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Snake-necked Turtle
Chelidae is one of three living families of the turtle suborder Pleurodira, and are commonly called Austro-South American side-neck turtles. The family is distributed in Australia, New Guinea, parts of Indonesia, and throughout most of South America. It is a large family of turtles with a significant fossil history dating back to the Cretaceous. The family is entirely Gondwanan in origin, with no members found outside Gondwana, either in the present day or as a fossil.Georges, A. & Thomson, S. (2006). "Evolution and Zoogeography of Australian freshwater turtles". In: Merrick, J. R.; Archer, M.; Hickey, G. & Lee, M. (eds.) ''Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates''. Sydney: Australia. Description Like all pleurodirous turtles, the chelids withdraw their necks sideways into their shells, differing from cryptodires that fold their necks in the vertical plane. They are all highly aquatic species with webbed feet and the capacity to stay submerged for long periods of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mata Mata
Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which takes in the surrounding rural areas, as well as Morrinsville and Te Aroha. State Highway 27 and the Kinleith Branch railway run through the town. The town has a population of as of A nearby farm was the location for the Hobbiton Movie Set in Peter Jackson's ''The Lord of the Rings''. The New Zealand government decided to leave the Hobbit holes built on location as tourist attractions. During the period between the filming of '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' and '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' they had no furniture or props, but could be entered with vistas of the farm viewed from inside them. A "Welcome to Hobbiton" sign has been placed on the main road. In 2011, parts of Hobbiton began to close in preparation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terrestrial Animal
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g. cats, chickens, ants, most spiders), as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water (e.g. fish, lobsters, octopuses), and semiaquatic animals, which rely on both aquatic and terrestrial habitats (e.g. platypus, most amphibians). Some groups of insects are terrestrial, such as ants, butterflies, earwigs, cockroaches, grasshoppers and many others, while other groups are partially aquatic, such as mosquitoes and dragonflies, which pass their larval stages in water. Alternatively, terrestrial is used to describe animals that live on the ground, as opposed to arboreal animals that live in trees. Ecological subgroups The term "terrestrial" is typically applied to species that live primarily on or in the ground, in contrast to arboreal species, who live primarily in trees, even though the latter are actually a specialized subgroup of the terre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach to taxonomy adopted by most biological fields. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or Extant taxon, extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed ''monophyletic'' (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming Taxon, taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not Monophyly, monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms that the molecul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Turtles Of Venezuela
''The Turtles of Venezuela'' is an identification guide of the Testudines families that are found in Venezuela, written by zoologist Pedro Trebbau and herpetologist Peter Pritchard. It was originally published in English in 1984, by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles as the Number 2 of the series ''Contributions to herpetology''. In 2016 was published the Spanish version by ''Oscar Todtmann Editores'', with more than 130 pictures and illustrations, a presentation by Ph.D. Carlos Rivero Blanco and a prologue by Ph.D. Vivian Pérez. A new edition was presented in 2018 by ''Editorial La Fauna'', in Madrid, Spain Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i .... It features a dedication to conservationist Saúl Gutiérrez Eijuri (1960-2012), and essays by Jorge Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedro Trebbau
Pedro Trebbau (born Karl Peter Trebbau Millowitsch; 20 May 1929 – 16 January 2021) was a German-born Venezuelan zoologist. His career was characterized by the promotion and preservation of Venezuelan wildlife and nature. His research and collaboration with the herpetologist Peter Pritchard produced the still-extant reference book on The Turtles of Venezuela, the 2018 re-edition of which, alongside the biography done on him entitled ''Trebbau: Maestro por naturaleza'' by Albor Rodríguez, sparked the series '' Colección La Fauna'', which aimed to collect Trebbau's work on the fauna of Venezuela. Biography Trebbau was born in Cologne, where he very early on showed a keen interest in the natural world. He obtained a bachelor's degree in biology at the universities of Frankfurt and Freiburg, as well as a veterinary degree from the University of Giessen. He arrived in Venezuela in 1953 and enrolled at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myuchelys
The ''Myuchelys'' is a genus of turtles, the Australian saw-shelled turtles, in the family Chelidae and subfamily Chelodininae. They inhabit the headwaters and tributaries of rivers within their range and this led to the name ''Myuchelys'', which is formed from the Aboriginal word ''myuna'' meaning clear water and the Greek ''chelys'' meaning turtle. They have a short neck and the intergular scute completely separates the gular scutes. They have no alveolar ridge separating them from the snapping turtles of the genus '' Elseya''. Species The genus currently contains these cryptic small species of freshwater turtles, endemic to eastern and northern Australia: * '' Myuchelys bellii'', Namoi River snapping turtle Gray, 1844Gray, J. E. 1844. ''Catalogue of the Tortoises, Crocodiles and Amphibaenians in the Collection of the British Museum''. London. Edward Newman. 80pp. * '' Myuchelys georgesi'', Bellinger River snapping turtle Cann, 1997Cann, J. 1998a. Georges short-neck turtle. '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelomedusidae
:''Alternatively, "Pelomedusidae" may refer to the Pelomedusoidea. See below for details.'' Pelomedusidae is a family of freshwater turtles endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, including Madagascar, São Tomé, and the Seychelles (although this population may have been introduced by humans). They range in size from in carapace length, and are generally roundish in shape. They are unable to fully withdraw their heads into their shells, instead drawing them to the side and folding them beneath the upper edge of their shells, hence are called African side-necked turtles. The family contains two living genera, '' Pelomedusa'' and '' Pelusios''. They are distinguished from their closest relatives by a hinge in the front section of the plastron.Obst, Fritz Jürgen (1998): elomedusinae ''In:'' Cogger, H.G., & Zweifel, R.G. (eds.): ''Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians'': 112-113. San Diego: Academic Press. . Pelomedusids spends most of their time in the mud at the bottom of rivers or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longissimus Dorsi
The longissimus () is the muscle lateral to the semispinalis muscles. It is the longest subdivision of the erector spinae muscles that extends forward into the transverse processes of the posterior cervical vertebrae. Structure Longissimus thoracis et lumborum The longissimus thoracis et lumborum is the intermediate and largest of the continuations of the erector spinae. In the lumbar region (longissimus lumborum), where it is as yet blended with the iliocostalis, some of its fibers are attached to the whole length of the posterior surfaces of the transverse processes and the accessory processes of the lumbar vertebrae, and to the anterior layer of the lumbodorsal fascia. In the thoracic region (longissimus thoracis), it is inserted, by rounded tendons, into the tips of the transverse processes of all the thoracic vertebrae, and by fleshy processes into the lower nine or ten ribs between their tubercles and angles. Longissimus cervicis The longissimus cervicis (transver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carapace
A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron. In botany, a carapace refers to the hard outer cover of a seed which protects the inner embryo. Crustaceans In crustaceans, the carapace functions as a protective cover over the cephalothorax (i.e., the fused head and thorax, as distinct from the abdomen behind). Where it projects forward beyond the eyes, this projection is called a rostrum. The carapace is calcified to varying degrees in different crustaceans. Zooplankton within the phylum Crustacea also have a carapace. These include Cladocera, ostracods, and isopods, but isopods only have a developed "cephalic shield" carapace covering the head. Arachnids In arachnids, the carapace is formed by the fusion of prosomal tergites into a single pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperature-dependent Sex Determination
Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) is a type of environmental sex determination in which the temperatures experienced during embryonic/larval development determine the sex of the offspring. It is observed in reptiles and teleost fish, with some reports of it occurring in species of shrimp. TSD differs from the chromosomal sex-determination systems common among vertebrates. It is the most studied type of environmental sex determination (ESD). Some other conditions, e.g. density, pH, and environmental background color, are also observed to alter sex ratio, which could be classified either as temperature-dependent sex determination or temperature-dependent sex differentiation, depending on the involved mechanisms. As sex-determining mechanisms, TSD and genetic sex determination (GSD) should be considered in an equivalent manner, which can lead to reconsidering the status of fish species that are claimed to have TSD when submitted to extreme temperatures instead of the temp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
XY Sex-determination System
The XY sex-determination system is a sex-determination system present in many mammals (including humans), some insects (''Drosophila''), some snakes, some fish (guppy, guppies), and some plants (''Ginkgo'' tree). In this system, the sex of an individual usually is determined by a pair of Allosome, sex chromosomes. Typically, females have two of the same kind of sex chromosome (XX), and are called the homogametic sex. Males typically have two different kinds of sex chromosomes (XY), and are called the heterogametic sex. In humans, the presence of the Y chromosome is responsible for triggering male development; in the absence of the Y chromosome, the fetus will undergo female development. In most species with XY sex determination, an organism must have at least one X chromosome in order to survive. The XY system contrasts in several ways with the ZW sex-determination system found in birds, some insects, many reptiles, and various other animals, in which the heterogametic sex is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elseya Albagula
''Elseya albagula'', commonly known as the white-throated snapping turtle, is one of the largest species of chelid turtles in the world, growing to about carapace length. The species is endemic to south-eastern Queensland, Australia, in the Burnett, Mary, and Fitzroy River drainages. This species is entirely aquatic, rarely coming ashore and is chiefly herbivorous, feeding on the fruits and buds of riparian vegetation, algae, and large aquatic plants. First proposed as a species by John Goode in the 1960s,Goode J. 1967. ''Freshwater tortoises of Australia and New Guinea (in the family Chelidae)''. Melbourne: Landsdowne. 155 pp. it was finally described in 2006. The species is named from the Latin ''alba'' = white and ''gula'' = throat, which is a reference to the white blotching present on the throats of adult females in the species. The type locality for the species is the Burnett River in south-eastern Queensland, but it is also found in the Mary and Fitzroy River draina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
