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German Wasp
''Vespula germanica'', known colloquially as the European wasp, German wasp, or German yellowjacket, is a species of wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to Europe, Northern Africa, and temperate Asia. It has spread and become well-established in many other places, including North America, South America (Argentina and Chile), Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. German wasps are part of the family Vespidae and are sometimes mistakenly referred to as paper wasps because they build grey paper nests, although strictly speaking, paper wasps are part of the subfamily Polistinae. In North America, they are also known as yellowjackets. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Vespula germanica'' belongs to the genus '' Vespula'', which includes various species of social wasps that are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In North America, these wasps are most commonly known as yellowjackets, but this name also applies to species within the sister genus '' Dolichovespula'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swifts Creek
Swifts Creek is a town in the Tambo Valley of East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Great Alpine Road between Omeo and Ensay, Victoria, Ensay, east of the state capital Melbourne and above sea level. The area was originally settled by Europeans in the Victorian gold rush, gold rushes of the mid-1800s. At the , Swifts Creek and the surrounding area had a population of 419, with a median age of 47. History The Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal name for the site of Swifts Creek was ''Bun Jirrah Gingee Munjie'', which translates as 'big kangaroos go to that place'. True to this name, mobs of large eastern grey kangaroos still frequent the town, especially at night when they are often seen feeding by the roadside, and on the local football ground and primary school oval. The town of Swifts Creek is located at the confluence of Swifts Creek and the Tambo River (Victoria), Tambo River. The creek was reputedly named after an otherwise unkno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polistes Dominula
The European paper wasp (''Polistes dominula'') is one of the most common and well-known species of social wasps in the genus ''Polistes''. Its diet is more diverse than those of most ''Polistes'' species—many genera of insects versus mainly caterpillars in other ''Polistes''—giving it superior survivability compared to other wasp species during a shortage of resources. The dominant females are the principal egg layers, while the subordinate females ("auxiliaries") or workers primarily forage and do not lay eggs. This hierarchy is not permanent, though; when the queen is removed from the nest, the second-most dominant female takes over the role of the previous queen. Dominance in females is determined by the severity of the scatteredness in the coloration of the Clypeus (arthropod anatomy), clypeus (face), whereas dominance in males is shown by the variation of spots of their abdomens. ''P. dominula'' is common and cosmopolitan due to their exceptional survival features such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Task Allocation And Partitioning Of Social Insects
Task allocation and partitioning is the way that tasks are chosen, assigned, subdivided, and coordinated within a colony of social insects. Task allocation and partitioning gives rise to the division of labor often observed in social insect colonies, whereby individuals specialize on different tasks within the colony (e.g., "foragers", "nurses"). Communication is closely related to the ability to allocate tasks among individuals within a group. This entry focuses exclusively on social insects. For information on human task allocation and partitioning, see division of labour, task analysis, and workflow. Definitions * Task allocation "... is the process that results in specific workers being engaged in specific tasks, in numbers appropriate to the current situation. toperates without any central or hierarchical control..." The concept of task allocation is individual-centric. It focuses on decisions by individuals about what task to perform. However, different biomathematical mode ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, changes in the number of body segments or head width. After shedding their exoskeleton (moulting), the juvenile arthropods continue in their life cycle until they either pupate or moult again. The instar period of growth is fixed; however, in some insects, like the salvinia stem-borer moth, the number of instars depends on early larval nutrition. Some arthropods can continue to moult after sexual maturity, but the stages between these subsequent moults are generally not called instars. For most insect species, an ''instar'' is the developmental stage of the larval forms of holometabolous (complete metamorphism) or ny ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrophotography Of Vespula Germanica, Queen In Hibernation, Awaits Spring To Awaken And Establish A New Insect Colony
Macro photography (or photomacrography or macrography, and sometimes macrophotography) is extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than life-size (though ''macrophotography'' also refers to the art of making very large photographs). By the original definition, a macro photograph is one in which the size of the subject on the negative or image sensor is life-size or greater. In some senses, however, it refers to a finished photograph of a subject that is greater than life-size. The ratio of the subject size on the film plane (or sensor plane) to the actual subject size is known as the reproduction ratio. Likewise, a macro lens is classically a lens capable of reproduction ratios of at least 1:1, although it often refers to any lens with a large reproduction ratio, despite rarely exceeding 1:1. Apart from technical photography and film-based processes, where th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vespula Germanica-pjt2
''Vespula'' is a small genus of social wasps, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Along with members of their sister genus ''Dolichovespula'', they are collectively known by the common name yellowjackets (or yellow jackets) in North America. ''Vespula'' species have a shorter oculomalar space (shown in the figure below right) and a more pronounced tendency to nest underground than ''Dolichovespula''. Notable species * While most species of this genus inhabit North America, four ''Vespula'' species inhabit Europe, namely ''V. austriaca, V. germanica, V. rufa'', and ''V. vulgaris''. * Two common European species, the German wasp (''V. germanica'') and the common wasp (''V. vulgaris''), have established in other countries; both species are now found in New Zealand, Australia, and South America, while the former has also been introduced in South America, and the latter in Southern Africa. * The eastern yellowjacket (''V. maculifrons'') and western yellowjacket ('' V. pens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's top floor and its slanted roof, attics are known for being awkwardly-shaped spaces with difficult-to-reach corners and often exposed rafters. While some attics are converted into bedrooms, home offices, or attic apartments complete with windows and staircases, most remain difficult to access, and are usually entered using a loft hatch and ladder. Attics help control temperatures in a house by providing a large mass of slowly moving air, and are often used for storage. The hot air rising from the lower floors of a building is often retained in attics, further compounding their reputation as inhospitable environments. However, in recent years, they have been insulated to help decrease heating costs, since, on average, uninsulated attics ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saliva
Saliva (commonly referred as spit or drool) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which DNA can be extracted), enzymes (such as lingual lipase and amylase), and antimicrobial agents (such as secretory IgA, and lysozymes). The enzymes found in saliva are essential in beginning the process of digestion of dietary starches and fats. These enzymes also play a role in breaking down food particles entrapped within dental crevices, thus protecting teeth from bacterial decay. Saliva also performs a lubricating function, wetting food and permitting the initiation of swallowing, and protecting the oral mucosa from drying out. Saliva has specialized purposes for a variety of animal species beyond predigestion. Certain swifts construct nests with their sticky saliva. The foundation of bird's nest soup is an aerodramus nest. Venom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Population Bottleneck
A population bottleneck or genetic bottleneck is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events such as famines, earthquakes, floods, fires, disease, and droughts; or human activities such as genocide, speciocide, widespread violence or intentional culling. Such events can reduce the variation in the gene pool of a population; thereafter, a smaller population, with a smaller genetic diversity, remains to pass on genes to future generations of offspring. Genetic diversity remains lower, increasing only when gene flow from another population occurs or very slowly increasing with time as random mutations occur. This results in a reduction in the robustness of the population and in its ability to adapt to and survive selecting environmental changes, such as climate change or a shift in available resources. Alternatively, if survivors of the bottleneck are the individuals with the greatest genetic fitness, the frequency of the fitter genes within the gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biological Dispersal
Biological dispersal refers to both the movement of individuals (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, etc.) from their birth site to their breeding site ('natal dispersal') and the movement from one breeding site to another ('breeding dispersal'). Dispersal is also used to describe the movement of propagules such as seeds and spores. Technically, dispersal is defined as any movement that has the potential to lead to gene flow. The act of dispersal involves three phases: departure, transfer, and settlement. There are different fitness costs and benefits associated with each of these phases. Through simply moving from one habitat Landscape ecology#Patch and mosaic, patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness (biology), fitness, but also for population dynamics, population genetics, and species distribution. Understanding dispersal and the consequences, both for evolutionary strategies at a species level and for processes at an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthropod
Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metamerism (biology), metameric) Segmentation (biology), segments, and paired jointed appendages. In order to keep growing, they must go through stages of moulting, a process by which they shed their exoskeleton to reveal a new one. They form an extremely diverse group of up to ten million species. Haemolymph is the analogue of blood for most arthropods. An arthropod has an open circulatory system, with a body cavity called a haemocoel through which haemolymph circulates to the interior Organ (anatomy), organs. Like their exteriors, the internal organs of arthropods are generally built of repeated segments. They have ladder-like nervous systems, with paired Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, ventral Ventral nerve cord, nerve cord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasive Species
An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become serious economic, social, and environmental threats worldwide. Invasion of long-established ecosystems by organisms is a natural phenomenon, but human-facilitated introductions have greatly increased the rate, scale, and geographic range of invasion. For millennia, humans have served as both accidental and deliberate dispersal agents, beginning with their earliest migrations, accelerating in the Age of Discovery, and accelerating again with the spread of international trade. Notable invasive plant species include the kudzu vine, giant hogweed (''Heracleum mantegazzianum''), Japanese knotw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
