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Turacoverdin
Turacoverdin is a unique copper uroporphyrin pigment responsible for the bright green coloration of several birds of the family Musophagidae, most notably the turaco. It is chemically related to turacin, a red pigment also found almost exclusively in turacos. Turacoverdin is one of the only true green pigments found in birds, as the coloration that appears in most green feathers is due to the unique properties of blue structural coloration in combination with yellow carotenoids. Turacoverdin and turacin were the first ever chemically characterized feather pigments, and turacoverdin was first isolated and described in 1882 by Dr. C.F.W. Krukenberg. Chemical properties Few studies into the chemical nature of turacoverdin have been performed to date. Research by R.E. Moreau in the 1950s showed it to be less soluble in basic solutions than its chemical cousin turacin. While originally thought to contain little copper by its discoverer, who instead believed it to be iron-based, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turacin
Turacin is a naturally occurring red pigment that is 6% copper complexed to uroporphyrin III. Arthur Herbert Church discovered turacin in 1869. It is found only in the bird family Musophagidae, the turacos. Other birds derive their red coloration from carotenoids (bright and orange-reds) or phaeomelanins (rusty and brownish-reds). It is often assumed that this coloration will wash out when the birds are bathing or after heavy rains, but this is true only if the water used for bathing happens to be very alkaline. The copper(II) uroporphyrin III pigment in turaco feathers was studied using electron spin resonance by Jack Peisach first with Blumberg and later with Mims. See also * Psittacofulvin, a brightly colored red and yellow pigment unique to parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tauraco Persa32
''Tauraco'' is a genus of turacos. It contains the "typical" or green turacos; though their plumage is not always green all over, the presence of significant amounts of turacoverdin-colored plumage generally sets ''Tauraco'' species apart from other Musophagidae. Indeed, as opposed to any other known birds, ''Tauraco'' turacos are the only living bird taxa that have any significant green pigment whatsoever, as the greens of many parrots etc. are due to structural color, not pigment. Their genus name was derived from a native West African name. Taxonomy The genus ''Tauraco'' was introduced in 1779 by the Polish naturalist Jan Krzysztof Kluk. The type species was later designated as the Guinea turaco The Guinea turaco (''Tauraco persa''), also known as the green turaco or green lourie, is a species of turaco, a group of African otidimorph birds. It formerly included the Livingstone's, Schalow's, Knysna, black-billed and Fischer's turacos .... Species The genus contains 13 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Polarity
In chemistry, polarity is a separation of electric charge leading to a molecule or its chemical groups having an electric dipole moment, with a negatively charged end and a positively charged end. Polar molecules must contain one or more polar bonds due to a difference in electronegativity between the bonded atoms. Molecules containing polar bonds have no molecular polarity if the bond dipoles cancel each other out by symmetry. Polar molecules interact through dipole-dipole intermolecular forces and hydrogen bonds. Polarity underlies a number of physical properties including surface tension, solubility, and melting and boiling points. Polarity of bonds Not all atoms attract electrons with the same force. The amount of "pull" an atom exerts on its electrons is called its electronegativity. Atoms with high electronegativitiessuch as fluorine, oxygen, and nitrogenexert a greater pull on electrons than atoms with lower electronegativities such as alkali metals and alkaline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galliformes
Galliformes is an order (biology), order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkey (bird), turkeys, chickens, Old World quail, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds. The order contains about 290 species, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica, and divided into five Family (biology), families: Phasianidae (including chicken, quail, partridges, pheasants, turkeys, peafowl (peacocks) and grouse), Odontophoridae (New World quail), Numididae (guinea fowl), Cracidae (including chachalacas and curassows), and Megapodiidae (incubator birds like malleefowl and Brushturkey, brush-turkeys). They adapt to most environments except for innermost deserts and perpetual ice. Many gallinaceous species are skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying. Males of most species a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crested Wood-partridge
The crested partridge (''Rollulus rouloul''), also known as the crested wood partridge, roul-roul, red-crowned wood partridge, green wood quail, and green wood partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is the only member of the genus ''Rollulus''. This small partridge is a resident breeder in lowland rainforests in south Burma, south Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. Its nest is a ground scrape lined with leaves, which is concealed under a heap of leaf litter. Five or six white eggs are incubated for 18 days. Unusually for a galliform species, the young are fed bill-to-bill by both parents instead of pecking from the ground, and although precocial, they roost in the nest while small. The crested partridge is a rotund short-tailed bird, in length, with the male marginally larger than the female. Both sexes have a scarlet patch of bare skin around the eye and red legs without a spur or hind toe. The male ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blood Pheasant
The blood pheasant (''Ithaginis cruentus'') or blood partridge is a galliforme bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae and the only species in the genus ''Ithaginis''. It is a relatively small, short-tailed pheasant that is widespread in the lower Himalayas ranging across North and East India, Nepal, Bhutan, South China and northern Myanmar. It has been classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2009, and the global blood pheasant population is thought to be stable. The blood pheasant is the state bird of Sikkim, India. Description The blood pheasant has the size of a small fowl, about in length with a short, convex, very strong black bill, feathered between bill and eye, and a small crest of variously coloured feathers. The colour of the plumage above is dark ash, with white shafts, the coverts of the wings various tinged with green, with broad strokes of white through the length of each feather, the feathers of the chin deep crimson; on the breast, belly, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Jacana
The northern jacana or northern jaçana (''Jacana spinosa'') is a wader which is known as a resident breeder from coastal Mexico to western Panama, and on Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It sometimes known to breed in Texas, United States, and has also been recorded on several occasions as a vagrant in Arizona. The jacanas are a group of wetland birds, which are identifiable by their huge feet and claws, which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. In Jamaica, this bird is also known as the 'Jesus bird', as it appears to walk on water. Taxonomy The northern jacana was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the coots in the genus '' Fulica'' and coined the binomial name ''Fulica spinosa''. Linnaeus based his account on the "spur-winged water hen" that had been described and illustrated in 1743 by the English natura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spectrophotometry
Spectrophotometry is a branch of electromagnetic spectroscopy concerned with the quantitative measurement of the reflection or transmission properties of a material as a function of wavelength. Spectrophotometry uses photometers, known as spectrophotometers, that can measure the intensity of a light beam at different wavelengths. Although spectrophotometry is most commonly applied to ultraviolet, Visible spectrum, visible, and infrared radiation, modern spectrophotometers can interrogate wide swaths of the electromagnetic spectrum, including x-ray, ultraviolet, Visible spectrum, visible, infrared, or microwave wavelengths. Overview Spectrophotometry is a tool that hinges on the quantitative analysis of molecules depending on how much light is absorbed by colored compounds. Important features of spectrophotometers are spectral bandwidth (the range of colors it can transmit through the test sample), the percentage of sample transmission, the logarithmic range of sample absorptio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tauraco
''Tauraco'' is a genus of turacos. It contains the "typical" or green turacos; though their plumage is not always green all over, the presence of significant amounts of turacoverdin-colored plumage generally sets ''Tauraco'' species apart from other Musophagidae. Indeed, as opposed to any other known birds, ''Tauraco'' turacos are the only living bird taxa that have any significant green pigment whatsoever, as the greens of many parrots etc. are due to structural color, not pigment. Their genus name was derived from a native West African name. Taxonomy The genus ''Tauraco'' was introduced in 1779 by the Polish naturalist Jan Krzysztof Kluk. The type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ... was later designated as the Guinea turaco. Species The genus contain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
