When alive, the interior of the male's pedipalp are brightly coloured (usually orange). They are nocturnal hunters, feeding on ground-dwelling invertebrates. During the day they are found under logs and rocks. They can be found in a variety of habitats: native forest and plantations, or more open habitat, but also scree slopes and occasionally in houses. Reproduction After mating, the female prepares a chamber lined with silk beneath a log or stone on the forest floor, or inside a rotten log, where they construct a rather large and round egg sac that they guard until the young hatch and disperse. The genus is apparently widespread throughout the country. Taxonomy , three or possibly four species of ''Uliodon'' are accepted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolomedes Minor
''Dolomedes minor'' is a spider in the family Dolomedidae that is endemic to New Zealand, where it is known as the nursery web spider. Identification ''Dolomedes minor'' is pale brown to grey, like the rocks around which they live, helping to camouflage them against predators. The spider has large pedipalps, which are usually used for sensory purposes. The female ''D. minor'' can easily be identified based on the position of the epigyne on the underside of the abdomen. They possess large chelicerae, which are located just below the eyes. The spider has a body length of about 18 mm. The females are almost twice the size of the males. They move very fast and possess a long leg-span: over sixty millimeters for a fully grown female. Habitat ''D. minor'' is found in a variety of habitats throughout New Zealand. They survive in a variety of terrains, from sea level up to subalpine areas, including shrubland containing Gorse (Ulex europaeus) and Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridgea Foliata
''Cambridgea foliata'', commonly known as New Zealand sheet-web spider, is a species of spider in the family Desidae.Forster, R.R.; Wilton, C.L. (1973)The spiders of New Zealand. Part 4, Agelenidae, Stiphidiidae, Amphinectidae, Amaurobiidae, Neolanidae, Ctenidae, Psechridae ''Otago Museum Bulletin'', ''4.'' These nocturnal, arboreal spiders are endemic to the North Island of New Zealand and build large horizontal sheet-webs with a large number of knock-down threads. Taxonomy This species was described as ''Tengeria foliata'' by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch. It was moved to the ''Cambridgea'' genus in 1898. It was most recently revised in 1973. The holotype location is considered unknown. Description ''C. foliata'' have a reddish-brown cephalothorax and greyish yellow abdomen. While males and females of this species are of a similar size with a cephalothorax width of approximately 5.8mm, males have significantly longer chelicerae compared to females. While males of other ''Camb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hexathele
''Hexathele'' is a genus of tunnelweb spiders endemic to New Zealand that was first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871, though most others have been described by Raymond Robert Forster. Originally placed with the curtain web spiders, it was moved to the Hexathelidae in 1980. Description Most species of ''Hexathele'' are relatively large spiders. Females of '' Hexathele waita'', one of the largest species, may have a carapace long, and an abdomen long, with the longest leg (the fourth) being long in total. ''Hexathele'' species are generally brown to black in colour. Many species have a chevron pattern on the upper surface of the abdomen, with patterns often being unique to the species. The carapace of the cephalothorax has a more or less straight depression ( fovea) in the centre. The eyes are arranged in a compact group. The male palp lacks tibial apophyses (projections), but the male's first pair of legs have double spines on the tibia. There are six spinnerets, with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porrhothele Antipodiana
''Porrhothele antipodiana'', the black tunnelweb spider, is a species of Mygalomorphae, mygalomorph spider that lives in New Zealand. It is the most common and widespread of several species in the genus ''Porrhothele'', and is especially common in the greater Wellington region where the vagrant mature males are often encountered in or around dwellings. This species is one of New Zealand's most studied spiders. In New Zealand, the common name "tunnelweb spider" is also often used to refer to members of the genus ''Hexathele''. Neither should be confused with their distant relatives, the highly venomous Australian funnel-web spider, Australian funnel-web spiders (family Atracidae). Description In females, the carapace is usually orange-brown coloured, with some darker shading near the eyes. The legs and palps are also typically orange-brown, but are darker than the carapace. The chelicerae are reddish-brown to black. The Sternum (arthropod anatomy), sternum is a pale reddish brown. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitoid
In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable strategy, evolutionary strategies within parasitism, distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes the strategy close to predation. Among parasitoids, strategies range from living inside the host (''endoparasitism''), allowing it to continue growing before emerging as an adult, to Paralysis, paralysing the host and living outside it (''ectoparasitism''). Hosts can include other parasitoids, resulting in hyperparasitism; in the case of oak galls, up to five levels of parasitism are possible. Some parasitoids Behavior-altering parasite, influence their host's behaviour in ways that favour the propagation of the parasitoid. Parasitoids are found in a variety of Taxon, taxa across the insect superorder Endopterygota, whose compl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, dioecious species, which consist of most animals and some plants. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, color, markings, or behavioral or cognitive traits. Male-male reproductive competition has evolved a diverse array of sexually dimorphic traits. Aggressive utility traits such as "battle" teeth and blunt heads reinforced as battering rams are used as weapons in aggressive interactions between rivals. Passive displays such as ornamental feathering or song-calling have also evolved mainly through sexual selection. These differences may be subtle or exaggerated and may be subjected to sexual selection and natural selection. The opposite of dimorphism is ''monomorphism'', when both biological sexes are phenotype, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymenoptera In New Zealand
A list of the species of Hymenoptera from New Zealand; which includes ants, bees, parasitoids, sawflies, and social wasps. Agaonidae ''Pleistodontes froggatti'' Mayr 1906; Accidental Introduction ''Pleistodontes imperialis'' Saunders 1883; Accidental Introduction Aphelinidae ''Aphelinus abdominalis'' (Dalman 1820); Accidental Introduction ''Aphelinus mali'' (Haldeman 1851); Deliberate Introduction ''Aphelinus humilis'' Mercet 1928; Accidental Introduction '' Aphelinus gossypii'' Timberlake 1924; Accidental Introduction ''Aphelinus asychis'' Walker 1839; Accidental Introduction '' Aphelinus subflavescens'' (Westwood 1837); Deliberate Introduction '' Aphytis ignotus'' Compere 1955; Accidental Introduction ''Aphytis diaspidis'' (Howard 1881); Accidental Introduction '' Aphytis chilensis'' Howard 1900; Accidental Introduction '' Aphytis mytilaspidis'' (Le Baron 1870); Accidental Introduction '' Aphytis chrysomphali'' (Mercet 1912); Accidental Introduction ''Cales berr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
