|
Southern Nutcracker
The southern nutcracker (''Nucifraga hemispila'') is a passerine bird in the crow family Corvidae. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the northern nutcracker (''Nucifraga caryocatactes'') and the Kashmir nutcracker (''Nucifraga multipunctata'') under the English name "spotted nutcracker". Taxonomy The southern nutcracker was formally described in 1831 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors under the binomial name ''Nucifraga hemispila''. He specified the type locality as just "the Himalayas"; however, research into Vigors' travels has been able to restrict the locality to the Shimla and Almora districts of northern India. The genus name ''Nucifraga'' is the Latin name given to the northern nutcracker by the English naturalist William Turner in 1544, as a translation of the German name ''Nussbrecher'' meaning "nut-breaker". The specific epithet ''hemispila'' combines the Ancient Greek ἡμι-/''hēmi-'' meaning "half-" or "small" with σπιλος/''spilos'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Aylward Vigors
Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Ireland, Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow, in 1785. He was the first son of Capt. Nicholas Aylward Vigors, who served in the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot, 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment, and his first wife, Catherine Vigors, daughter of Solomon Richards of Solsborough. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, in November 1803, and was admitted at Lincoln's Inn in November 1806. Without completing his studies, he served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811 and was wounded in the Battle of Barrosa, Battle of Barossa on 5 March 1811. Though he had not yet completed his studies, he still published "An inquiry into the nature and extent of poetick licence" in London in 1810. He then returned to Oxford to continue his studies and achieved his Bachelor of Arts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Thayer (ornithologist)
John Eliot Thayer (April 3, 1862 – July 29, 1933) was an American amateur ornithologist. Early life Thayer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 3, 1862. He was a son of Cornelia Paterson (née Van Rensselaer) Thayer (1823–1897) and Nathaniel Thayer Jr., a banker who built Harvard's Thayer Hall. Among his siblings were twin brother Bayard Thayer (yachtsman and horticulturalist), older brother Nathaniel Thayer III (a banker and railroad executive), and sister Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer (the wife of New York State Senator J. Hampden Robb). His maternal grandparents were Stephen Van Rensselaer IV (the 10th Patroon and 7th Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck) and Harriet Elizabeth (née Bayard) Van Rensselaer. His paternal grandparents were Sarah Parker (née Toppan) Thayer and the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Thayer, a Unitarian congregational minister from Lancaster, Massachusetts. Through his father, he was descended from John Cotton, the preeminent minister and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Eurasia
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have furth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nucifraga
The nutcrackers (''Nucifraga'') are a genus of four species of passerine bird, in the family Corvidae, related to the jays and crows. The genus ''Nucifraga'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the northern nutcracker (''Nucifraga caryocatactes'') as the type species. The genus name is a Neo-Latin translation of an old German name ''Nussbrecher'', "nut-breaker". Extant species Following reappraisal of species limits in the genus in Asia, the genus is now treated as containing four species: This follows the split of Southern and Kashmir nutcrackers from a former broad view (e.g. Voous, 1977) of all Eurasian nutcrackers as being a single species. The most vital food resources for these species are the seeds (pine nuts) of various pines (''Pinus'' sp.), principally the cold-climate (far northern or high altitude) species of Pinus classification, white pine (''Pinus'' subgenus ''Strobus'') with large seeds: ''P. albicaulis, P. a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Picea
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Piceoideae. Spruces are large trees, from about 20 to 60 m (about 60–200 ft) tall when mature, and have whorled branches and conical form. Spruces can be distinguished from other genera of the family Pinaceae by their needles (leaves), which are four-sided and attached singly to small persistent peg-like structures ( pulvini or sterigmata) on the branches, and by their cones (without any protruding bracts), which hang downwards after they are pollinated. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old, leaving the branches rough with the retained pegs. In other similar genera, the branches are fairly smooth. Spruce are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) species, such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Pinus Species
''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further divided into sections based on chloroplast DNA sequencing and whole plastid genomic analysis. Older classifications split the genus into three subgenera – subgenus ''Pinus'', subgenus ''Strobus'', and subgenus ''Ducampopinus'' ( pinyon, bristlecone and lacebark pines) – based on cone, seed and leaf characteristics. DNA phylogeny has shown that species formerly in subgenus ''Ducampopinus'' are members of subgenus ''Strobus'', so ''Ducampopinus'' is no longer used. The species of subgenus ''Ducampopinus'' were regarded as intermediate between the other two subgenera. In the modern classification, they are placed into subgenus ''Strobus'', yet they did not fit entirely well in either so they were classified in a third subgen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinus Wallichiana
''Pinus wallichiana'' is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains, from eastern Afghanistan east across northern Pakistan and north west India to Yunnan in southwest China. It grows in mountain valleys at altitudes of 1800–4300 m (rarely as low as 1200 m), reaching in height. It favours a temperate climate with dry winters and wet summers. In Pashto, it is known as ''Nishtar''. This tree is often known as Bhutan pine, (not to be confused with the recently described Bhutan white pine, '' Pinus bhutanica'', a closely related species). Other names include blue pine, Himalayan pine and Himalayan white pine. Description The leaves ("needles") are in fascicles (bundles) of five and are 12–18 cm long. They are noted for being flexible along their length, and often droop gracefully. The cones are long and slender, 16–32 cm, yellow-buff when mature, with thin scales; the seeds are 5–6 mm long with a 20� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinus Armandii
''Pinus armandii'', the Armand pine or Chinese white pine, is a species of pine native to China, occurring from southern Shanxi west to southern Gansu and south to Yunnan, with outlying populations in Anhui. It grows at altitudes of 2200–3000 m in Taiwan, and it also extends a short distance into northern Burma. In Chinese it is known as " Mount Hua pine" (). It grows at 1,000–3,300 m altitude, with the lower altitudes mainly in the northern part of the range. It is a tree reaching height, with a trunk up to in diameter. Description It is a member of the white pine group, ''Pinus'' subgenus ''Strobus'', and like all members of that group, the leaves ('needles') are in fascicles (bundles) of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are long. The cones are long and broad, with stout, thick scales. The seeds are large, long and have only a vestigial wing; they are dispersed by spotted nutcrackers. The cones mature in their second year, this is a juvenile female cone: ; V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinus
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as current, with additional synonyms, and ''Plants of the World Online'' 126 species-rank taxa (113 species and 13 nothospecies), making it the largest genus among the conifers. The highest species diversity of pines is found in Mexico. Pines are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; they occupy large areas of boreal forest, but are found in many habitats, including the Mediterranean Basin, and dry tropical forests in southeast Asia and Central America. Wood from pine trees is one of the most extensively used types of timber, and some pines are widely used as Christmas trees. Description Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing tall, with the majority of species reaching tall. The sma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collingwood Ingram
Collingwood "Cherry" Ingram (30 October 1880 – 19 May 1981), was a British ornithologist, plant collector and gardener, who was an authority on Japanese flowering cherries. Personal life Collingwood Ingram was a son of Sir William Ingram and Mary Eliza Collingwood , daughter of Australian politician Edward Stirling. His maternal grandfather was born in Jamaica to a Scottish planter and an unnamed woman of colour. He concealed his racial identity and later settled in South Australia, where he was elected to parliament; his sons (Ingram's uncles) Lancelot and Edward Charles Stirling were also members of parliament. He was a grandson of Herbert Ingram, founder of ''The Illustrated London News''. Sir William Ingram succeeded Herbert as the owner of the paper, and was a brother of Bruce Ingram, editor from 1900–1963. Collingwood's uncle, Sir Edward Charles Stirling, was a noted anthropologist, physiologist and museum director, with a great interest in the natural world. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugo Weigold
Max Hugo Weigold (27 May 1886 – 9 July 1973) was a German zoologist and a pioneer bird bander who worked at the Heligoland Bird Observatory, one of the world's first bird-ringing sites. Weigold was born in Dresden. He studied natural sciences and geography in Jena and Leipzig. Here he was influenced by Ernst Haeckel, Richard Woltereck, Otto zur Strassen and Carl Chun. He worked for the Scientific Commission for Marine Research in Heligoland, a German island in the North Sea, where he continued the work of Heinrich Gätke (who died in 1897) in bird migration studies, setting up the bird observatory in 1910 to trap and band the migratory birds passing through the island. For six years Weigold carried out zoological research in China and Tibet and was the first Westerner to see a live giant panda in the wild, buying a cub (which did not survive for long) while part of the Stoetzner Expedition in 1916. He later became Director of Natural Sciences at the Lower Saxony State Mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Kleinschmidt
Otto Kleinschmidt (13 December 1870 – 25 March 1954) was a German Ornithology, ornithologist, Theology, theologist and pastor. He was also an artist and taxidermist who produced specimens and illustrations of birds for his writings. He was critical of Darwinian ideas on evolution and natural selection and developed a kind of creationist superspecies concept called ''Formenkreis'' which involved variation with geographic dispersal that he illustrated with what he called "geogramms". He edited a periodical ''Falco'' (1905 to 1945) which was a companion to a monograph series called ''Berajah'' (until 1937). After speculating on the variations of birds he also examined human variation and gave theories that have been interpreted variously as a form of scientific racism. Life and career Kleinschmidt was the son of a potato processing factory overseer Adolph Kleinschmidt and his wife Elise (maiden name Dreydorff) in Geinsheim (Kornsand) on the Rhine. The house of the family was loca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
