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Sierra Luminous Millipede
''Motyxia'' is a genus of cyanide-producing millipedes (collectively known as Sierra luminous millipedes or motyxias) that are endemic to the southern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, and Santa Monica mountain ranges of California. Motyxias are blind and produce the poison cyanide, like all members of the Polydesmida. All species have the ability to glow brightly: some of the few known instances of bioluminescence in millipedes. Description Adult ''Motyxia'' reach 3 to 4 cm in length, 4.5 to 8 mm wide, with 20 body segments, excluding the head. Females are slightly larger than males. Like other polydesmidans ("flat-backed" millipedes) they lack eyes and have prominent paranota (lateral keels). They are typically tan to orange-pink in color (except ''M. pior''), with a dark mid-dorsal line. ''M. pior'' is the most variable in color, and ranges from dark gray to greenish-yellow to bright orange. They lack bumps on the metatergites (the dorsal plates possessing paranota), gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Museum Of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 interconnected buildings housing 45 permanent exhibition halls, in addition to a planetarium and a library. The museum collections contain over 34 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts, as well as specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time. The museum occupies more than . AMNH has a full-time scientific staff of 225, sponsors over 120 special field expeditions each year, and averages about five million visits annually. The AMNH is a private 501(c)(3) organization. Its mission statement is: "To discover, interpret, and disseminate—through scientific research ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polydesmida
Polydesmida (from the Greek ''poly'' "many" and ''desmos'' "bond") is the largest order of millipedes, containing approximately 3,500 species, including all the millipedes reported to produce hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Description Members of the order Polydesmida are also known as "flat-backed millipedes", because on most species, each body segment has wide lateral keels known as paranota. These keels are produced by the posterior half (metazonite) of each body ring behind the collum. Polydesmids have no eyes, and vary in length from . Many of the larger species show bright coloration patterns which warn predators of their toxic secretions. Adults usually have 20 segments, counting the collum as the first ring and the telson as the last ring. Juveniles have from 7 to 19 rings. In species with the usual 20 segments, adult females have 31 pairs of legs, but in adult males, the eighth leg pair (the first leg pair of the 7th ring) is modified into a single pair of gonopods, leaving on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phengodidae
The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms. The females and larvae have bioluminescent organs. They occur throughout the New World from extreme southern Canada to Chile. The recently recognized members of the Phengodidae, the Cydistinae, are found in Western Asia. The family Rhagophthalmidae, an Old World group, used to be included in the Phengodidae. Larval and larviform female glowworms are predators, feeding on millipedes and other arthropods occurring in soil and litter. The winged males, which are often attracted to lights at night, are short-lived and probably do not feed. Females are much larger than the males and are completely larviform. Males may be luminescent, but females and larvae have a series of luminescent organs on trunk segments which emit yellow or green light, and sometimes an additional head organ which emits red light, as in railroad worms. This family is distinct from the fireflies (family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirobolida
Spirobolida is an Order (biology), order of "round-backed" millipedes containing approximately 500 species in 12 family (biology), families. Its members are distinguished by the presence of a "pronounced Suture (anatomy), suture that runs "vertically down the front of the head". Most of the species live in the tropics, and many are brightly coloured. Mature males have two pairs of modified legs, the gonopods, consisting of the 8th and 9th leg pair: the posterior gonopods are used in sperm-transfer while the anterior gonopods are fused into a single plate-like structure. The families are divided into two suborders: Suborder Spirobolidea *Allopocockiidae *Atopetholidae *Floridobolidae *Hoffmanobolidae *Messicobolidae *Pseudospirobolellidae *Rhinocricidae *Spirobolellidae *Spirobolidae *Typhlobolellidae Suborder Trigoniulidea *Pachybolidae *Trigoniulidae Select species *''Narceus americanus'', a commonly seen species in eastern North America *''Crurifarcimen, Crurifarcimen vagan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhinocricidae
Rhinocricidae is a family of millipedes, that occurs disjunctly in Malesia and neighbouring parts of Australasia and in the Neotropics. The family contains the following genera: *'' Acladocricus'' Brölemann, 1913 *'' Alcimobolus'' Loomis, 1936 *''Anadenobolus ''Anadenobolus'' is a genus of millipedes in the family Rhinocricidae Rhinocricidae is a family of millipedes, that occurs disjunctly in Malesia and neighbouring parts of Australasia and in the Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of ...'' von Porat, 1876 *'' Andocricus'' Chamberlin, 1955 *'' Auracricus'' Pérez-Asso, 1998 *'' Australocricus'' Jeekel, 2001 *'' Carlocricus'' Jeekel, 2001 *'' Cubobolus'' Chamberlin, 1918 *'' Desmocricus'' Carl, 1918 *'' Eurhinocricus'' Brölemann, 1903 *'' Fomentocricus'' Perez-Asso, 1998 *'' Haitobolus'' Mauriès & Hoffman, 1998 *'' Jobocricus'' Pérez-Asso, 1998 *'' Leiocricus'' Loomis, 1936 *'' Lissocricus'' Chamberlin, 1953 *'' Metacricus'' Chamberlin, 1953 *'' Neocricus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirobolellidae
Spirobolellidae is a family of millipedes in the order Spirobolida Spirobolida is an Order (biology), order of "round-backed" millipedes containing approximately 500 species in 12 family (biology), families. Its members are distinguished by the presence of a "pronounced Suture (anatomy), suture that runs "verti .... There are about 11 genera and more than 100 described species in Spirobolellidae. Genera These 11 genera belong to the family Spirobolellidae: * '' Attemsobolus'' * '' Desmocricellus'' Attems, 1953 * '' Howeobolus'' * '' Hylekobolus'' Wesener, 2009 * '' Paraspirobolus'' Brölemann, 1902 * '' Physobolus'' Attems, 1936 * '' Poratobolus'' * '' Queenslandobolus'' * '' Spirobolellus'' Pocock, 1894 * '' Strophobolus'' * '' Walesbolus'' Verhoeff, 1928 References Further reading * * Spirobolida Millipedes of North America Millipede families {{myriapoda-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aposematic
Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste or smell, sharp spines, or aggressive nature. These advertising signals may take the form of conspicuous coloration, sounds, odours, or other perceivable characteristics. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both predator and prey, since both avoid potential harm. The term was coined in 1877 by Edward Bagnall Poulton for Alfred Russel Wallace's concept of warning coloration. Aposematism is exploited in Müllerian mimicry, where species with strong defences evolve to resemble one another. By mimicking similarly coloured species, the warning signal to predators is shared, causing them to learn more quickly at less of a cost. A genuine aposematic signal that a species actually possesses chemical or physical defences is not the only way t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homology (biology)
In biology, homology is similarity due to shared ancestry between a pair of structures or genes in different taxa. A common example of homologous structures is the forelimbs of vertebrates, where the wings of bats and birds, the arms of primates, the front flippers of whales and the forelegs of four-legged vertebrates like dogs and crocodiles are all derived from the same ancestral tetrapod structure. Evolutionary biology explains homologous structures adapted to different purposes as the result of descent with modification from a common ancestor. The term was first applied to biology in a non-evolutionary context by the anatomist Richard Owen in 1843. Homology was later explained by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in 1859, but had been observed before this, from Aristotle onwards, and it was explicitly analysed by Pierre Belon in 1555. In developmental biology, organs that developed in the embryo in the same manner and from similar origins, such as from matc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyrin
Porphyrins ( ) are a group of heterocyclic macrocycle organic compounds, composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at their α carbon atoms via methine bridges (=CH−). The parent of porphyrin is porphine, a rare chemical compound of exclusively theoretical interest. Substituted porphines are called porphyrins. With a total of 26 π-electrons, of which 18 π-electrons form a planar, continuous cycle, the porphyrin ring structure is often described as aromatic. One result of the large conjugated system is that porphyrins typically absorb strongly in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e. they are deeply colored. The name "porphyrin" derives from the Greek word πορφύρα (''porphyra''), meaning ''purple''. Complexes of porphyrins Concomitant with the displacement of two N-''H'' protons, porphyrins bind metal ions in the N4 "pocket". The metal ion usually has a charge of 2+ or 3+. A schematic equation for these syntheses is shown: :H2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luciferase
Luciferase is a generic term for the class of oxidative enzymes that produce bioluminescence, and is usually distinguished from a photoprotein. The name was first used by Raphaël Dubois who invented the words '' luciferin'' and ''luciferase'', for the substrate and enzyme, respectively. Both words are derived from the Latin word ''lucifer'', meaning "lightbearer", which in turn is derived from the Latin words for "light" (''lux)'' and "to bring or carry" (''ferre)''.Luciferases are widely used in biotechnology, for bioluminescence imaging microscopy and as reporter genes, for many of the same applications as fluorescent proteins. However, unlike fluorescent proteins, luciferases do not require an external light source, but do require addition of luciferin, the consumable substrate. Examples A variety of organisms regulate their light production using different luciferases in a variety of light-emitting reactions. The majority of studied luciferases have been found in anim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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