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Western Wattlebird
The western wattlebird (''Anthochaera lunulata'') is a passerine bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. It is restricted to south-western Australia. Taxonomy The species description was published by John Gould in 1838, from a specimen collected at the Swan River and held at "Fort Pitt, Chatham collection". The entry in his '' The Birds of Australia'' (1848) gives a common name of "Lunulated Wattle-Bird", and notes that the colonists referred to it as the little wattlebird. A treatment as a western population of the species '' Anthochaera chrysoptera'', and thus conspecific with the 'little wattlebird' group of the eastern states, is cited by some authorities. Both species are assigned to the subgenus ''Anthochaera'' (''Anellobia''), taking its name from the generic description of Jean Cabanis (1851). Other workers regard this as a separate species, ''A. lunulata'', based on morphological and plumage differences, and a different eye colour in these two populations. The t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. Because of his 1840s seven-volume series ''The Birds of Australia (Gould), The Birds of Australia'' and its updates he has been considered the father of bird study in Australia, and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, ''On the Origin of Species''. Early life John Gould was born in Lyme Regis, the first son of a gardener. Both father and son probably had little education. After working on Dowager Lady Poulett's glass house, his father obtained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest order of birds and one of the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of birds.Ericson, P.G.P. et al. (2003Evolution, biogeography, and patterns of diversification in passerine birds ''J. Avian Biol'', 34:3–15.Selvatti, A.P. et al. (2015"A Paleogene origin for crown passerines and the diversification of the Oscines in the New World" ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'', 88:1–15. Passerines are divided into three suborders: New Zealand wrens; Suboscines, primarily found in North and South America; and songbirds. Passerines originated in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honeyeater
The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Guinea, and found also in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea. Bali, on the other side of the Wallace Line, has a single species. In total, there are 186 species in 55 genera, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea. With their closest relatives, the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens), Pardalotidae (pardalotes), and Acanthizidae (thornbills, Australian warblers, scrubwrens, etc.), they comprise the superfamily Meliphagoidea and originated early in the evolutionary history of the oscine passerine radiation. Although honeyeaters look and behave very much like other nectar-feeding passerines aroun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meliphagidae
The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family (biology), family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Epthianura, Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, Manorina, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Guinea, and found also in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea. Bali, on the other side of the Wallace Line, has a single species. In total, there are List of honeyeaters, 186 species in 55 genus, genera, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea. With their closest relatives, the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens), Pardalotidae (pardalotes), and Acanthizidae (thornbills, Australian warblers, scrubwrens, etc.), they comprise the superfamily Meliphagoidea and originated early in the evolutionary history of the oscine passerine radiation. Although honeyeaters look and beh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southwest Australia
Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna. The region is also known as the Southwest Australia Global Diversity Hotspot. Geography The region includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region covers 356,717 km2, consisting of a broad coastal plain 20–120 kilometres wide, transitioning to gently undulating uplands made up of weathered granite, gneiss and laterite. Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Range is the highest peak in the region, at 1,099 metres (3,606 ft) elevation. Desert and xeric shrublands lie to the north and east across the centre of Australia, separating Southwest Australia from the other Mediterranean and humid-climate regions of the continent. Climate The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan River, Western Australia
The Swan River () is a major river in the southwest of Western Australia. The river runs through the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia's capital and largest city. Course of river The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow. The Swan River drains the Avon and coastal plain catchments, which have a total area of about . It has three major tributaries, the Avon River, Canning River and Helena River. The latter two have dams ( Canning Dam and Mundaring Weir) which provide a sizeable part of the potable water requirements for Perth and the surrounding regions. The Avon River contributes the majority of the freshwater flow. The climate of the catchment is Mediterranean, with mild wet winters, hot dry summers, and the associated highly seasonal rainfall and flow regime. The Avon rises near Yealering, southeast of Perth: it me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Birds Of Australia (Gould)
''The Birds of Australia'' is a book written by John Gould and published in seven volumes between 1840 and 1848, with a supplement published between 1851 and 1869. It was the first comprehensive survey of the birds of Australia and included descriptions of 681 species, 328 of which were new to Western science and were first described by Gould. Gould and his wife Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth ''née'' Coxen travelled to Australia from England in 1838 to prepare the book. They spent a little under two years collecting specimens for the book. John travelled widely and made extensive collections of Australian birds and other fauna. Elizabeth, who had illustrated several of his earlier works, made hundreds of drawings from specimens for publication in ''The Birds of Australia.'' The plates of the book were produced by lithography, and have been hand-coloured by Gabriel Bayfield's studio. Elizabeth produced 84 plates before she died in 1841, Edward Lear produced one, Benjami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthochaera Chrysoptera
The little wattlebird (''Anthochaera chrysoptera''), also known as the brush wattlebird, is a passerine bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. It is found in coastal and sub-coastal south-eastern Australia. Taxonomy The little wattlebird was formally described by ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name ''Merops chrysoptera''. The species is now placed in the genus ''Anthochaera'' that was introduced by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827. The generic name ''Anthochaera'' derives from the Ancient Greek ''anthos'' 'flower, bloom' and ''khairō'' 'enjoy'; the specific epithet ''chrysoptera'' derives from Ancient Greek ''khrysos'' 'gold' and ''pteron'' 'wing'. The International Ornithologists' Union recognise three subspecies: * ''A. c. chrysoptera'' (Latham, 1801) – eastern and southeastern Australia * ''A. c. halmaturina'' ( Mathews, 1912) – Kangaroo Island (South Australia) * ''A. c. tasmanica'' (Mathews, 1912) – Tasmania The wes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Cabanis
Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie'' in 1853''.'' Biography Cabanis was born in Berlin to an old Huguenot family who had moved from France. His father Benoit-Jean (1774–1838) and mother Maria Luise (1783–1849) both came from families that were in the textile industry. Little is known of his early life. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1835 to 1839, and then travelled to North America, working as a museum assistant in Carolina. He returned in 1841 with a large natural history collection. He was assistant at the Natural History Museum, Berlin, Natural History Museum of Berlin (which was at the time the Berlin University Museum) and in 1850 he became the curator of birds, taking over from Martin Lichtenstein. Charles Lucien Bonaparte had offered him a positio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austral Avian Record
''The Austral Avian Record'', with the subtitle ''a scientific journal devoted primarily to the study of the Australian avifauna'', was an occasional journal produced in five volumes between 1912 and 1927. It was founded, funded and edited by Australian ornithologist Gregory M. Mathews, who was also the main contributor. It was published by Witherby of London, and served as an adjunct to his monumental handbook A handbook is a type of reference work, or other collection of instructions, that is intended to provide ready reference. The term originally applied to a small or portable book containing information useful for its owner, but the ''Oxford Eng ..., '' The Birds of Australia'', which he began in 1910 and completed in 1927. The journal was first issued on 2 January 1912, with the final issue (vol.5, no.5) dated 1 June 1927. In the editorial note that opened the first issue, Mathews explained: ”While preparing my ''Reference List to the Birds of Australia'' (now in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iris (anatomy)
The iris (: irides or irises) is a thin, annular structure in the eye in most mammals and birds that is responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil, and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. In optical terms, the pupil is the eye's aperture, while the iris is the diaphragm (optics), diaphragm. Eye color is defined by the iris. Etymology The word "iris" is derived from the Greek word for "rainbow", also Iris (mythology), its goddess plus messenger of the gods in the ''Iliad'', because of the many eye color, colours of this eye part. Structure The iris consists of two layers: the front pigmented Wikt:fibrovascular, fibrovascular layer known as a stroma of iris, stroma and, behind the stroma, pigmented epithelial cells. The stroma is connected to a sphincter muscle (sphincter pupillae), which contracts the pupil in a circular motion, and a set of dilator muscles (dilator pupillae), which pull the iris radially to enlarge the pupil, pulling it in folds. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banksia
''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and woody fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range in size from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up to 30 metres (100 ft) tall. They are found in a wide variety of landscapes: sclerophyll forest, (occasionally) rainforest, shrubland, and some more arid landscapes, though not in Australia's deserts. Heavy producers of nectar, banksias are a vital part of the food chain in the Australian bush. They are an important food source for nectarivorous animals, including birds, bats, rats, possums, stingless bees and a host of invertebrates. Further, they are of economic importance to Australia's nursery and cut flower industries. However, these plants are threatened by a number of processes including land clearing, frequent burning and disease, and a number of species ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
