List of birds of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

This is a list of the bird species recorded in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The avifauna of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines included a total of 189 species according to "Bird Checklists of the World" as of August 2020. Of them, two are endemic, four have been introduced by humans, and 113 are rare or accidental. Four species are globally threatened, one of which is possibly extinct.
This list is presented in the taxonomic sequence of the "Check-list of North and Middle American Birds", 7th edition through the 61st Supplement, published by the American Ornithological Society (AOS). Common and scientific names are also those of the "Check-list", except that the common names of families are from the Clements taxonomy because the AOS list does not include them.
The following tags have been used to highlight several categories of occurrence.
Ducks, geese, and waterfowl.
Order: AnseriformesFamily: Anatidae
Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.
Guans, chachalacas, and curassows.
Order: GalliformesFamily: Cracidae
The Cracidae are large birds, similar in general appearance to turkeys. The guans and curassows live in trees, but the smaller chachalacas are found in more open scrubby habitats. They are generally dull-plumaged, but the curassows and some guans have colourful facial ornaments.
Pheasants, grouse, and allies.
Order: GalliformesFamily: Phasianidae
The Phasianidae are a family of terrestrial birds which consists of quails, partridges, snowcocks, francolins, spurfowls, tragopans, monals, pheasants, peafowls, and jungle fowls. In general, they are plump (although they vary in size) and have broad, relatively short wings.
Flamingos.
Order: PhoenicopteriformesFamily: Phoenicopteridae
Flamingos are gregarious wading birds, usually tall, found in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Flamingos filter-feed on shellfish and algae. Their oddly shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they consume and, uniquely, are used upside-down.
Grebes.
Order: PodicipediformesFamily: Podicipedidae
Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land.
Pigeons and doves.
Order: ColumbiformesFamily: Columbidae
Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere.
Cuckoos.
Order: CuculiformesFamily: Cuculidae
The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs.
Swifts.
Order: ApodiformesFamily: Apodidae
Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.
Hummingbirds.
Order: ApodiformesFamily: Trochilidae
Hummingbirds are small birds capable of hovering in mid-air due to the rapid flapping of their wings. They are the only birds that can fly backwards.
Rails, gallinules, and coots.
Order: GruiformesFamily: Rallidae
Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps, or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.
Stilts and avocets.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Recurvirostridae
Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.
Oystercatchers.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Haematopodidae
The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs.
Plovers and lapwings.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Charadriidae
The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.
Sandpipers and allies.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers, and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Skuas and jaegers.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Stercorariidae
The family Stercorariidae are, in general, medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.
Gulls, terns, and skimmers.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Laridae
Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls, kittiwakes, terns and skimmers. They are typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have longish bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally medium to large seabirds typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the head. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Terns are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live in excess of 30 years.
Tropicbirds.
Order: PhaethontiformesFamily: Phaethontidae
Tropicbirds are slender white birds of tropical oceans with exceptionally long central tail feathers. Their heads and long wings have black markings.
Southern storm-petrels.
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Oceanitidae
The storm-petrels are relatives of the petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. The flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like.
Shearwaters and petrels.
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Procellariidae
The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primary.
Frigatebirds.
Order: SuliformesFamily: Fregatidae
Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are large, black and white, or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.
Boobies and gannets.
Order: SuliformesFamily: Sulidae
The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium to large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.
Cormorants and shags.
Order: SuliformesFamily: Phalacrocoracidae
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of medium to large coastal, fish-eating seabirds that includes cormorants and shags. Plumage colouration varies, with the majority having mainly dark plumage, some species being black-and-white, and a few being colourful.
Pelicans.
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Pelecanidae
Pelicans are large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. As with other members of the order Pelecaniformes, they have webbed feet with four toes.
Herons, egrets, and bitterns.
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Ardeidae
The family Ardeidae contains the bitterns, herons, and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more wary. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises, and spoonbills.
Ibises and spoonbills.
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Threskiornithidae
Threskiornithidae is a family of large terrestrial and wading birds which includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings with 11 primary and about 20 secondary feathers. They are strong fliers and despite their size and weight, very capable soarers.
Osprey.
Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Pandionidae
The family Pandionidae contains only one species, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor which is a specialist fish-eater with a worldwide distribution.
Hawks, eagles, and kites.
Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Accipitridae
Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey, which includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures. These birds have powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight.
Barn-owls.
Order: StrigiformesFamily: Tytonidae
Barn-owls are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons.
Kingfishers.
Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Alcedinidae
Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails.
Falcons and caracaras.
Order: FalconiformesFamily: Falconidae
Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey. They differ from hawks, eagles, and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.
New World and African parrots.
Order: PsittaciformesFamily: Psittacidae
Parrots are small to large birds with a characteristic curved beak. Their upper mandibles have slight mobility in the joint with the skull and they have a generally erect stance. All parrots are zygodactyl, having the four toes on each foot placed two at the front and two to the back.
Tyrant flycatchers.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Tyrannidae
Tyrant flycatchers are passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They superficially resemble the Old World flycatchers, but are more robust and have stronger bills. They do not have the sophisticated vocal capabilities of the songbirds. Most, but not all, have plain colouring. As the name implies, most are insectivorous.
Vireos, shrike-babblers, and erpornis.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Vireonidae
The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds. They are typically greenish in colour and resemble New World warblers apart from their heavier bills.
Swallows.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Hirundinidae
The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.
Wrens.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Troglodytidae
The wrens are mainly small and inconspicuous except for their loud songs. These birds have short wings and thin down-turned bills. Several species often hold their tails upright. All are insectivorous.
Thrushes and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Turdidae
The thrushes are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly in the Old World. They are plump, soft plumaged, small to medium-sized insectivores or sometimes omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.
Mockingbirds and thrashers.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Mimidae
The mimids are a family of passerine birds that includes thrashers, mockingbirds, tremblers, and the New World catbirds. These birds are notable for their vocalizations, especially their ability to mimic a wide variety of birds and other sounds heard outdoors. Their colouring tends towards dull-greys and browns.
Old World sparrows.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Passeridae
Sparrows are small passerine birds. In general, sparrows tend to be small, plump, brown or grey birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.
Finches, euphonias, and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Fringillidae
Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
Troupials and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Icteridae
The icterids are a group of small to medium-sized, often colourful, passerine birds restricted to the New World and include the grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles. Most species have black as the predominant plumage colour, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red.
New World warblers.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Parulidae
The New World warblers are a group of small, often colourful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. Most are arboreal, but some are terrestrial. Most members of this family are insectivores.
Cardinals and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cardinalidae
The cardinals are a family of robust, seed-eating birds with strong bills. They are typically associated with open woodland. The sexes usually have distinct plumages.
Tanagers and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Thraupidae
The tanagers are a large group of small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to the New World, mainly in the tropics. Many species are brightly coloured. As a family they are omnivorous, but individual species specialize in eating fruits, seeds, insects, or other types of food. Most have short, rounded wings.


Cornufer weberi

Cornufer weberi, Weber's wrinkled ground frog, is a species of frog in the family Ceratobatrachidae.
It is found in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, plantations, rural gardens, urban areas, and heavily degraded former forest.


List of birds of Israel

This is a list of the bird species recorded in Israel. The avifauna of Israel include a total of 579 species, of which 9 have been introduced by humans. One species listed is extirpated in Israel.
This list's taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) follow the conventions of "The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World", 2019 edition. The family accounts at the beginning of each heading reflect this taxonomy, as do the species counts found in each family account. Introduced and accidental species are included in the total counts for Israel.
The following tags have been used to highlight several categories, but not all species fall into one of these categories. Those that do not are commonly occurring native species.
Ostriches.
Order: StruthioniformesFamily: Struthionidae
The ostrich is a flightless bird native to Africa. It is the largest living species of bird. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at high speeds.
Ducks, geese, and waterfowl.
Order: AnseriformesFamily: Anatidae
Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.
Pheasants, grouse, and allies.
Order: GalliformesFamily: Phasianidae
The Phasianidae are a family of terrestrial birds. In general, they are plump (although they vary in size) and have broad, relatively short wings.
Flamingos.
Order: PhoenicopteriformesFamily: Phoenicopteridae
Flamingos are gregarious wading birds, usually tall, found in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Flamingos filter-feed on shellfish and algae. Their oddly shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they consume and, uniquely, are used upside-down.
Grebes.
Order: PodicipediformesFamily: Podicipedidae
Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land.
Pigeons and doves.
Order: ColumbiformesFamily: Columbidae
Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere.
Sandgrouse.
Order: PterocliformesFamily: Pteroclidae
Sandgrouse have small, pigeon like heads and necks, but sturdy compact bodies. They have long pointed wings and sometimes tails and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn and dusk. Their legs are feathered down to the toes.
Bustards.
Order: OtidiformesFamily: Otididae
Bustards are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World. They are omnivorous and nest on the ground. They walk steadily on strong legs and big toes, pecking for food as they go. They have long broad wings with "fingered" wingtips and striking patterns in flight. Many have interesting mating displays.
Cuckoos.
Order: CuculiformesFamily: Cuculidae
The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails and strong legs.
Nightjars.
Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Caprimulgidae
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is camouflaged to resemble bark or leaves.
Swifts.
Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Apodidae
Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.
Rails, gallinules and coots.
Order: GruiformesFamily: Rallidae
Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots and gallinules. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.
Cranes.
Order: GruiformesFamily: Gruidae
Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays or "dances".
Thick-knees.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Burhinidae
The thick-knees are a group of largely tropical waders in the family Burhinidae. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone, with some species also breeding in temperate Europe and Australia. They are medium to large waders with strong black or yellow-black bills, large yellow eyes and cryptic plumage. Despite being classed as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semi-arid habitats.
Stilts and avocets.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Recurvirostridae
Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds, which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.
Oystercatchers.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Haematopodidae
The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs.
Plovers and lapwings.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Charadriidae
The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.
Painted-snipes.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Rostratulidae
Painted-snipes are short-legged, long-billed birds similar in shape to the true snipes, but more brightly coloured.
Sandpipers and allies.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Crab-plover.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Dromadidae
The crab-plover is related to the waders. It resembles a plover but with very long grey legs and a strong heavy black bill similar to a tern. It has black-and-white plumage, a long neck, partially webbed feet and a bill designed for eating crabs.
Pratincoles and coursers.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Glareolidae
Glareolidae is a family of wading birds comprising the pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails, and the coursers, which have long legs, short wings and long, pointed bills which curve downwards.
Skuas and jaegers.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Stercorariidae
The family Stercorariidae are, in general, medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.
Auks, murres, and puffins.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Alcidae
Alcids are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits, however they are not related to the penguins and differ in being able to fly. Auks live on the open sea, only deliberately coming ashore to nest.
Gulls, terns, and skimmers.
Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Laridae
Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally medium to large seabirds typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the head. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Terns are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live in excess of 30 years. Skimmers are a small family of tropical tern-like birds. They have an elongated lower mandible which they use to feed by flying low over the water surface and skimming the water for small fish.
Tropicbirds.
Order: PhaethontiformesFamily: Phaethontidae
Tropicbirds are slender white birds of tropical oceans, with exceptionally long central tail feathers. Their heads and long wings have black markings.
Loons.
Order: GaviiformesFamily: Gaviidae
Loons, known as divers in Europe, are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Europe. They are the size of a large duck or small goose, which they somewhat resemble in shape when swimming, but to which they are completely unrelated. There are 5 species worldwide and 2 species which occur in Israel.
Albatrosses.
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Diomedeidae
The albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and the great albatrosses from the genus "Diomedea" have the largest wingspans of any extant birds.
Southern storm-petrels.
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Oceanitidae
The southern storm-petrels are relatives of the petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. The flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like.
Northern storm-petrels.
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Hydrobatidae
The northern storm-petrels are relatives of the petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. The flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like.
Shearwaters and petrels.
Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Procellariidae
The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primary.
Storks.
Order: CiconiiformesFamily: Ciconiidae
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked, wading birds with long, stout bills. Storks are mute, but bill-clattering is an important mode of communication at the nest. Their nests can be large and may be reused for many years. Many species are migratory.
Frigatebirds.
Order: SuliformesFamily: Fregatidae
Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are large, black-and-white or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.
Boobies and gannets.
Order: SuliformesFamily: Sulidae
The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium to large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.
Anhingas.
Order: SuliformesFamily: Anhingidae
Anhingas or darters are often called "snake-birds" because of their long thin neck, which gives a snake-like appearance when they swim with their bodies submerged. The males have black and dark-brown plumage, an erectile crest on the nape and a larger bill than the female. The females have much paler plumage especially on the neck and underparts. The darters have completely webbed feet and their legs are short and set far back on the body. Their plumage is somewhat permeable, like that of cormorants, and they spread their wings to dry after diving.
Cormorants and shags.
Order: SuliformesFamily: Phalacrocoracidae
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of medium to large coastal, fish-eating seabirds that includes cormorants and shags. Plumage colouration varies, with the majority having mainly dark plumage, some species being black-and-white and a few being colourful.
Pelicans.
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Pelecanidae
Pelicans are large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. As with other members of the order Pelecaniformes, they have webbed feet with four toes.
Herons, egrets, and bitterns.
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Ardeidae
The family Ardeidae contains the bitterns, herons and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more wary. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.
Ibises and spoonbills.
Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Threskiornithidae
Threskiornithidae is a family of large terrestrial and wading birds which includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings with 11 primary and about 20 secondary feathers. They are strong fliers and despite their size and weight, very capable soarers.
Osprey.
Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Pandionidae
The family Pandionidae contains only one species, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor which is a specialist fish-eater with a worldwide distribution.
Hawks, eagles, and kites.
Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Accipitridae
Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey, which includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures. These birds have powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons and keen eyesight.
Barn-owls.
Order: StrigiformesFamily: Tytonidae
Barn owls are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons.
Owls.
Order: StrigiformesFamily: Strigidae
The typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.
Hoopoes.
Order: BucerotiformesFamily: Upupidae
Hoopoes have black, white and orangey-pink colouring with a large erectile crest on their head.
Kingfishers.
Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Alcedinidae
Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs and stubby tails.
Bee-eaters.
Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Meropidae
The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Madagascar, Australia and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. All are colourful and have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar.
Rollers.
Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Coraciidae
Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups with blues and browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but the outer toe is not.
Woodpeckers.
Order: PiciformesFamily: Picidae
Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails and long tongues used for capturing insects. Some species have feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, while several species have only three toes. Many woodpeckers have the habit of tapping noisily on tree trunks with their beaks.
Falcons and caracaras.
Order: FalconiformesFamily: Falconidae
Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.
Old World parrots.
Order: PsittaciformesFamily: Psittaculidae
Characteristic features of parrots include a strong curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly colored, and some are multi-colored. In size they range from to in length. Old World parrots are found from Africa east across south and southeast Asia and Oceania to Australia and New Zealand.
African and New World parrots.
Order: PsittaciformesFamily: Psittacidae
Parrots are small to large birds with a characteristic curved beak. Their upper mandibles have slight mobility in the joint with the skull and they have a generally erect stance. All parrots are zygodactyl, having the four toes on each foot placed two at the front and two to the back. Most of the species in this family are found in the New World.
Old World orioles.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Oriolidae
The Old World orioles are colourful passerine birds. They are not related to the New World orioles.
Drongos.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Dicruridae
The drongos are mostly black or dark grey in colour, sometimes with metallic tints. They have long forked tails, and some Asian species have elaborate tail decorations. They have short legs and sit very upright when perched, like a shrike. They flycatch or take prey from the ground.
Shrikes.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Laniidae
Shrikes are passerine birds known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. A typical shrike's beak is hooked, like a bird of prey.
Crows, jays, and magpies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Corvidae
The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, treepies, nutcrackers and ground jays. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and some of the larger species show high levels of intelligence.
Tits, chickadees, and titmice.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Paridae
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
Penduline-tits.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Remizidae
The penduline tits are a group of small passerine birds related to the true tits. They are insectivores. There are 13 species worldwide and 1 species which occurs in Israel.
Larks.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Alaudidae
Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. Their food is insects and seeds.
Bearded reedling.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Panuridae
This species, the only one in its family, is found in reed beds throughout temperate Europe and Asia.
Cisticolas and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cisticolidae
The Cisticolidae are warblers found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They are generally very small birds of drab brown or grey appearance found in open country such as grassland or scrub.
Reed warblers and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Acrocephalidae
The members of this family are usually rather large for "warblers". Most are rather plain olivaceous brown above with much yellow to beige below. They are usually found in open woodland, reedbeds, or tall grass. The family occurs mostly in southern to western Eurasia and surroundings, but it also ranges far into the Pacific, with some species in Africa.
Grassbirds and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Locustellidae
Locustellidae are a family of small insectivorous songbirds found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. They are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed, and tend to be drab brownish or buffy all over.
Swallows.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Hirundinidae
The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.
Bulbuls.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Pycnonotidae
Bulbuls are medium-sized songbirds. Some are colourful with yellow, red or orange vents, cheeks, throats or supercilia, but most are drab, with uniform olive-brown to black plumage. Some species have distinct crests.
Leaf warblers.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Phylloscopidae
Leaf warblers are a family of small insectivorous birds found mostly in Eurasia and ranging into Wallacea and Africa. The species are of various sizes, often green-plumaged above and yellow below, or more subdued with greyish-green to greyish-brown colours.
Bush warblers and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Scotocercidae
The members of this family are found throughout Africa, Asia, and Polynesia. Their taxonomy is in flux, and some authorities place some genera in other families.
Sylviid warblers, parrotbills, and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sylviidae
The family Sylviidae is a group of small insectivorous passerine birds. They mainly occur as breeding species, as the common name implies, in Europe, Asia and, to a lesser extent, Africa. Most are of generally undistinguished appearance, but many have distinctive songs.
Laughingthrushes and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Leiothrichidae
The members of this family are diverse in size and colouration, though those of genus "Turdoides" tend to be brown or greyish. The family is found in Africa, India, and southeast Asia.
Kinglets.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Regulidae
The kinglets, also called crests, are a small group of birds often included in the Old World warblers, but frequently given family status because they also resemble the titmice.
Wallcreeper.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Tichodromidae
The wallcreeper is a small bird related to the nuthatch family, which has stunning crimson, grey and black plumage.
Nuthatches.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sittidae
Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have the unusual ability to climb down trees head first, unlike other birds which can only go upwards. Nuthatches have big heads, short tails and powerful bills and feet.
Wrens.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Troglodytidae
The wrens are mainly small and inconspicuous except for their loud songs. These birds have short wings and thin down-turned bills. Several species often hold their tails upright. All are insectivorous.
Starlings.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sturnidae
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds. Their flight is strong and direct and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country. They eat insects and fruit. Plumage is typically dark with a metallic sheen.
Thrushes and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Turdidae
The thrushes are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly in the Old World. They are plump, soft plumaged, small to medium-sized insectivores or sometimes omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.
Old World flycatchers.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Muscicapidae
Old World flycatchers are a large group of small passerine birds native to the Old World. They are mainly small arboreal insectivores. The appearance of these birds is highly varied, but they mostly have weak songs and harsh calls.
Waxwings.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Bombycillidae
The waxwings are a group of birds with soft silky plumage and unique red tips to some of the wing feathers. In the Bohemian and cedar waxwings, these tips look like sealing wax and give the group its name. These are arboreal birds of northern forests. They live on insects in summer and berries in winter.
Hypocolius.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Hypocoliidae
The grey hypocolius is a small Middle Eastern bird with the shape and soft plumage of a waxwing. They are mainly a uniform grey colour except the males have a black triangular mask around their eyes.
Sunbirds and spiderhunters.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Nectariniidae
The sunbirds and spiderhunters are very small passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed.
Waxbills and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Estrildidae
The estrildid finches are small passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They are gregarious and often colonial seed eaters with short thick but pointed bills. They are all similar in structure and habits, but have wide variation in plumage colours and patterns.
Accentors.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Prunellidae
The accentors are in the only bird family, Prunellidae, which is completely endemic to the Palearctic. They are small, fairly drab species superficially similar to sparrows.
Old World sparrows.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Passeridae
Old World sparrows are small passerine birds. In general, sparrows tend to be small, plump, brown or grey birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.
Wagtails and pipits.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Motacillidae
Motacillidae is a family of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws and pipits. They are slender, ground feeding insectivores of open country.
Finches, euphonias, and allies.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Fringillidae
Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
Longspurs and snow buntings.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Calcariidae
The Calcariidae are a group of passerine birds which had been traditionally grouped with the New World sparrows, but differ in a number of respects and are usually found in open grassy areas.
Old World buntings.
Order: PasseriformesFamily: Emberizidae
The emberizids are a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with distinctively shaped bills. Many emberizid species have distinctive head patterns.


Ceratophora karu

Ceratophora karu, also known as Karu's horned lizard or Karu's horn lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Etymology.
The specific name, "karu", is in honor of Sri Lankan zoologist G. Punchi Banda "Karu" Karunaratne (1930–1996).
Geographic range and habitat.
A species of horned lizard, "C. karu" is known only from Morning Side Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka at an elevation of .
Description.
The head of "C. karu" is oval, and is longer than wide. The rostral appendage comprises more scales than rostral scales. The scales are triangular, smooth or weakly keeled. The length of the rostral appendage is less than eye-nostril distance. There are prominent superciliary scales. There is a backward-pointing V-shaped ridge at the back of the forehead. The dorsal scales are larger than the scales on the flanks. The lamellae under the fourth toe number 14–17.
The dorsum is dark black-brown, and the flanks are brown or olive-green. Some specimens have bright orange-red patches on the supralabials. The throat and venter are buff or dirty white to yellowish-brown with small black patches.
Reproduction.
"C. karu" is oviparous. About 2 eggs are produced at a time, measuring 8.6 mm x 5.0 mm.


Large-spotted civet

The large-spotted civet ("Viverra megaspila") is a viverrid native to Southeast Asia that is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Characteristics.
Pocock described the large-spotted civet as varying in colour from silvery-grey to golden-buff or tawny with a black to brown pattern and large or comparatively small spots, which are separated or sometimes fusing into blotches or into vertical stripes behind the shoulders. White bands on the tail are mostly restricted to the sides and lower surface but very seldom form complete rings. Adults measure in head and body with a long tail. Its weight ranges from .
Distribution and habitat.
Large-spotted civets are found in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and China. In China, the last sighting occurred in 1998. They inhabit evergreen, deciduous, and dry dipterocarp forests below altitudes of . In Thailand, they occur in several protected areas as far south as the Ranong Province.
Ecology and behaviour.
Data on feeding ecology and behaviour of large-spotted civet do not exist.
Threats.
The large-spotted civet is threatened due to habitat degradation, habitat loss, and hunting with snares and dogs. The population is thought to have been steadily declining throughout the range countries, and in China and Vietnam in particular may have been reduced significantly.
In Chinese and Vietnamese markets, it is in demand as food.
Taxonomic history.
Pocock considered "V. megaspila" and "V. civettina" to be distinct species. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott considered "V. civettina" a subspecies of "V. megaspila".


Malasaurus

Malasaurus is an extinct genus of therocephalian therapsids which existed in Russia. The type species is "Malasaurus germanus".


Japalura tricarinata

Japalura tricarinata is a species of agamid lizard endemic to Asia.
Common names.
Common names for this species include three-keeled mountain lizard, cloud-forest japalure, Sikkimese mountain lizard, and three-keeled forest agama.
Geographic range.
"J. tricarinata" is found in India, Nepal, and Tibet (China).


Aquiloeurycea

Aquiloeurycea is a genus of salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. They are endemic to Mexico. The genus corresponds to the former ""Pseudoeurycea cephalica" species group", which was established in order to preserve "Ixalotriton" and "Bolitoglossa" while avoiding paraphyly of "Pseudoeurycea".
Species.
It contains the following species:


Eresia clio

Eresia clio, the common crescent or Clio crescent, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is found from southern Mexico to Peru, Bolivia, the Guyanas and Brazil (from Amazonas to Mato Grosso). The habitat consists of forest edges with low vegetation.
The wingspan is about 36 mm. Adults feed on flower nectar and males have been observed sucking up moisture from damp places.


Island leopard frog

The island leopard frog or Little Corn Island frog (Lithobates miadis, also commonly known as Rana miadis) is a species of frogs in the family Ranidae, endemic to Little Corn Island off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. It is locally known as rana leopardo isleña.
This species inhabits the tropical lowland rainforests of Little Corn Island. It is expected that the expanding tourist industry would lead to habitat loss to this species.


Caenis candida

Caenis candida is a species of mayfly in the genus "Caenis". It is endemic to Quebec, Canada.


Belize leaf-toed gecko

The Belize leaf-toed gecko ("Phyllodactylus insularis") is a species of gecko native to Belize. It is a small, pale, large headed gecko only found on small islands off Belize's coast and was first described by James R. Dixon in 1960. This species is currently classified as "vulnerable" by the IUCN Red List.
Description.
The Belize leaf-toed gecko is a small, pale, large-headed gecko. It is nocturnal and emerges from under barks and limbs to feed on insects and other arthropods. Like other geckos it has adhesive friction pads on the toes of each foot. The gecko emits a sounds similar to a high pitched squeak or click.
Habitat.
The gecko lives in trees and can be found in littoral forests on small islands. It is endemic to lowland Maya forests. Sub adults are exclusively found under surface objects while adults are found solely on palm trunks
Distribution.
The Belize leaf-toed gecko has been recorded on Half Moon Caye, Long Caye, Twin Cayes, Glover's Reef, Crawl Caye, False Caye, Lagoon Caye, Peter Douglas Caye, and West Snake Caye off the coast of Belize.
Elevation.
Elevation ranges from sea level to 50 meters.
Reproduction.
They are oviparous and typically lay 1 or 2 eggs in a clutch
Predation.
"Phyllodactus insularis" is known to be preyed upon by rats.
Threats.
The IUCN Red List reports that habitat destruction caused by tourism development is a threat to this species. It is also threatened by sea level rise and storm surge.


Palusophis bifossatus

Palusophis bifossatus is a species of snake of the family Colubridae.
Geographic range.
The snake is found in the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, northern Uruguay, and some central and central eastern parts of Brazil. It has the common name of Rio Tropical Racer. It is monotypic in the genus "Palusophis".


Rusty-flanked treecreeper

The rusty-flanked treecreeper ("Certhia nipalensis") or the Nepal treecreeper is a species of bird in the family Certhiidae.
It is found in northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and western Yunnan.
Its natural habitats are boreal forests and temperate forests.


Karpathos frog

The Karpathos frog ("Pelophylax cerigensis") is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is endemic to the island of Karpathos, South Aegean Sea, Greece. The Karpathos frog is considered the most endangered anuran amphibian in Europe because its range is restricted to two small rivers in the north part of the island.
Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land and ponds. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Hampala macrolepidota

The hampala barb ("Hampala macrolepidota") is a relatively large southeast Asian species of cyprinid from the Mekong and Chao Phraya basins, as well as Peninsular Malaysia and the Greater Sundas (Borneo, Java and Sumatra). It prefers running rivers and streams, but can be seen in most freshwater habitats except torrents, small creeks and shallow swamps. This predatory species reaches up to in length and it is common at half that size.
As food.
This fish is one of the fish species that has been used as food in Southeast Asia since ancient times.
Although it is an important food fish, it remains abundant in at least parts of its range, resulting in a Least Concern rating by the IUCN.


Echinosaura centralis

Echinosaura centralis is a species of lizard in the family Gymnophthalmidae. It is endemic to Colombia.


Thesprotia maculata

Thesprotia maculata, common name grass mantis, is a species of praying mantis found in Bolivia and Brazil.


Phyllonorycter tangerensis

Phyllonorycter tangerensis is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is known from Morocco.
The larvae feed on "Coronilla" species and "Teline linifolia". They mine the leaves of their host plant.


Pseudocalotes drogon

Pseudocalotes drogon, Drogon’s false garden lizard, is a species of agamid lizard. It is found in Malaysia.


List of fishes in Estonia

This is a list of Estonian fish. Native (usually synonymous with indigenous) species are considered to be species which are today present in the region in question, and have been continuously present in that region since a certain period of time.
There are no endemic fish species in Estonia (that is, there are no fish species native to only this region).


Napoca insignis

Napoca insignis is a species of the jumping spiders found in Israel.
The species is known from only a single male specimen. It can be distinguished from similar spiders such as "Bianor" and "Sibianor" by its sclerotized, bean-shaped abdomen, which overhangs the carapace. In addition, the posterior median eyes are close to the anterior lateral eyes, while they are midway between the anterior lateral eyes and posterior lateral eyes in related genera. The holotype is housed at Oxford University.


Ctenosaura clarki

Ctenosaura clarki, commonly known as the Balsas armed lizard, Balsas spiny-tailed iguana, Michoacán dwarf spiny-tailed iguana, or nopiche, is a species of lizard in the family Iguanidae.
Etymology.
The specific name, "clarki", is in honor of Dr. Herbert Charles Clark (1877-1960), director of medical research and laboratories, United Fruit Co., for his support of the herpetological collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.
Geographic range.
"Ctenosaura clarki" is endemic to the Balsas dry forests in the state of Michoacán in western Mexico.
Conservation status.
"C. clarki" is threatened by habitat loss.


Oreolalax nanjiangensis

Oreolalax nanjiangensis (Nanjiang toothed toad) is a species of amphibian in the family Megophryidae.
It is endemic to China. It is known from the area of the type locality of (光雾山), Nanjiang County, northern Sichuan, as well as adjacent southern Gansu and southwestern Shaanxi.
Its natural habitats are temperate forests and rivers.
It is threatened by habitat loss associated with tourism.
Male "Oreolalax nanjiangensis" grow to about in snout-vent length. Tadpoles are in length.


Mordellistena baliani

Mordellistena baliani is a species of beetle in the genus "Mordellistena" of the family Mordellidae. It was described in 1942 by Franciscolo and is endemic to Italy.


Epigomphus westfalli

Epigomphus westfalli is a species of dragonfly in the family Gomphidae. It is endemic to Nicaragua. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Amolops lifanensis

Amolops lifanensis (common names: Lifan sucker frog, Lifan torrent frog) is a species of frog in the family Ranidae that is endemic to central Sichuan, China. It is a common species within its small range, living in and along streams in forests. It is locally threatened by dam construction.


Diaea placata

Diaea placata, is a species of spider of the genus "Diaea". It is endemic to Sri Lanka.


Coleophora adumbratella

Coleophora adumbratella is a moth of the family Coleophoridae that is endemic to Afghanistan.


Chalcides ebneri

Chalcides ebneri, or Ebner's cylindrical skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Morocco.
Etymology.
The specific name, "ebneri", is in honor of Austrian entomologist Richard Ebner (1885–1961).
Conservation status.
"C. ebneri" is only found in two small locations and has not been sighted since 1970. It is threatened by some agricultural practices and habitat loss, and populations presumably continue to decline.
Habitat.
"C. ebneri" is found in rocky areas near grassy ground cover.
Reproduction.
The females of "C. ebneri" give birth to live young.


Drilliola maoria

Drilliola maoria is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Borsoniidae.
Distribution.
This fossil species was endemic to New Zealand.


List of mammals of Dominica

This is a list of the mammal species recorded in Dominica. Of the mammal species listed for Dominica, two are considered vulnerable and one species is classified as extinct.
The following tags are used to highlight each species' conservation status as assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature:
Some species were assessed using an earlier set of criteria. Species assessed using this system have the following instead of near threatened and least concern categories:
Subclass: Theria.
Infraclass: Eutheria.
Order: Sirenia (manatees and dugongs).
Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. All four species are endangered.
Order: Rodentia (Rodents).
Rodentia is an order of mammals characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing.
Order: Chiroptera (bats).
The bats' most distinguishing feature is that their forelimbs are developed as wings, making them the only mammals capable of flight. Bat species account for about 20% of all mammals.
Order: Cetacea (whales).
The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life with a spindle-shaped nearly hairless body, protected by a thick layer of blubber, and forelimbs and tail modified to provide propulsion underwater.
Order: Carnivora (carnivorans).
There are over 260 species of carnivorans, the majority of which feed primarily on meat. They have a characteristic skull shape and dentition.


Harbor seal

The harbor (or harbour) seal ("Phoca vitulina"), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared seals, and true seals), they are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic, Pacific Oceans, Baltic and North Seas.
Harbor seals are brown, silvery white, tan, or gray, with distinctive V-shaped nostrils. An adult can attain a length of 1.85 m (6.1 ft) and a mass of up to . Blubber under the seal's skin helps to maintain body temperature. Females outlive males (30–35 years versus 20–25 years). Harbor seals stick to familiar resting spots or haulout sites, generally rocky areas (although ice, sand, and mud may also be used) where they are protected from adverse weather conditions and predation, near a foraging area. Males may fight over mates under water and on land. Females bear a single pup after a nine-month gestation, which they care for alone. Pups can weigh up to and are able to swim and dive within hours of birth. They develop quickly on their mothers' fat-rich milk, and are weaned after four to six weeks.
The global population of harbor seals is 350,000–500,000, but subspecies in certain habitats are threatened. Once a common practice, sealing is now illegal in many nations within the animal's range.
Description.
Individual harbor seals possess a unique pattern of spots, either dark on a light background or light on a dark. They vary in colour from brownish black to tan or grey; underparts are generally lighter. The body and flippers are short, heads are rounded. Nostrils appear distinctively V-shaped. As with other true seals, there is no pinna (ear flap). An ear canal may be visible behind the eye. Including the head and flippers, they may reach an adult length of 1.85 m (6.1 ft) and a weight of 55 to 168 kg (120 to 370 lb). Females are generally smaller than males.
Population.
There are an estimated 350,000–500,000 harbor seals worldwide. While the population is not threatened as a whole, the Greenland, Hokkaidō and Baltic Sea populations are exceptions. Local populations have been reduced or eliminated through disease (especially the phocine distemper virus) and conflict with humans, both unintentionally and intentionally. Killing seals perceived to threaten fisheries is legal in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Canada, but commercial hunting is illegal. Seals are also taken in subsistence hunting and accidentally as bycatch (mainly in bottomset nets). Along the Norwegian coast, bycatch accounted for 48% of pup mortality.
Seals in the United Kingdom are protected by the 1970 Conservation of Seals Act, which prohibits most forms of killing. In the United States, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 prohibits the killing of any marine mammals and most local ordinances, as well as NOAA, instruct citizens to leave them alone unless serious danger to the seal exists.
Subspecies.
The five subspecies of "Phoca vitulina" are:
Habitat and diet.
Harbor seals prefer to frequent familiar resting sites. They may spend several days at sea and travel up to 50 km in search of feeding grounds, and will also swim more than a hundred miles upstream into fresh water in large rivers in search of migratory fish like shad and likely salmon. Resting sites may be both rugged, rocky coasts, such as those of the Hebrides or the shorelines of New England, or sandy beaches, like the ones that flank Normandy in Northern France or the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Harbor seals frequently congregate in harbors, bays, sandy intertidal zones, and estuaries in pursuit of prey fish such as salmon, menhaden, anchovy, sea bass, herring, mackerel, cod, whiting and flatfish, and occasionally shrimp, crabs, mollusks, and squid. Atlantic subspecies of either Europe or North America also exploit deeper-dwelling fish of the genus "Ammodytes" as a food source and Pacific subspecies have been recorded occasionally consuming fish of the genus "Oncorhynchus". Although primarily coastal, dives of over 500 m have been recorded. Harbor seals have been recorded to attack, kill and eat several kinds of ducks.
Behavior, survival, and reproduction.
Harbor seals are solitary, but are gregarious when hauled out and during the breeding season, though they do not form groups as large as some other seals. When not actively feeding, they haul to rest. They tend to be coastal, not venturing more than 20 km offshore. The mating system is not known, but thought to be polygamous. Females give birth once per year, with a gestation period around nine months. Females have a mean age at sexual maturity of 3.72 years and a mean age at first parturition of 4.64. Both courtship and mating occur under water. Pregnancy rate of females was 92% from age 3 to age 36, with lowered reproductive success after the age of 25 years.
Birthing of pups occurs annually on shore. The timing of the pupping season varies with location, occurring in February for populations in lower latitudes, and as late as July in the subarctic zone. The mothers are the sole providers of care, with lactation lasting 24 days. Researchers have found males gather under water, turn on their backs, put their heads together, and vocalize to attract females ready for breeding. The single pups are born well developed, capable of swimming and diving within hours. Suckling for three to four weeks, pups feed on the mother's rich, fatty milk and grow rapidly; born weighing up to 16 kilograms, the pups may double their weight by the time of weaning.
Harbor seals must spend a great deal of time on shore when molting, which occurs shortly after breeding. This onshore time is important to the life cycle, and can be disturbed when substantial human presence occurs. The timing of onset of molt depends on the age and sex of the animal, with yearlings molting first and adult males last. A female mates again immediately following the weaning of her pup. Harbor seals are sometimes reluctant to haul out in the presence of humans, so shoreline development and access must be carefully studied in known locations of seal haul out.
In comparison to many pinniped species, and in contrast to otariid pinnipeds, harbor seals are generally regarded to be more vocally reticent. However, they do utilize non-harmonic vocalizations to maintain breeding territories and to attract mates during specified times of year, and also during mother and pup interactions.
Annual survival rates were calculated at 0.91 for adult males, and 0.902 for adult females. Maximum age for females was 36 and for males 31 years.
In North America.
Pacific Coast.
The California population of subspecies "P. v. richardsi" amounted to about 25,000 individuals as of 1984. Pacific harbor seals or California harbor seals are found along the entire Pacific Coast shoreline of the state. They prefer to remain relatively close to shore in subtidal and intertidal zones, and have not been seen beyond the Channel Islands as a pelagic form; moreover, they often venture into bays and estuaries and even swim up coastal rivers. They feed in shallow littoral waters on herring, flounder, hake, anchovy, codfish, and sculpin.
Breeding occurs in California from March to May, with pupping between April and May, depending on local populations. As top-level feeders in the kelp forest, harbor seals enhance species diversity and productivity. They are preyed upon by killer whales (orcas) and white sharks. Haul out sites in California include urban beaches and from time to time they can be seen having a nap on the beach in all of San Francisco Bay, which would include the conurbation of Richmond, Oakland, and San Francisco, the Greater Los Angeles area, which would include Santa Barbara, the city of Los Angeles itself, and Long Beach, and all of San Diego Bay, most famously beaches near La Jolla.
Considerable scientific inquiry has been carried out by the Marine Mammal Center and other research organizations beginning in the 1980s regarding the incidence and transmission of diseases in harbor seals in the wild, including analysis of phocine herpesvirus. In San Francisco Bay, some harbor seals are fully or partially reddish in color, possibly caused by an accumulation of trace elements such as iron or selenium in the ocean, or a change in the hair follicles.
Although some of the largest pupping areas harbor seals are found in California, they are also found north along the Pacific Coast in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. Large populations move with the season south along the west coast of Canada and may winter on the islands in Washington and Oregon. Pupping is known to occur in both Washington and Oregon as of 2020. Locals are reminded not to interact with the newborns, because mothers out foraging for food might not come back if they believe their baby has been with humans.
Atlantic Coast.
Historically, the range of the harbor seal extended from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and Greenland to the sandy beaches of North Carolina, a distance of well over a thousand miles (greater than 1600 km.) Evidence of their presence in these areas is consistent with both the fossil record as well as a few landmarks named for them during colonization: Robbin's Reef, off of Bayonne, New Jersey, gets its name from the Dutch word "robben," meaning "seals". On the border between Canada and the US is an island known as Machias Seal Island, a place where today the harbor seal will occasionally visit but is now a sanctuary for puffins. Over the course of hundreds of years, however, the seal was wiped out steadily by being shot on sight by fishermen and by massive pollution. The evidence for this is found in documents all along the coast of New England which put a bounty on the head of every seal shot, as well as the accounts of harbormasters. New York City, when it was founded in the 1640s, was founded on top of an enormous estuary teeming with life that included the harbor seal. Oil in the 1800s started the process of pollution that was later compounded by even more toxic 20th century chemicals that included PCB's and dioxin. By the 1972 Clean Water Act, New York Harbor was almost dead-almost no living thing could survive in it. Approximately 300 miles to the north, Boston Harbor was equally polluted. Raw sewage had been dumped in the harbor since the late 1800s and the stench of fecal matter in the Charles River was overpowering, as evidenced by the song "Dirty Water" by the Standells, written in 1966. Flatfish, abundant in the area, had enormous tumors in their livers by the 1980s and the harbor seal was long gone, shot to oblivion.
As of 2020, however, the seals have returned. They never were extirpated from Canada and certain pockets of the Maine coast, and thus an important mother population was created from whence the species could reclaim the home of their ancestors. Currently, they are sighted as far south as the barrier islands of North Carolina on a regular basis, with Massachusetts being the southernmost point of known pupping areas along the Atlantic Coast. Harbor seals move south from eastern Canadian waters to breed along the coast of Maine, Cape Cod, and the South Shore in Massachusetts in May and June, and return northward in fall. Others will head south from these areas to "vacation" in warmer waters, particularly young seals unable to compete with adults for food and territory; they do not return north until spring.
One park ranger in New York City, which is dead center of its West Atlantic range, says that "New York is like their Miami resort." This refers to the habit of young seals leaving Cape Cod and even some Arctic waters to inhabit the harbor in winter. In 2018 the New York Post reported that the harbor is now "cleaner than it has been in 110 years," and since the first decade of the 21st century, the harbor seal has found the old turf of its ancestors to be a land of plenty and the water to be livable. Within sight of the New York skyline, known colonies of harbor seals are found on Hoffman and Swinburne Islands as well as portions of Red Hook and Staten Island, readily hauling out every from October until very early May. Known favorite foods of the seal are returning in grand numbers to New York Harbor as well as nearby New Jersey, from Raritan Bay all the way down the entire Jersey Shore, with schools of mossbunker regularly attracting harbor seals, their cousins the grey seals, dolphins and, most recently, whales. Both the northern and southern shores of Long Island have a reliable population of harbor seals as well as greys, where they will take sand lance as well as some species of crab as part of their diet.


Oncomeris flavicornis

Oncomeris flavicornis is a species of true bugs belonging to the family Tessaratomidae.
Description.
"Oncomeris flavicornis" can reach a length of about . This bug shows the typical family shield, robust hind legs, a dark brown body with red markings and yellowish antennae (hence the Latin species name "flavicornis", meaning "golden horn".
Distribution.
This species can be found in New Guinea, Indonesia and Queensland, Australia.


Bucculatrix mirnae

Bucculatrix mirnae is a moth in the family Bucculatricidae. It is found in the Azapa Valley in northern Chile. The species was first described in 2012 by Héctor Vargas and Gilson R.P. Moreira.
The length of the forewings is . The forewings are covered with light reddish-brown scales. The hindwings are creamy white.
The larvae feed on "Baccharis salicifolia". They mine the leaves of their host plant. Older larvae feed externally, skeletonizing the leaves. Pupation takes place in a cocoon, mostly spun on either twigs or dry leaves of the host plant.
Etymology.
The species is named in honour of Professor Doctor Mirna Martins Casagrande.


Northern Baja deer mouse

The Northern Baja deermouse ("Peromyscus fraterculus") is a species of deer mouse native to Southern California and the Baja California peninsula as well as several islands in the Gulf of California. "P. fraterculus" was previously considered a subspecies of the cactus mouse ("Peromyscus eremicus") prior to a 2000 study which identified genetic differences and suggested "P. fraterculus" is more closely related to Eva's desert mouse ("P. eva") than to "P. eremicus".


Hypselostoma perigyra

Hypselostoma perigyra is a species of very small air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Vertiginidae, the whorl snails.
Distribution.
The distribution of "Hypselostoma perigyra" includes an area near Bukit Takun, Selangor, in Peninsular Malaysia".


Mycetophylax

Mycetophylax is a genus of fungus-growing ants. The genus is characterized exclusively for the New World and is only found on coastal sandy beaches and shallow waters of Brazil.


Xerocrassa cretica

Xerocrassa cretica is a species of air-breathing land snail, a pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies. This species is native to Cyprus, Greece, Libya and Turkey.


Umboi tube-nosed fruit bat

The Umboi tube-nosed fruit bat ("Nyctimene vizcaccia") is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.


Pristimantis bipunctatus

Pristimantis bipunctatus is a species of frogs in the family Craugastoridae.
It is endemic to Peru.
Its natural habitat is tropical moist montane forests.


Babelomurex cariniferus

Babelomurex cariniferus, common name Babel's latiaxis, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Distribution.
"Babelomurex cariniferus" is present from the Mediterranean Sea to the west coast of Africa (Canaries, Cape Verde, Angola).
This species (as junior synonym Latiaxis babelis) is listed in the IUCN Red List, because it is thought to be endemic to Malta.
Habitat.
These sea snails live in the coral reef among corals and sponges. They can be found from a few meters to more than 1000.
Description.
Shells of "Babelomurex cariniferus" can reach a size of . The shell surface may be whitish or dark greyish. These shells are variably shaped. They show numerous flattened spires with very thorny axial ribs. The keels of the whorls are adorned with several spiniform scales. A corneous operculum is present.
This species is quite similar to "Babelomurex benoiti", but "Babelomurex cariniferus" is more variable in feature and sculpture and differs in the number of spiniform scales.
Biology.
These uncommon infralittoral sea snails are specialist feeders. In fact they feed exclusively on the polyps of the colonies of scleractinian stony corals.


Ctenosaura pectinata

Ctenosaura pectinata, commonly known as the Mexican spiny-tailed iguana, Guerreran spiny-tailed iguana, or the Mexican spinytail iguana, is a moderate-sized lizard endemic to western Mexico.
Geographic range.
In Mexico it is found from central Sinaloa to southern Chiapas. It has also been introduced to the United States in the very southern tip of the state of Texas and in the state of Florida.
Taxonomy.
The Mexican Spinytail Iguana was first described by German zoologist Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann in 1834. The generic name, "Ctenosaura", is derived from two Greek words: "ctenos" (Κτενός), meaning "comb" (referring to the comblike spines on the lizard's back and tail), and "saura" (σαύρα), meaning "lizard". Its specific name is the Latin word "pectinata" meaning "combed", also referring to the comblike spines on the lizard's back.
The genus it belongs to represents the most diverse group of iguanas with 15 currently recognized species. These species inhabit lowland (below 1200m elevation) dry forests on both coasts of Mexico and Central America. All species of "Ctenosaura" fall within one of seven clades. Distributions of these clades fall geographically within well established areas. Closely related species show allopatry whereas species from divergent clades show sympatry.
Phylogenic study shows this species to be most closely related to "C. acanthura", the Northeastern spinytail iguana. Additional mitochondrial DNA research is being performed to determine whether additional subspecies may exist. Because of the different human cultures throughout this species distribution, the clades are being evaluated for their impact from humans. For example, these iguanas are not eaten in their northern ranges by humans as they are in the southern ranges, but the hatchlings in the southern ranges have a better survival rate due to better environmental conditions.
Description.
Mexican Spinytail Iguanas have distinctive keeled scales on their long tails, which gives them their common name. They are one of the larger members of the genus "Ctenosaura", capable of growing to 1.3m (4.3 feet) in length, with females being slightly smaller than males at , and are typically brown or grey-brown in coloration with a yellowish ventral surface. They have a crest of long spines which extend down the center of their back. Hatchlings are often a bright green color with no pattern and darken as they age.
Distribution.
The Mexican Spinytail Iguana is native to Western Mexico from Sinaloa to Oaxaca.
This iguana has been introduced to Brownsville, Texas and South Florida and reproduces in the wild in several feral populations. On the south-eastern Florida coast, these iguanas have been found on Key Biscayne, Hialeah, and in Broward County. On the south-western Florida coast, it has been reported on Gasparilla Island. It is currently estimated as of December 2007 that there are 12,000 iguanas on this island, descended from a trio of pet lizards released by a resident in the 1970s.
They are regarded as a "nuisance animal" on Gasparilla island because the iguanas eat ornamental flowers and shrubs and prey on nesting birds and sea turtle eggs. They have been known to chew through electrical and telephone cables. They may also carry salmonella and their appearance has been known to scare timid residents. As the iguanas like to burrow in the sand it is feared that their tunnels could cause dunes and even seawalls to collapse and deprive the island of crucial protection from landfalling hurricanes.
Behavior.
The Mexican Spiny-tailed iguana is a social lizard, which has adapted to living in groups as opposed to other species of "Ctenosaura" which tend to be solitary animals. These iguanas are excellent climbers, and prefer a rocky habitat with plenty of crevices to hide in, rocks to bask on, and nearby trees to climb. They are diurnal and fast moving, employing their speed to escape predators but will lash with their tails and bite if cornered. They are often found dwelling near or in towns in their native Mexico and where they have been introduced elsewhere.
Juveniles consume a diet consting mostly of insects. However, adults are primarily herbivorous, eating a variety of flowers, leaves, stems, and fruit, but they will opportunistically eat small animals, eggs, and arthropods.
Reproduction.
Mating occurs in the spring. Males show dominance and interest by head bobbing, eventually chasing the female until he can catch her and subdue her. Within eight to ten weeks, the female will dig a nest and lay clutches of up to 50 eggs in a burrow of loose soil. These eggs hatch in 90 days with the bright green babies digging their way out of the sand.
Threatened status.
"Ctenosaura pectinata" is used as a traditional food source in its native Mexico. This species is listed as "Least Concern" by the IUCN Redlist, but the species is listed on the Mexican Red List NOM-059-2001 as threatened and it is currently illegal to hunt them in Mexico. This protection does not apply to areas in North America where they have been introduced, however.
Although hunting, trapping, and killing of these iguanas is illegal throughout Mexico; the Balsas depression along the borders of the states Michoacán and Guerrero is one of the largest illegal hunting and trading areas. The remoteness of the areas and lack of enforcement of the laws is seen as the main reason. A study is being conducted by the "Instituto de Biologia", UNAM, to solve the over-exploitation problem and to determine if the iguanas can be successfully farmed as a food source similar to the Green Iguana and the closely related "Ctenosaura similis".


Monomorium noualhieri

Monomorium noualhieri is a species of ant endemic to Algeria.


Chestnut-bellied shrew

The chestnut-bellied shrew ("Sorex ventralis") is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Mexico.


List of mammals of Serbia

This list shows the IUCN Red List status of the 90 mammal species occurring in Serbia. Five of them are vulnerable, seven are near threatened, one is reintroduced, and one is introduced.
The following tags are used to highlight each species' status on the respective IUCN Red List published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature:
Order: Rodentia.
There are twenty-nine species of rodent in Serbia. Two species are vulnerable. One species is reintroduced and two species are introduced.
Order: Lagomorpha.
There is one species of lagomorph in Serbia.
Order: Eulipotyphla.
There are ten species of eulipotyph in Serbia. One species is near threatened.
Order: Chiroptera.
There are thirty-one species of bat in Serbia. Two species are vulnerable and five species are near threatened.
Order: Carnivora.
There are fourteen species of carnivore in Serbia. One species is vulnerable and one species is near threatened.
Order: Artiodactyla.
There are five species of even-toed ungulate in Serbia.


Zabrus aetolus

Zabrus aetolus is a species of ground beetle in the Pterostichinae subfamily that is endemic to Greece.
Subspecies.
There are eight subspecies of "Z. aetolus":


Coleophora moehringiae

Coleophora moehringiae is a moth of the family Coleophoridae. It is found in the Italian Alps.
The larvae feed on "Moehringia glaucovirens". They create a small, brown to ochre, trivalved, tubular silken case. The mouth angle is about 30°. Larvae can be found in mid-May and early June. The species needs two years for its development.


Cuon alpinus


White-bellied seedeater

The white-bellied seedeater ("Sporophila leucoptera") is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae.
It is found mainly in Bolivia, Paraguay and eastern Brazil, with smaller numbers in Suriname, southeastern Peru and northern Argentina.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, swamps, and heavily degraded former forest.


Enoplometopus antillensis

Enoplometopus antillensis (commonly dwarf reef lobster, Atlantic reef lobster or flaming reef lobster) is a species of reef lobster endemic to warmer parts of the Atlantic Ocean. It is found at depths of in rocky and coral reefs, where it hides in small crevices. Dwarf reef lobsters are prized in the home aquarium hobby for their bright colors and small size.


Temnothorax tarbinskii

Temnothorax tarbinskii is a species of ant in the genus "Temnothorax", that is native to Kyrgyzstan.


Chloroclystis breyniae

Chloroclystis breyniae is a moth in the family Geometridae. It was described by Prout in 1958. It is endemic to India.


Pieris deota

Pieris deota, the Kashmir white, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites, which is found in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and central Asia. It is found in the north-western Himalayas in Ladakh at and in Tibet and the Pamirs, at altitudes of .
Description.
It closely resembles "Pieris brassicae", from which it differs as follows:
Male has the upper forewing with inner margin of the black area on apex and termen not smoothly curved but sinuate (curved); an elongate narrow black spot, sometimes faint and ill defined but always traceable, in interspace 3. Hindwing: termen edged by a narrow continuous black band that extends from the black costal spot to the middle of interspace 3. Underside, forewing: apex and upper portion of termen ashy brown (by reason of the black on the upperside that shows through by transparency), thickly irrorated with black scales; besides the black spots in interspaces 1 and 3 present as in "P. brassicae", there is a third black spot from middle of interspace 5 to vein 7 that extends above the latter vein diffusely to the costa. Hindwing: as in "P. brassicae" but the ground colour not so yellow; the black terminal band of the upperside can be seen through faintly by transparency; the black subcostal spot as in "P. brassicce", with a second black spot in interspace 3.
Female has the upperside as in the female of "P. brassicae", but as in the male of its own form, the inner margin of the black area at apex and on termen of forewing not smoothly curved but sinuate. Hindwing: a black terminal band like that in the male but broader and divided by the white veins into a series of inwardly diffuse subquadrate spots; a small black spot in interspace 3, another in interspace 5, the latter joined to the subcostal black spot which is particularly large and prominent. Underside as in the male.


Pseudorana weiningensis

Pseudorana weiningensis is a species of true frog endemic to China. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland, temperate grassland, and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Tichvinskia

Tichvinskia is an extinct genus of procolophonid parareptile from the Early Triassic of Russia.


Cavia anolaimae

Cavia anolaimae is a guinea pig species from South America. It is found in Colombia near Bogotá. It is believed to be a feral offshoot of the domestic guinea pig, "Cavia porcellus", and is often treated as a synonym of "C. porcellus", but Zúñiga et al. (2002), based on morphologic characters, recognized them as different species. According to the molecular analysis of Dunnum and Salazar (2010) "C. anolaimae" is a subspecies of "Cavia aperea", C. aperea anolaimae, and a possible synonymous of "C. a. guianae" .


Maiestas canaraica

Maiestas canaraica is a species of bug from the Cicadellidae family that is endemic to India. It was formerly placed within "Recilia", but a 2009 revision moved it to "Maiestas".


Nematalosa nasus

The Bloch's gizzard shad (Nematalosa nasus), also known as gizzard shad, hairback, long-finned gizzard shad, long-ray bony bream and thread-finned gizzard shad, are a widespread and common, small to medium-sized anadromous fish found in all marine, freshwater and brackish waters throughout Indo-West Pacific, towards eastward of Andaman Sea, South China Sea and the Philippines to Korean peninsula. Single specimen recorded from waters of South Africa. It was described by Marcus Elieser Bloch in 1795.
The sardines are known to swim at a maximum depth of 30 metres. The largest known standard length for the species is 22 cm. The fish can separate from its sister species by the presence of a dark spot behind gill opening. Belly consists with 17 to 20and 9 to 13 scutes. It has 15 to 19 dorsal soft rays and 17 to 26 anal dorsal soft rays. It is a filter feeder and feeds on planktons. Widely used as a food fish, it can make in to fish balls and can eat both as fresh and dried forms.


Saint Helena rail

The Saint Helena rail ("Aphanocrex podarces") was a large flightless rail from Saint Helena. It became extinct in the early 16th century.
When American ornithologist Alexander Wetmore described this species from subfossil remains which were found at Prosperous Bay, Saint Helena, he classified it into the new genus "Aphanocrex". However, in 1973 American paleontologist Storrs Olson synonymised this genus with the genus "Atlantisia", the other representative of which was the Inaccessible Island rail ("Atlantisia rogersi"). While Olson had considered it as congener of the Inaccessible Island rail, other scientists regarded it not even as a close relative and so it was renamed as "Aphanocrex".
The Saint Helena rail was relatively large and reached almost the size of the New Zealand weka ("Gallirallus australis"). In contrast to the weka it was more slender. Since Saint Helena was predator free until the sixteenth century, the swamphen had lost its ability to fly but its wings were better developed like the wings of the rails from Inaccessible Island and Ascension Island. Furthermore, it had strong toes with long claws, which gave that species a good ability to climb and flutter up the steep valley walls. It fed probably on the eggs and the juveniles of several Saint Helena terrestrial and pelagic bird species and on snails. Like other ground-nesting birds such as the Saint Helena crake and the Saint Helena hoopoe it became a victim of alien predators like cats and rats which were brought to Saint Helena after 1502.


Gray slender loris

The gray slender loris ("Loris lydekkerianus") is a species of primate in the family Loridae. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Taxonomy.
Together with the red slender loris ("Loris tardigradus"), the grey slender loris ("Loris lydekkerianus") is a type of slender loris (genus "Loris") in the strepsirrhine primate family Lorisidae. In 1908 Spanish zoologist Ángel Cabrera first described the Mysore slender loris ("Loris tardigradus lydekkerianus") in Chennai, India, which he named for the English naturalist Richard Lydekker. This subspecies was further described by William Charles Osman Hill in his seminal primate book "Primates: Comparative Anatomy and Taxonomy" (1953). Hill believed there was one species of slender loris which was further split into six subspecies, two in India and four in Sri Lanka. In 1998 biological anthropologist Colin Groves recognised two species, "L. tardigradus" and "L. lydekkerianus", which have been widely accepted by the scientific community. "Loris lydekkerianus" now includes four geographically separated subspecies, "L. l. lydekkerianus" (previously "L. t. lydekkerianus") and "L. l. malabaricus" in India and "L. l. nordicus" and "L. l. grandis" in Sri Lanka.
A slender loris group known as the montane slender loris (taxon "nycticeboides") has had uncertain classification and variously placed as a subspecies of "L. lydekkerianus", "L. tardigradus", and as a distinct species. A 2019 study based on partial CO1 sequences showed the taxon can be classified in a single haplogroup with "L. t. tardigradus".
Physical description.
Slender lorises are recognised for having extremely gracile limbs and extreme stereoscopic vision. The gray slender loris has a wide variation in pelage colour and each subspecies can be identified by this. The fur is short and gray or reddish on their backs, sometimes a darker stripe extends from the top of their head to the end of their back. The ventrum is white or buff-coloured. The eyes are surrounded with darker fur and have orbits which look straight forward giving excellent stereoscopic vision and are located the closest together amongst the primates. Between the eyes there is a white patch of hair known as the median stripe. The muzzle is larger and less pointed than the red slender loris. The hands are also highly specialised with a reduced second digit that allows the loris to cling to small branches. This is further augmented by adaptions in the first metatarsal that are thought to allow an extremely firm grasp. The tail is vestigial. The average head-body length is .
In Sri Lankan subspecies, "Loris lydekkerianus grandis" has short ears, and a heart-shaped face. Basal hairs of the vent of "Loris lydekkerianus grandis" are black and whereas those of "Loris lydekkerianus nordicus" are white in colour.
Behaviour.
The behaviour of the gray slender loris is amongst the least known of the primates, despite the relatively large number of studies undertaking during the 2000s. Like other lorises, they are nocturnal and emerge from their roost cavities only at dusk. They are mainly insectivorous. They primarily eat insects but do occasionally eat fruits, flowers, and small animals like mice and geckos when given the opportunity. In southern India, the nominate race is often found in acacia and tamarind dominated forests or scrubs near cultivations. Males hold larger home ranges than females. They are usually solitary while foraging, and it is rare for them to be seen in pairs or groups. However they may roost in groups of up to 7 that include young of the recent and older litters. Adult males and females have individual home ranges and sleeping group associations are usually composed of a female and her offspring. Communicate with a range of vocalisations and also use urine and scent marking. Also, olfaction and visual signaling at a distance of at least 20m. Lorises interact throughout the night and sleep in groups during the daytime. Females with exclusive home ranges, rarely interact with other females except mothers and daughters. Females are more affiliated with males that are in the same sleeping area. Males tend to be more aggressive to other males that are not associated with their sleeping area. However, there is positive interaction with males that are within the sleeping area. The males also tend to infants that are in the sleeping area and sleeping arrangements are the only social behaviour lorises take part in.
Reproduction.
Lorises are found to be promiscuous, multiple males competing for one female for mating. Mating occurs biannually, April–June, and October–December. Although mating occurs twice a year, lorises can only breed once a year. One estrus cycle will fail and another will begin approximately 2 weeks following. Gestation is approximately 170 days. Twins are very common among lorises. The reproductive tract and ovarian cycle reflect the general mammalian plans. As far as lactation, four teats develop and produce milk before the infant is born. After giving birth, females are non-receptive to males and care for their young.
The reproductive rate of the slender loris is among the lowest of any primate under 500g.
Geographic range and habitat.
Found in southern India and Sri Lanka, the gray slender loris inhabits primary and secondary rainforest, dry semi-deciduous forest, and montane cloud forest up to above sea level. It is found in south-western India roughly between the Tapti and Godavari Rivers down to the south coast of the subcontinent. The subspecies are separated geographically. In south-western India, the Malabar gray slender loris occurs in the wet forests of the Western Ghats in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu up to an altitude of . The Mysore gray slender loris inhabits the tropical dry forests of the Eastern Ghats in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, frequenting open "Euphorbia" scrub forests and "Acacia" trees at an altitude of . It can also be found on the dry eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.
Conservation status.
Although considered near threatened on the IUCN Red List and classified under Schedule I (Part 1) of the Indian Wildlife Act, 1972, the threat to these primates is increasing. Loris is used to make love potions, treat leprosy and eye ailments. Some villagers keep lorises as pets, but because they are difficult to maintain there is high mortality. Some cities have them captive in zoos, and astrologers use them to pick out tarot cards.
Food preference for lorises is insects. Farmlands, which are high in cattle waste, produce large amounts of insects. This is ideal for the species and because these animals are competing with humans over food they aren't not afraid of interaction. There is a high interaction occurrence with humans and lorises around cultivated/farmlands. Habitat fragmentation is also a threat to the loris population, as well as loss of acacia trees, which is a preferred tree species for the loris. Conservation efforts are developing and more research on conservation efforts are ongoing.