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Superb Fairywren
The superb fairywren (''Malurus cyaneus'') is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae, and is common and familiar across south-eastern Australia. It is a sedentary and territorial species, also exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism; the male in breeding plumage has a striking bright blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle, and tail, with a black mask and black or dark blue throat. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; this gave the early impression that males were polygamous, as all dull-coloured birds were taken for females. Six subspecies groups are recognized: three larger and darker forms from Tasmania, Flinders and King Island respectively, and three smaller and paler forms from mainland Australia and Kangaroo Island. Like other fairywrens, the superb fairywren is notable for several peculiar behavioural characteristics; the birds are socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, meaning that although they f ... [...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] |
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Mainland Australia, Australia by the wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the perceived resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the Guinea (region), African region of Guinea. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the nation of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Pap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (part of the South Pacific Ocean). It is the location of significant landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The location of the first European settlement and colony on the Australian mainland, Port Jackson has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney. Port Jackson, in the early days of the colony, was also used as a shorthand for Sydney and its environs. Thus, many botanists, see, e.g., Robert Brown's '' Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'', described their specimens as having been collected at Port Jackson. Many recreational events are based on or around the harbour itself, particularly Sydney New Year's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Fleet
The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three Combat stores ship, storeships and six Penal transportation, convict transports under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. On 13 May 1787, the ships, with over 1,400 Convicts in Australia, convicts, New South Wales Marine Corps, marines, sailors, colonial officials and free settlers onboard, left Portsmouth and travelled over and over 250 days before arriving in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay choosing instead Port Jackson, to the north, as the site for the new colony; they arrived there on 26 January 1788, establishing the colony of New South Wales, as a penal colony which would become the first British settlement in Australia. History John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, Lord Sandwich ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Pierre Vieillot
Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected himself in the West Indies and North America and South American species discovered but not formally named by Félix de Azara and his translator Sonnini de Manoncourt. He was among the first ornithologists to study changes in plumage and one of the first to study live birds. At least 77 of the genera erected by Vieillot are still in use. Biography Vieillot was born in Yvetot. He represented his family's business interests in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) on Hispaniola, but fled to the United States during the Haitian rebellions that followed the French Revolution. On Buffon's advice, he collected material for the , the first two volumes of which were published in France beginning in 1807. Vieillot returned to France for the last time in 1798, whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wagtail
Wagtails are a group of passerine birds that form the genus ''Motacilla'' in the family Motacillidae. The common name and genus name are derived from their characteristic tail pumping behaviour. Together with the pipits and longclaws they form the family Motacillidae. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus ''Dendronanthus'' which is closely related to ''Motacilla'' and sometimes included therein. The willie wagtail (''Rhipidura leucophrys'') of Australia is not a true wagtail; it was named as such by early settlers from England from its superficial similarity in colour and behaviour to the pied wagtail, but belongs to an unrelated genus of birds known as fantails. Taxonomy The genus ''Motacilla'' was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The type species is the white wagtail. ''Motacilla'' is the Latin name for the pied wagtail; although actually a diminutive of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adventure Bay, Tasmania
Adventure Bay is the name of a locality, a township and a geographical feature on the eastern side of Bruny Island, Tasmania. At the , Adventure Bay had a population of 218. Early history The first European to sight the bay was explorer Abel Tasman, who sought to anchor his vessel ''Heemskerck'' there in 1642. Instead, ''Heemskerck'' was driven back offshore by a storm, in token of which Tasman named the place Storm Bay. Captain Tobias Furneaux renamed it in March 1773, in honour of his ship , which he had anchored in the bay for five days after becoming separated from James Cook, Captain James Cook's during Second voyage of James Cook, Cook's second voyage to the Pacific in search of Terra Australis Incognita. Furneaux's log made clear the bay was an excellent anchorage for resupplying vessels:To the SW of the first watering place there is a large lagoon which I believe has plenty of fish in it for one of our Gentlemen caught upwards of 2 dozen trout, and shot a possum which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruny Island
Bruny Island is a coastal island of Tasmania, Australia, located at the mouths of the Derwent River and Huon River estuaries on Storm Bay on the Tasman Sea, south of Hobart. The island is separated from the mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. The island and the channel are named after French explorer, Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. The island's Aboriginal name is lunawanna-allonah, from which the island settlements of Alonnah and Lunawanna are named. History Bruny Island was inhabited by Aboriginal Tasmanians people. Some people living on the island identify as being of Aboriginal descent. Abel Tasman was the first recorded European to sight the island, in November 1642 but did not determine it was an island. On 11 March 1773, Tobias Furneaux was the first British explorer to reach the island and his ship anchored at Adventure Bay (named after his ship) for four days and the crew ascertained the land was an island. Four years later, on 26 January 1777, James Cook' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Voyage Of James Cook
James Cook's third and final voyage (12 July 1776 – 4 October 1780) was a British attempt to discover the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific coast of North America. The attempt failed and Death of James Cook, Cook was killed at Hawaii in a violent dispute with the local inhabitants. The ostensible purpose of the voyage was to return Omai, a young man from Raiatea, to his homeland, but the British Admiralty used this as a cover for their plan to send Cook on a voyage to find the Northwest Passage, should it exist. HMS Resolution (1771), HMS ''Resolution'', to be commanded by Cook, and HMS Discovery (1774), HMS ''Discovery'', commanded by Charles Clerke, were prepared for the voyage which started from Plymouth in 1776. After Omai was returned to his homeland, the ships sailed into the central Pacific where they encountered the hitherto unknown (to Europeans) Hawaiian Archipelago, before reaching the Pacific coast of North America. After exploring a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Cook
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand and was the first known European to visit the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager before enlisting in the Royal Navy in 1755. He served during the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, siege of Quebec. In the 1760s, he mapped the coastline of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland and made important astronomical observations which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment in Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is called a naturalist or natural historian. Natural history encompasses scientific research but is not limited to it. It involves the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms, so while it dates from studies in the ancient Greco-Roman world and the mediaeval Arabic world, through to European Renaissance naturalists working in near isolation, today's natural history is a cross-discipline umbrella of many specialty sciences; e.g., geobiology has a strong multidisciplinary nature. Definitions Before 1900 The meaning of the English term "natural history" (a calque of the Latin ''historia naturalis'') has narrowed progressively with time, while, by contrast, the meaning of the related term "nature" has widened (see also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
