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Red Wiggler
''Eisenia fetida'', known under various common names such as manure worm, redworm, brandling worm, panfish worm, trout worm, tiger worm, red wiggler worm, etc., is a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. These worms thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure. They are epigean, rarely found in soil. In this trait, they resemble ''Lumbricus rubellus''. The red wiggler is reddish-brown in color, has small rings around its body, and has a yellowish tail. Groups of bristles (called setae) on each segment of the worm move in and out to grip nearby surfaces as it stretches and contracts its muscles to push itself forward or backward. ''E. fetida'' worms are native to Europe, but have been introduced (both intentionally and unintentionally) to every other continent except Antarctica. ''E. fetida'' also possesses a unique natural defense system in its coelomic fluid; cells called coelomocytes secrete a protein called lysenin, which is a pore-forming tox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Jules César Savigny
Marie Jules César Lelorgne de Savigny (; 5 April 1777 – 5 October 1851) was a French zoologist and naturalist who served on Emperor Napoleon's Egypt expedition in 1798. He published descriptions of numerous taxa and was among the first to propose that the mouth-parts of insects are derived from the jointed legs of segmented arthropods. Life and work Savigny was born at Provins to Jean-Jacques Lelorgne de Savigny and Françoise Josèphe de Barbaud. He was educated at the Collège des Oratoriens in classical languages with a view to becoming a priest, but learned a bit of botany and the use of microscope. He then studied with a local apothecary when he passed an exam to study in Paris at the École de Santé (school of health) in 1793. He also attended lectures at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle where he was noticed by Lamarck. Georges Cuvier suggested that he join an expedition. In 1798 he travelled to Egypt under the sponsorship of Emperor Napoleon as part of the French sci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacillus Megaterium
''Priestia megaterium'' (''Bacillus megaterium'' prior to 2020) is a rod-like, Gram staining, Gram-positive, mainly aerobic, endospore, spore forming bacterium found in widely diverse habitats.De Vos, P. ''et al.'' Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology: Volume 3: The Firmicutes. ''Springer'' (2009) It has a cell length up to 100 μm and a diameter of 0.1 μm, which is quite large for bacteria. The cells often occur in pairs and chains, where the cells are joined by polysaccharides on the cell walls. In the 1980s, prior to the use of ''Bacillus subtilis'' for this purpose, ''P. megaterium'' was the main model organism among Gram-positive bacteria for intensive studies on biochemistry, sporulation, and bacteriophages. Recently, its popularity has started increasing in the field of biotechnology for its recombinant protein-production capacity.Bunk, B. ''et al.'' A short story about a big magic bug. ''Bioengineered Bugs'' 1:85–91 (2010) Characteristics ''P. megateri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clitella
The clitellum is a thickened glandular and non-segmented section of the body wall near the head in earthworms and leeches that secretes a viscid sac in which eggs are stored. It is located near the anterior end of the body, between the fourteenth and seventeenth segments. The number of the segments to where the clitellum begins and the number of segments that make up the clitellum are important for identifying earthworms. In microdrile earthworms, the clitellum has only one layer, resulting in a smaller quantity of eggs than that of the megadrile earthworms, which have larger multi-layered clitellum that have special cells that secrete albumin into the worms' egg sac. The clitellum is part of the reproductive system of clitellates, a subgroup of annelids which contains oligochaetes (earthworms) and hirudineans (leeches). The clitellum is a thick, saddle-like ring found in the epidermis (skin) of the worm, usually with a light-colored pigment. To form a cocoon for its eggs, the cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermaphroditic
A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many taxonomic groups of animals, primarily invertebrates, are hermaphrodites, capable of producing viable gametes of both sexes. In the great majority of tunicates, mollusks, and earthworms, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the female or male. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species, but is rare in other vertebrate groups. Most hermaphroditic species exhibit some degree of self-fertilization. The distribution of self-fertilization rates among animals is similar to that of plants, suggesting that similar pressures are operating to direct the evolution of selfing in animals and plants. A rough estimate of the number of hermaphroditic animal species is 6 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reproductive Isolation
The mechanisms of reproductive isolation are a collection of evolutionary mechanisms, ethology, behaviors and physiology, physiological processes critical for speciation. They prevent members of different species from producing offspring, or ensure that any offspring are sterile. These barriers maintain the integrity of a species by reducing gene flow between related species.Strickberger, M. 1978. ''Genética''. Omega, Barcelona, España, p.: 874–879. .Futuyma, D. 1998. ''Evolutionary biology'' (3ª edición). Sinauer, Sunderland. The mechanisms of reproductive isolation have been classified in a number of ways. Zoologist Ernst Mayr classified the mechanisms of reproductive isolation in two broad categories: pre-zygotic for those that act before fertilization (or before mating in the case of animals) and post-zygotic for those that act after it.Mayr, E. 1963. ''Animal species and evolution''. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. The mechanisms are genetics, genetically controlle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hybrid (biology)
In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different varieties, subspecies, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Generally, it means that each cell has genetic material from two different organisms, whereas an individual where some cells are derived from a different organism is called a chimera. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents such as in blending inheritance (a now discredited theory in modern genetics by particulate inheritance), but can show hybrid vigor, sometimes growing larger or taller than either parent. The concept of a hybrid is interpreted differently in animal and plant breeding, where there is interest in the individual parentage. In genetics, attention is focused on the numbers of chromosomes. In taxonomy, a key question is how closely related the parent species are. Species are reproductively isolated by strong barriers to hybridization, which include genetic and morph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eisenia Andrei
''Eisenia andrei'' is a close relative of the 'brandling' or 'tiger' worm ''Eisenia fetida''. Like ''E. fetida'', it is epigeic, i.e. it prefers to live in compost or leaf litter rather than mineral soils. It can be distinguished from ''E. fetida'' as it is darker in colour, and the characteristic stripes are less pronounced. Although its status as a separate species was fully confirmed in the mid-1980s by molecular analyses (based on electrophoresis of protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ... isoforms), ''E. andrei'' is still often misidentified and confused with '' E. fetida''. The muscles of the ''Eisenia andrei'' embryos appear in groups of at least two distinct muscles that cross the ventral midline and initially reach towards the lateral side of the embryo. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antipredator Adaptation
Anti-predator adaptations are mechanisms developed through evolution that assist Predation, prey organisms in their constant struggle against predators. Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptations have evolved for every stage of this struggle, namely by avoiding detection, warding off attack, fighting back, or escaping when caught. The first line of defence consists in avoiding detection, through mechanisms such as camouflage, Masquerade (biology), masquerade, apostatic selection, living underground, or nocturnality. Alternatively, prey animals may ward off attack, whether by advertising the presence of strong defences in aposematism, by mimicry, mimicking animals which do possess such defences, by deimatic behaviour, startling the attacker, by signalling theory, signalling to the predator that pursuit is not worthwhile, by distraction display, distraction, by using defensive structures such as spines, and by social animal, living in a group. Members of groups are at selfish herd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pungent
Pungency ( ) is the taste of food commonly referred to as spiciness, hotness or heat, found in foods such as chili peppers. Highly pungent tastes may be experienced as unpleasant. The term piquancy ( ) is sometimes applied to foods with a lower degree of pungency that are "agreeably stimulating to the palate". Piquant ingredients include chili peppers, wasabi, horseradish and mustard. The primary substances responsible for pungent taste are capsaicin, piperine (in peppers) and allyl isothiocyanate (in radishes, mustard and wasabi). Terminology In colloquial speech, the term "pungency" can refer to any strong, sharp smell or flavor. However, in scientific speech, it refers specifically to the "hot" or "spicy" quality of chili peppers. It is the preferred term by scientists as it eliminates the ambiguity arising from use of "hot", which can also refer to temperature, and "spicy", which can also refer to spices. For instance, a pumpkin pie can be both hot (out of the oven) an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
