|
Dragonhunter
The dragonhunter (''Hagenius brevistylus'') is a clubtail dragonfly of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. The dragonfly is much larger than any other North American clubtail, at , with black and yellow markings and green eyes. Males can be distinguished at a distance by their habit of curling their abdomens under while flying, forming a sideways J shape. The dragonhunter is the only member of genus ''Hagenius''. Its closest relatives are Asian dragonflies of genus '' Sieboldius'', which are also sometimes called "dragonhunters". Together, the two genera form the subfamily Hageniinae. The nymph is unusual, with a very flat, wide body. It is slow-moving and lives among bark and leaf litter at the edges of streams, where its dark color provides camouflage. The adult feeds on large insects, including darner and clubtail dragonflies, sometimes ambushing them from above. It also takes monarch butterflies, eating the thorax and abdomen first to avoid the greate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmond De Sélys Longchamps
Baron Michel Edmond de Selys Longchamps (25 May 1813 – 11 December 1900) was a Belgium, Belgian Liberal Party (Belgium), Liberal Party politician and scientist. Selys Longchamps has been regarded as the founding figure of odonatology, the study of the dragonflies and damselflies. His wealth and influence enabled him to amass one of the finest collections of neuroptera insects and to describe many species from around the world. His collection is housed in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Biography Selys was a wealthy aristocrat born in Paris to Michel Laurent de Selys Longchamps and Marie-Denise Gandolphe. He was educated at home by private tutors and never attended school or university. Nevertheless, he became known as the world's leading authority on Odonata as well as an expert on Neuroptera and European Orthoptera. He was also a leading ornithology, ornithologist. A Liberal Party representative in the Belgium, Belgian Parliament, he became Councillor for Ware ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gomphidae
The Gomphidae are a family of dragonflies commonly referred to as clubtails or club-tailed dragonflies. The family contains about 90 genera and 900 species found across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. The name refers to the club-like widening of the end of the abdomen (abdominal segments 7 through 9). However, this club is usually less pronounced in females and is entirely absent in some species. Etymology The name is from Greek ''gomphos'', "bolt, nail", for the shape of the insect's abdomen. Characteristics Clubtails have small, widely separated compound eyes, a trait they share with the Petaluridae and with damselflies. The eyes are blue, turquoise, or green. The thorax in most species is pale with dark stripes, and the pattern of the stripes is often diagnostic. They lack the bright metallic colors of many dragonfly groups and are mostly cryptically colored to avoid detection and little difference between the sexes is seen. Adults are usually ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threatens dragonfly populations around the world. Adult dragonflies are characterised by a pair of large, multifaceted, compound eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches, and an elongated body. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structural coloration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly's compound eyes have nearly 24,000 ommatidia each. Dragonflies can be mistaken for the closely related damselflies, which make up the other odonatan infraorder ( Zygoptera) and are similar in body plan, though usually lighter in build; however, the wings of most dragonflies are held flat and away from the body, while damselflies hold their wings folded at rest, al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. Phylogeneti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sieboldius
''Sieboldius'' is a genus of dragonflies in the family Gomphidae. The genus occurs in Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ... and is closely related to the dragonhunter ('' Hagenius brevistylus'') of North America. The genus contains the following species: *'' Sieboldius albardae'' *'' Sieboldius alexanderi'' - small dragonhunter *'' Sieboldius deflexus'' *'' Sieboldius gigas'' *'' Sieboldius herculeus'' *'' Sieboldius japponicus'' *'' Sieboldius maai'' *'' Sieboldius nigricolor'' References Gomphidae Anisoptera genera Taxa named by Edmond de Sélys Longchamps {{Gomphidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nymph (biology)
In biology, a nymph (from Ancient Greek wikt:νύμφα, νύμφα ''nūmphē'' meaning "bride") is the juvenile (organism), juvenile form of some invertebrates, particularly insects, which undergoes gradual metamorphosis (biology), metamorphosis (hemimetabolism) before reaching its adult stage. Unlike a typical larva, a nymph's overall form already resembles that of the adult, except for a lack of wings (in winged species) and the emergence of genitalia. In addition, while a nymph ecdysis, moults, it never enters a pupal stage. Instead, the final moult results in an adult insect. Nymphs undergo multiple stages of development called instars. Taxa with nymph stages Many species of Arthropod, arthropods have nymph stages. This includes the insect orders such as Orthoptera (cricket (insect), crickets, grasshoppers and locusts), Hemiptera (cicadas, shield bugs, Whitefly, whiteflies, aphids, leafhoppers, froghoppers, treehoppers), mayfly, mayflies, termites, cockroaches, mantises, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier, and the leaf-mimic katydid's wings. A third approach, motion dazzle, confuses the observer with a conspicuous pattern, making the object visible but momentarily harder to locate. The majority of camouflage methods aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the background, high contrast disruptive coloration, eliminating shadow, and countershading. In the open ocean, where there is no background, the principal methods of camouflage are transparency, silvering, and countershading, while the bioluminescence, ability to produce light is among other things used for counter-illumination on the undersides of cephalopods such as squid. Some animals, such as chameleons and octopuses, are capable of Active ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeshnidae
Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies, found nearly worldwide, with more than 50 genera and over 450 species. The family includes some of the largest dragonflies. Description Common worldwide or nearly worldwide genera are '' Aeshna'' and '' Anax''. ''Anax'' includes some of the largest dragonflies, including the North American '' A. walsinghami'', Hawaiian '' A. strenuus'', European '' A. imperator'' and '' A. immaculifrons'', and African '' A. tristis'', but these are all exceeded by another member of the family, the Asian '' Tetracanthagyna plagiata'', which by wingspan and weight is the world's largest dragonfly. There are 41 North American species in 11 genera in this family. Most European species belong to ''Aeshna''. Their American name "darner" stems from the female abdomens looking like a sewing needle, as they cut into plant stem when they lay their eggs through the ovipositor. The dragonflies mate in flight. The eggs are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monarch Butterfly
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It is among the most familiar of List of butterflies of North America, North American butterflies and an iconic pollinator, although it is not an especially effective pollinator of milkweeds. Its wings feature an easily recognizable black, orange, and white pattern, with a wingspan of . A Müllerian mimic, the viceroy butterfly, is similar in color and pattern, but is markedly smaller and has an extra black stripe across each hindwing. The eastern North American monarch population is notable for its annual southward late-summer/autumn instinctive Monarch butterfly migration, migration from the northern and central United States and southern Canada to Florida and Mexico. During the fall migration, monarchs cover thousands of miles, with a co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardenolide
A cardenolide is a type of steroid. Many plants contain derivatives, collectively known as cardenolides, including many in the form of cardenolide glycosides (cardenolides that contain structural groups derived from sugars). Cardenolide glycosides are often toxic; specifically, they are cardiac arrest, heart-arresting. Cardenolides are toxic to animals through inhibition of the enzyme Na+/K+-ATPase, Na+/K+-ATPase, which is responsible for maintaining the sodium and Potassium in biology, potassium ion gradients across the cell membranes. Etymology The term derives from ''card-'' "heart" (from Greek language, Greek καρδία ''kardiā'') and the suffix , referring to the lactone ring with double bond at C17. Cardenolides are a class of steroids (or aglycones if viewed as cardiac glycoside constituents), and cardenolides are a subtype of this class (see Wikipedia:MeSH D04#MeSH D04.808.155 --- cardenolides, MeSH D codes list). Structure Cardenolides are C(23)-steroids with methyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
