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Vachellia Drepanolobium
''Vachellia drepanolobium'', more commonly known as ''Acacia drepanolobium'' or whistling thorn, is a swollen-thorn acacia native to East Africa. The whistling thorn grows up to 6 meters tall. It produces a pair of straight spines at each node, some of which have large bulbous bases. These swollen spines are naturally hollow and occupied by any one of several symbiotic ant species. The common name of the plant is derived from the observation that when wind blows over bulbous spines in which ants have made entry and exit holes, they produce a whistling noise. Whistling thorn is the dominant tree in some areas of upland East Africa, sometimes forming a nearly monoculture woodland, especially on " black cotton" soils of impeded drainage with high clay content. It is browsed upon by giraffes and other large herbivores. It is apparently fire-adapted, coppicing readily after "top kill" by fire. Whistling thorn is used as fencing, tool handles, and other implements. The wood of the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Sensu Lato
''Acacia sensu lato, s.l.'' (pronounced or ), known commonly as mimosa, acacia, thorntree or wattle, is a Polyphyly, polyphyletic genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. It was described by the Sweden, Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773 based on the African species ''Acacia nilotica'', now classified as ''Vachellia nilotica''. Many non-Australian species tend to be Thorns, spines and prickles, thorny. Most Australian acacias are not. All species are legume, pod-bearing, with sap and leaves often bearing large amounts of tannins and condensed tannins that historically found use as pharmaceuticals and preservatives. The genus ''Acacia'' constitutes, in its traditional circumspection, the second largest genus in Fabaceae (''Astragalus (plant), Astragalus'' being the largest), with roughly 1,300 species, about 960 of them native to Australia, with the remainder spread around the tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crematogaster Sjostedti
''Crematogaster'' is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster (abdomen), which gives them one of their common names, the Saint Valentine ant. Members of this genus are also known as cocktail ants because of their habit of raising their abdomens when alarmed. Most species are arboreal (tree-dwelling). These ants are also known as acrobat ants. Cocktail ants acquire food largely through predation on other insects, such as wasps.Schatz, Bertrand, and Martine Hossaert-Mckey. "Interactions of the Ant Crematogaster Scutellaris with the Fig/fig Wasp Mutualism." Ecological Entomology 28.3 (2003): 359-68. Print. They use venom to stun their prey and a complex trail-laying process to lead comrades to food sources. Like most ants, ''Crematogaster'' species reproduce by partaking in nuptial flights, where the queen acquires the sperm used to fertilize every egg throughout her life. Predatory behavior Cocktail ants h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of Northeast Tropical Africa
Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora as in the terms ''gut flora'' or ''skin flora'' for purposes of specificity. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmecophytes
Myrmecophytes (; literally "ant-plant") are plants that live in a Mutualism (biology), mutualistic association with a colony of ants. There are over 100 different genera of myrmecophytes. These plants possess structural adaptations in the form of Domatium, domatia where ants can shelter, and food bodies and extrafloral nectaries that provide ants with food. In exchange for these resources, ants aid the myrmecophyte in pollination, seed dispersal, gathering of essential nutrients, and defense. Domatia adapted specifically to ants may be called myrmecodomatia. Mutualism Myrmecophytes share a Mutualism (biology), mutualistic relationship with ants, benefiting both the plants and ants. This association may be either facultative or obligate. Obligate In obligate mutualisms, the organisms involved are interdependent; they cannot survive on their own. An example of this type of mutualism can be found in the plant genus ''Macaranga''. All species of this genus provide food for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vachellia
''Vachellia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus '' Acacia'' until 2009. ''Vachellia'' can be distinguished from other acacias by its capitate inflorescences and spinescent stipules. Before discovery of the New World, Europeans in the Mediterranean region were familiar with several species of ''Vachellia'', which they knew as sources of medicine, and had names for them that they inherited from the Greeks and Romans. The wide-ranging genus occurs in a variety of open, tropical to subtropical habitats, and is locally dominant. In parts of Africa, ''Vachellia'' species are shaped progressively by grazing animals of increasing size and height, such as gazelle, gerenuk, and giraffe. The genus in Africa has thus developed thorns in defence against such herbivory . Nomenclature By 2005, taxonomists had decided that '' Acacia s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano in the Eastern Hemisphere and the fourth most topographically prominent peak on Earth. Kilimanjaro's southern and eastern slopes served as the home of the Chagga Kingdoms until their abolition in 1963 by Julius Nyerere. The origin and meaning of the name Kilimanjaro is unknown, but may mean "mountain of greatness" or "unclimbable". Although described in classical sources, German missionary Johannes Rebmann is credited as the first European to report the mountain's existence, in 1848. After several European attempts, Hans Meyer reached Kilimanjaro's highest summit in 1889. The mountain was incorporated into Kilimanjaro National Park in 1973. As one of the Seven Summits, Kilimanjaro is a major hiking and climbing destination. There a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crematogaster Peringueyi
''Crematogaster peringueyi'' is a southern African arboreal species of ant. They are commonly known as the black cocktail ant or swartwipgatmier (Afrikaans) for their colour and habit of arching their abdomens when alarmed. Habits They make their nests in old ''Protea'' flowers, dead, hollow branches, and under tree bark, also making nests constructed of well-chewed vegetable matter with the consistency of papier-mâché. The outer walls of these nests are blackened by the salivary secretions, and are thin, with the interior divided into irregular, connected cells, like a coarse sponge. These more or less spherical nests, ranging in diameter from 10–30 cm, are built in a fork or among the branches, some of the branches passing through the nest. Workers are glossy black and 3–5 mm long, and the larger queen is about 8 mm long, both having heart-shaped abdomens. Defense Pheromone alarms are common among the social Hymenoptera. Some of these have been chemically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetraponera Penzigi
''Tetraponera penzigi'' is a species of ant of the subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae, which can be found in East Africa. It forms an obligate symbiosis with the whistling thorn acacia (''Vachellia drepanolobium''), a dominant tree in some upland areas of East Africa. Description A worker of ''T. penzigi'' is typically in length and is black with light brown appendages. Distribution ''Tetraponera penzigi'' is native to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Ecology The whistling thorn produces a pair of straight spines at each node, and some of these have grossly swollen, hollow bases which are used by ants as domatia. Four species of symbiotic ant use ''V. drepanolobium'' as host; these are ''T. penzigi'' and three different species of ''Crematogaster''. The ants are mutually exclusive, only one species normally occupying a host tree at any one time. ''T. penzigi'' is often the first ant to colonise young trees, being attracted by the nectar provided by extrafloral nectaries that the tree su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crematogaster Nigriceps
''Crematogaster'' is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster (abdomen), which gives them one of their common names, the Saint Valentine ant. Members of this genus are also known as cocktail ants because of their habit of raising their abdomens when alarmed. Most species are arboreal (tree-dwelling). These ants are also known as acrobat ants. Cocktail ants acquire food largely through predation on other insects, such as wasps.Schatz, Bertrand, and Martine Hossaert-Mckey. "Interactions of the Ant Crematogaster Scutellaris with the Fig/fig Wasp Mutualism." Ecological Entomology 28.3 (2003): 359-68. Print. They use venom to stun their prey and a complex trail-laying process to lead comrades to food sources. Like most ants, ''Crematogaster'' species reproduce by partaking in nuptial flights, where the queen acquires the sperm used to fertilize every egg throughout her life. Predatory behavior Cocktail ants h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vertisol
A vertisol is a Soil Order in the USDA soil taxonomy and a Reference Soil Group in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). It is also defined in many other soil classification systems. In the Australian Soil Classification it is called vertosol. The natural vegetation of vertisols is grassland, savanna, or grassy woodland. The heavy texture and unstable behaviour of the soil makes it difficult for many tree species to grow, and forest is uncommon. Composition Vertisols have a high content of expansive clay minerals (many of them belonging to the montmorillonites) that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, alternate shrinking and swelling causes ''self-ploughing'', where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing some vertisols to have an extremely deep A horizon and no B horizon. (A soil with no B horizon is called an ''A/C soil''). This heaving of the underlying material to the surface often create ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
