Rockhopper penguin

The rockhopper penguins are three closely related taxa of crested penguins that have been traditionally treated as a single species and are sometimes split into three species.
Not all experts agree on the classification of these penguins. Some consider all three as distinct species, some split the western and eastern forms into the southern rockhopper penguin and keep the northern rockhopper as distinct, while other experts consider all three potential varieties to be one species.
Appearance.
Rockhopper penguins are among the smaller species of penguin. After reaching full growth, they are about 20 inches or 50 centimetres in height. Males and females cannot be distinguished visually, so a DNA test is conducted by taking a feather from the bird to determine its gender. Like many penguins, rockhopper penguins have a white belly and the rest of their body is black. Some characteristics that differentiate them from the other penguins are their red eyes, orange beak, pink webbed feet, and the yellow and black spiky feathers they have on their head. Although their yellow and black spiky feathers differentiate them from other penguins, rockhopper penguin chicks do not have them; these feathers develop with age. Their orange beak is initially black, but as the penguins get older, their beaks turn orange. Due to the harsh rocky environment, they cannot slide on their bellies like most penguins, so they hop to get from one place to another, hence their name.
Subspecies.
What separates rockhopper penguins into subspecies is their location of reproduction and reproductive behaviors. The difference in mating signals
found between the subspecies "E. chrysocome" (southern) and "E. moseleyi" (northern) seems to have occurred quickly, thus these behavioral changes are enough to isolate these taxa.
Southern rockhopper penguins are split into two subspecies and they are defined by their location of reproduction. The subspecies "E. c. filholi" (eastern) is known to reproduce in the sub-Antarctic around the Prince Edward Islands, Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, Heard Island, Macquarie Island and Campbell, Auckland and Antipodes Islands. The subspecies "E. c. chrysocome", which may be referred to the true southern subspecies, reproduces at offshore islands in southern Chile, Argentina and at the Falkland Islands. The Falkland Islands are known to have one of the largest populations of southern rockhopper penguins.
The subspecies in the group are:
Habitat and distribution.
Northern rockhopper penguins breed in cool temperate climates including on the islands of Gough and Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic Ocean and St. Paul and Manchester in the Indian Ocean. The southern rockhopper breeds on the Falkland Islands, Argentina and Chile, with breeding colonies around Cape Horn in South America, and Gough, Prince Edward, Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard, Macquarie, Champbell, Auckland and Antipodes Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Eastern rockhopper penguins are mostly found breeding on Campbell Island in New Zealand, but their numbers have declined immensely. . Rockhopper penguins usually make their habitat in rocky shorelines. They make nests and burrows in tall grasses called tussocks.
Diet.
The rockhopper penguin's diet consists of krill and small crustaceans, which may include shrimp, crabs, lobsters or crayfish. They also eat squid and myctophid fish. Rockhopper penguins consume more krill than they do fish; their diet changes during migration and as the seasons change. Rockhopper penguins can be at sea for several days while hunting. They can dive up to for many minutes at a time while searching for prey.
Reproduction.
Rockhoppers are the most widespread crested penguins. Their range goes from the Antarctic front to the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Because of how widespread they are, breeding varies among the penguins in different areas. Northern Penguins begin the mating process two months earlier than Southern ones. Two eggs are usually laid a few days apart during early November in hope that at least one will survive, and the second egg is usually larger than the first. They will use the same nest as they did in previous years as well. Eggs hatch about a month later and the mother will have food for the chick.
Taxonomy.
There are currently 19 species and six genera of living penguins. The rockhopper penguin has 3 subspecies: "Eudyptes filholi", the Eastern Rockhopper; "Eudyptes mosleyi", the Northern Rockhopper; and the "Eudyptes chrysocome", the Southern Rockhopper. They are separated by their locations of breeding. There are four other species in the genus "Eudyptes": "E. pachyrhynchus", "E. robustus", "E. chrysolophus", and "E. schlegeli". The three subspecies of the rockhopper penguin are believed to have split up because of latitude and watermasses rather than because of geographic distances. Research suggests that during the early Pleistocene, the Southern Ocean was cold and rockhopper populations from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans remained undifferentiated and lived in the same watermass. The mid-Pleistocene climatic transition was associated with the southward migration of frontal positions and islands became surrounded by subtropical water masses, resulting in a split between Northern and Southern rockhopper penguins. Many advance and retreat cycles of Patagonian icecaps during the late Pleistocene may have created a barrier to gene flow between Southern Pacific and Southern Atlantic populations, causing a split between Southern and Eastern rockhopper populations.
Predators.
Adult Rockhopper penguins have no land-based predators. They are eaten when at sea by leopard seals, fur seals, killer whales and blue sharks. Chicks and eggs are eaten by many birds including giant petrels, skuas, sheathbills and various types of gulls.
Conservation.
Although the rockhopper penguin is one of the world's most numerous penguin populations, it is estimated that the population declined by some 30 percent over the final 30 years of the 20th century. The cause of this decline is mainly unknown, but scientists have speculated that humans are involved, mostly by commercial overfishing, oil exploitation, and pollution. Recent research has shown that rockhopper penguin population declines with changes in ocean surface temperature, indicating a direct impact from climate change. These activities have depleted much of the rockhopper penguin's food supply and raised the sea surface temperatures, and because this species is geographically isolated to the tip of South America and the Falkland Islands and is very sensitive to food web changes, there is little foreseeable opportunity for the penguins to recover.
Oil spills.
An oil spill followed the grounding of the MS "Oliva" off Nightingale Island in 2011, which resulted in thousands of Rockhopper penguins becoming oiled. Oil spills have impacted many penguin species since the conversion of shipping from sail and coal propulsion to liquid-based fuels in the early 20th century.
In films.
Rockhoppers are seen in the films, "The Pebble and the Penguin", "Happy Feet" and "Happy Feet 2", "Surf's Up" and "", and "The Wild".


Plakortis myrae

Plakortis myrae is a species of sea sponge in the order Homosclerophorida, first found in vertical walls of reef caves at depths of about in the Caribbean Sea. This species has diods of two categories: large ones which are abundant (measuring 83–119μm long), and rare small ones (measuring 67–71μm long) with S-shaped centres; triods which are Y- or T-shaped (measuring 18–5μm long), and possesses abundant microrhabds (measuring 5–12μm long).


Geodia composita

Geodia composita is a species of sponge in the family Geodiidae. The species was first described by Bösraug in 1913. It is found off the coasts of Mozambique.


Pseudoceros bifurcus

Pseudoceros bifurcus is a marine flatworm species that belongs to the family Pseudocerotidae.
Common name.
Racing stripe flatworm, orange-band flatworm, orange tipped flatworm.
Distribution.
Tropical Indo-Pacific, from eastern coast of Africa to Micronesia.
Habitat.
Internal slope or top from coral reef.
Size.
Up to .
Physical characteristics.
"Dorsal surface with a background varying from green-bluish to cream with an intense purple margin without forming a distinctive marginal band. There is orange elongated spot beginning at the cerebral eyespot fading into a white median stripe that ends close to the posterior margin. Cream pseudotentacles formed by simple folds of the anterior margin with numerous ocella. A single cerebral cluster formed by about 30 eyes. Pharynx with elaborated folds."
Behavior.
Benthic, diurnals, because of its aposematic colors, it has no fear to crawl around to feed.


Tectorial membrane of atlanto-axial joint

The tectorial membrane of atlanto-axial joint (occipitoaxial ligaments) is situated within the vertebral canal.
It is a broad, strong band which covers the dens of the axis, and its ligaments, and appears to be a prolongation upward of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the vertebral column.
It is fixed, below, to the posterior surface of the body of the axis, and, expanding as it ascends, is attached to the basilar groove of the occipital bone, in front of the foramen magnum, where it blends with the cranial dura mater.
Its anterior surface is in relation with the transverse ligament of the atlas, and its posterior surface with the dura mater.


Ancorina

Ancorina is a genus of sea sponges belonging to the family Ancorinidae. It is the type genus of its family.
This genus is characterized by a high density of siliceous spicules. Members of this genus are known to be eaten by hawksbill turtles.
Species.
The following species are recognised in the genus "Ancorina":


Phascolionidae

Phascolionidae is a family of peanut worms.


Bathydiscus

Bathydiscus is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It lived during the Botomian stage.
Distribution.
"Bathydiscus" is known from the Lower Cambrian of the United States (unnamed formation, East Chatham Quad, Columbia County, New York State ), and of Canada (Newfoundland).
Ecology.
"Bathydiscus " occurs in association with other Weymouthiidae ("Acidiscus", "Acimetopus", "Analox", "Bolboparia", "Leptochilodiscus", "Serrodiscus"), "Calodiscus",
several species of "Olenellus" and "Bonnia" (Dorypygidae).


Reproduction and vocalization in midshipman fish

Reproduction and vocalization in midshipman fish are closely interlinked. Mating in midshipman fish depends on auditory communication, the production and reception of sound signals. Males produce several different vocalizations, while females only make grunts in non-breeding situations.
Calling.
Typical Type I male calls are divided into short grunts that last for milliseconds or are produced in a series of grunts called a "grunt train", mid-duration growls, and long duration advertisement hums that can last up to an hour. These calls can be recorded naturally. They can also be produced in a laboratory, a procedure known as "fictive calling". In nature, two muscles contracting on the swim bladder produce these sounds. In the laboratory, sounds are produced by a stimulating electrode placed on the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and a recording electrode placed on the occipital nerve that leads to the sonic muscles of the fish.
Steroid mediation.
The vocalizations of male midshipman fish are androgen and estradiol steroid mediated. There are high blood levels of these hormones during the transition from non-calling to calling before midshipman breeding season, suggesting that higher hormone levels are needed for making advertisement calls. Feeding 11-ketotestosterone coated scallops to toadfish increases their calling behavior, which identifies 11-ketotestosterone, an androgen hormone, as a mediator of midshipman fish vocalization. There are also high levels of aromatase, an estrogen-generating enzyme, in the hindbrain vocal motor region. Estradiol steroids and their receptors are present in the same areas already concluded to be involved in male midshipman calling.
There are three genders of midshipman fish: females, type I males, and type II males. Type I and type II males have different reproductive strategies, and can be distinguished from each other based on physical characteristics. Type I males are eight times larger in body mass, and have much larger vocal organs. Type II males’ reproductive organs are seven times larger in size than those of type I males. Female and type II male midshipman fish can be distinguished from each other by the female's slightly larger size, and the type II male midshipman's large reproductive organs.
The three genders of midshipman fish have different steroid-mediated reproductive behaviors. Type I territorial males use vocalizations via paired muscles in the swimming bladder to attract females, while type II males invest in larger reproductive organs. Type II males then “sneak” into nests because they look much like females and fertilize laid eggs. This behavior is referred to as cuckoldry or satellite-spawning. Type II males and females are incapable of long duration calls. 11-Ketotestosterone is the major steroid present in Type I males’ vocalization systems, while Type 2 males’ and females’ vocalizations are primarily mediated by testosterone. The specific mechanisms by which these steroids act are still unknown.
The sounds produced by male midshipman fish cause reproductive females to develop a hormone-mediated selective sensitivity to this sound, and they respond by laying eggs in the rock nest of a singing male. This selective sensitivity to higher frequency correlates to increased levels of testosterone and estradiol.
Neuron connectivity.
The neuronal pathway for midshipman vocalization starts at the ventral medullary nucleus and continues to a hindbrain vocal pattern generator, which contains both pre-pacemaker and pacemaker nuclei. For each action potential fired in their vocal pattern generator, there is exactly one sonic motor neuron that fires, and there is exactly one sound pulse. The two motor nuclei fire in phase in toadfish, leading to the paired contraction of the sonic muscles.
The duration of calls is controlled by the pre-pacemaker neurons in the hindbrain. The duration is encoded by a long depolarization of these pre-pacemaker neurons. Exposing pacemaker neurons to different levels of the anesthetic lidocaine alters the duration of the calls, but not the frequency Pacemaker neurons code for the frequency of signals using "ultrafast" rhythmic oscillations in membrane potential. As midbrain stimulus increased, the oscillations increased in amplitude.
Implications for humans.
Although midshipman fish have been known to wake houseboat owners, research surrounding their vocalizations could be beneficial to humans. Midshipman fish are model organisms for studying both human speech and hearing. Recently, it was found that midshipman fish can decrease their own hearing sensitivity by stiffening their inner ear hair cells while they are vibrating their calling muscles. This behavior is also found in bats, and may lead to an understanding a similar mechanism humans use to turn down their ear sensitivity to retain their hearing longer. There are conserved patterns of vocal, auditory, and neuroendocrine mechanisms between teleosts and tetrapods, which include midshipman fish and humans, respectively. This model organisms’ simple system could lead to a deeper understanding of human speech and auditory pathways. This evolutionary connection could be important in modern medicine because these fish have homologous brain structures to humans. An example is for patients with lesions in the brain that become mute after having a stroke.
On August 9, 1974, composer Charlie Morrow performed a concert for fish using what he understood to be decoded toadfish language, similar to his decoded field peeper language. Morrow observed that choruses of multiple toadfish shift leadership based on call and response by strong individuals. He notated the patterns for human performance, in one version numbering each individual for identification and spatial location. The night before, Richard Nixon resigned as U.S. president. Major media covered the concert. New York Times music critic, John Rockwell, wrote a review with the headline, "Fish Silent".
Brain-behavior relationship.
Midshipman fish have two forms of males: the nest-building Type I and "sneaker male" or "satellite male" Type II. Type I males attract females to their nests with their humming, coax them to lay eggs, and guard them. In contrast, Type II males do not build nests or attract females on their own. Instead, they sneak up to the Type I's nests and deposit their eggs. These behavioral differences can be seen in the differences in the structure and function of the nervous system.
Morph-specific vocal behavior.
Neurons and Muscles.
Type I males and Type II males and females grow along different growth paths when it comes to neurons and muscles that determine morph-specific vocal behavior. For Type I males, for example, sexual maturation is preceded by growth of the mate-calling circuit and sonic muscle. Specifically, before the transformation from juvenile to type I male, the size of the motoneurons and volume of the sonic motor nucleus increases twofold and the number of sonic muscle fibers increases fourfold. At the start of sexual maturation, the motoneurons increase in size again, although not as much as before. The pacemaker neurons also increase in size at this time but not as much as the motoneurons in general. The sonic muscle also increases fivefold in the size of muscle fibers. In contrast, there is little dramatic change seen before the transformation from juvenile to type II male or adult female. In fact, the vocal neurons and muscles change little or not at all.
Hormones.
Differences between the reproductive strategies of Type I and Type II are also reflected in hormonal differences during sexual maturation. The three different morphs – Type I, Type II, and females – also produce different levels of various hormones. Type II males produce the highest levels of testosterone, followed by females and then Type I males. Females only have estrogen in the form of 17β-estradiol but at much lower levels than testosterone.
Type I males also have five times more 11-ketotestoterone, which is a form of testosterone common to teleosts, than type II males and females. 11-ketotestosterone is likely to be more potent than testosterone in supporting courtship behaviors such as humming.


Ooperipatus caesius

Ooperipatus caesius is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatopsidae family. It is found in Victoria, Australia.


Australian Bird Study Association

The Australian Bird Study Association (ABSA) was first formed as the Bird Banders Association in 1962 of a group of people interested in bird-banding and other aspects of field ornithology in Australia.
Since its inception, it has published a journal. Originally entitled "Australian Bird Bander", the journal has been published under the title "Corella" since 1977.


Juliane Koepcke

Juliane Koepcke (born 10 October 1954), also known by her married name Juliane Diller, is a German Peruvian mammalogist.
As a teenager in 1971, Koepcke was the sole survivor of the LANSA Flight 508 plane crash, then survived ten days alone in the Amazon rainforest. She survived a fall of 3,000 meters (9,843 feet), still strapped to her seat.
Early life.
Koepcke was born in Lima, Peru, in 1954 to German parents who worked at the Museum of Natural History, Lima. She was the only child of biologist Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke and ornithologist Maria Koepcke. When Koepcke was fourteen, her parents left Lima to establish Panguana, a research station in the Amazon rainforest. She became a "jungle child" and learned survival techniques. Educational authorities disapproved and Koepcke was required to return to the Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt to take her examinations. She graduated on 23 December 1971.
Crash.
Koepcke was about to graduate from high school. Her mother Maria had wanted to return to Panguana with her daughter on 19 or 20 December 1971, but Koepcke wished to attend her graduation ceremony on 23 December. Maria agreed for Koepcke to stay longer and instead they scheduled a flight on Christmas Eve. All flights were booked, aside from one with Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S.A. (LANSA). Her father Hans-Wilhelm urged his wife to avoid flying with the airline, which had a poor reputation. They booked the flight, nonetheless.
The LANSA Lockheed L-188 Electra OB-R-941 commercial airliner was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm and broke-up in mid-air, disintegrating above the ground. Koepcke, still strapped onto her seat, survived the fall to earth, suffering a broken collarbone, a gash to her left leg and her right arm, and her right eye was swollen shut. "I was definitely strapped in it [the airplane seat] when I fell," she said later. "It must have turned and buffered the crash; otherwise I wouldn't have survived." Koepcke's first priority was to find her mother, who had been seated next to her, but her search proved unsuccessful. She would later learn that her mother initially had survived the crash also, only to die of her injuries a few days later.
Surviving on sweets she found at the site, Koepcke waded downstream through knee-high water, as her father had taught her that tracking downstream should eventually lead to civilization. After ten days, she found a boat moored near a small shelter. She poured gasoline from the fuel tank on her wounds to clear them of maggots and spent the night in the shelter. Koepcke said: "I remained there but I wanted to leave. I didn't want to take the boat because I didn't want to steal it." The next morning, a small group of local fishermen discovered her and brought her to their village. The following day, a local pilot volunteered to fly her to a hospital in Pucallpa, where she was reunited with her father.
After recovering from her injuries Koepcke assisted search parties in locating the crash site and recovering the bodies of victims. Her mother's body was discovered on 12 January 1972.
Aftermath.
Koepcke's unlikely survival has been the subject of much speculation. It is known that she was belted into her seat and thus somewhat shielded and cushioned, but it also has been theorized that the outer seats of the row—those on each side of Koepcke, which remained attached to hers as part of a row of three—functioned as a parachute and slowed her fall. The impact may have been lessened further by a thunderstorm updraft and the thick foliage at her landing site.
Koepcke moved to Germany, where she fully recovered from her injuries. Like her parents, she studied biology at the University of Kiel and graduated in 1980. She received a doctorate from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and returned to Peru to conduct research in mammalogy, specializing in bats. Koepcke published her thesis, "Ecological study of a bat colony in the tropical rain forest of Peru", in 1987.
Now known as Juliane Diller, she serves as librarian at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich. Her autobiography, "When I Fell from the Sky" (), was released on 10 March 2011 by Piper Verlag, for which she received the Corine Literature Prize in 2011. In 2019, the government of Peru awarded her the Order of Merit for Distinguished Services, in the degree of Grand Officer.
Portrayal in films.
Having been widely reported, Koepcke's experience is the subject of a feature-length fictional film and a documentary. The first was the low-budget, heavily fictionalized, "I miracoli accadono ancora" (1974) by Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Maria Scotese; it was released in English as "Miracles Still Happen" (1974) and sometimes is called "The Story of Juliane Koepcke". In that film, she was portrayed by British actress Susan Penhaligon.
Twenty-five years later, director Werner Herzog revisited the story in his film "Wings of Hope" (1998). While location scouting for "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" in 1971, Herzog would have been on the same flight as Koepcke, had it not been for a last-minute change of his itinerary. Koepcke accompanied him on a visit to the crash site, a journey she described as "a kind of therapy" for her.


Gualtherus Carel Jacob Vosmaer

Gualtherus Carel Jacob Vosmaer (Oud-Beijerland, August 19, 1854 - Leiden, September 23, 1916 ) was a Dutch zoologist.
Biography.
GCJ Vosmaer was born in 1854 in Oud-Beijerland, where his father, the poet and critic Carel Vosmaer was then a clerk at the subdistrict court. He studied in The Hague and subsequently at the University of Leiden, where he obtained his doctorate in 1880 with a thesis on sponges (""Leucandra aspera" and the Canal System of Sponges"). In 1882 he became Anton Dohrn's assistant at his zoological station in Naples. In 1889 he returned to the Netherlands and became assistant to Professor Ambrosius Hubrecht in Utrecht. Later he became a private teacher and lecturer in Utrecht and in 1904 he became professor of zoology in Leiden.
Work.
Vosmaer was a specialist in the field of sponges, describing many species. In Naples he examined the sponges in the Bay of Naples.  He also described the sponges collected during the "Willem Barents" expedition to the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean in 1880-1881  and during the Siboga expedition of 1899-1900.
The genus "Vosmaeropsis" is named for him.


Vein of bulb of penis

The vein of bulb of penis is a tributary of the internal pudendal vein.


Belgian Ringbeater

The Belgian Ringbeater is a breed of fancy pigeon. Belgian Ringbeaters, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the rock pigeon ("Columba livia").


Catch connective tissue

Catch connective tissue (also called mutable collagenous tissue) is a kind of connective tissue found in echinoderms (such as starfish and sea cucumbers) which can change its mechanical properties in a few seconds or minutes through nervous control rather than by muscular means.
Connective tissue, including dermis, tendons and ligaments, is one of four main animal tissues. Usual connective tissue does not change its stiffness except in the slow process of aging. Catch connective tissue, however, shows rapid, large and reversible stiffness changes in response to stimulation under nervous control. This connective tissue is specific to echinoderms in which it works in posture maintenance and mechanical defense with low energy expenditure, and in body fission and autotomy. The stiffness changes of this tissue are due to the changes in the stiffness of extracellular materials. The small amount of muscle cells that are sometimes found scattered in this tissue has little influence on the stiffness-change mechanisms.
Tissue distribution.
Catch connective tissue is found in all the extant classes of echinoderms.
Early echinoderms were sessile organisms that fed on suspended particles carried by water currents. Their body was covered with imbricate small skeletal plates. The arrangement of plates suggests that plates worked as sliding joints so as animals to be able to change their body shape: they could possibly take an extended feeding posture and a flat "hiding" posture. The body plates might be connected with catch connective tissue that allowed early echinoderms such postural changes.
Mechanism of stiffness changes.
Detailed mechanical properties and their changes have been studied only in sea-cucumber dermis. Its mechanical properties are determined by the extracellular materials that are made of collagen fibrils embedded in a hydrogel of proteoglycans. The dermis takes 3 mechanical states soft (S1), standard (S2) and stiff (S3).Animals without stimulation takes the standard state S2. Different molecular mechanisms of stiffening have been found in the transition S1→S2 and in the transition S2→S3. Three proteins that cause stiffness changes have been isolated from sea cucumbers. Tensilin causes the change S1→S2 increasing cohesive forces between collagens, whereas softenin causes the change in the reverse direction; NSF induces S2→S3. There are cross bridges between collagen fibrils. The number of bridges increases in the order S1<S2<S3.
Nervous control.
The mechanical states of catch connective tissue are under nervous control and thus we can regard this tissue as one of neutrally controlled mechano-effectors such as muscles. It is found in the sea-urchin spine joints that the stiffness of catch connective tissue changes in the coordinated manner with the muscle contractions. One of the characteristic cells found in catch connective tissue is juxtaligamental cells containing secretory granules. These cells are supposed to contain proteins controlling stiffness of extracellular materials. When stained with the antibody specific to echinoderm nerves sea-cucumber body wall is supplied with immunoreactive fine fibers running among the collagen fibrils. Pharmacological experiments suggested the presence of two types of cholinergic systems, one is the nicotinic one involved in the dermal stiffening and the other is the muscarinic one involved in softening. Cholinergic nerves seem to control the secretory activities of juxtaligamental cells. The presence of the cholinergic system was supported by the neuropeptide stichopin that inhibits the action of stiffening cholinergic systems. Stichopin is one of four new peptides in the dermis of sea cucumbers. Other ones are the neuropeptide NGIWYamide that stiffens the dermis and two holokinins that soften the dermis. The nerves containing these neuropeptides possibly control the secretory activities of juxtaligamental cells.


Biology of Diptera

Diptera is an order of winged insects commonly known as flies. Diptera, which are one of the most successful groups of organisms on Earth, are very diverse biologically. None are truly marine but they occupy virtually every terrestrial niche. Many have co-evolved in association with plants and animals. The Diptera are a very significant group in the decomposition and degeneration of plant and animal matter, are instrumental in the breakdown and release of nutrients back into the soil, and whose larvae supplement the diet of higher agrarian organisms. They are also an important component in food chains.
The applied significance of the Diptera is as disease vectors, as agricultural pests, as pollinators and as biological control agents.
Habitats.
Diptera occur all over the world except in regions with permanent ice-cover. They are found in most land biomes (all 14 WWF major habitat types) including deserts and the tundra. Insects are the most diverse group of Arctic animals (about 3,300species), of which about 50% are Diptera.
Palearctic habitats include meadows, prairies, mountain passes, forests, desert oases, seashores, sandy beaches, coastal lagoons, lakes, streams and rivers, bogs, fens, areas (including waters polluted by rotting waste, industrial emissions), urban areas, cattle, horse and poultry farms.
Cave Diptera.
see also List of fauna of Batu Caves
The Diptera fauna of caves includes species in Sphaeroceridae, Mycetophilidae, Psychodidae, Phoridae, Tipulidae, Trichoceridae, Heleomyzidae, Mycetophilidae and Culicidae. The main sources of food for cave Diptera are other insects, carrion and guano. Most are perhaps only troglophiles.
Desert Diptera.
Desert diptera include specialised species of Psychodidae, Nemestrinidae, Therevidae, Scenopinidae and Bombyliidae. These groups are most diverse where dry sandy soils provide a suitable habitat for the larvae.
Freshwater Diptera.
Larval stages of Diptera can be found in almost any aquatic or semiaquatic habitat They form an important fraction of the macro zoobenthos of most freshwater ecosystems. families are Chironomidae (very significant), Stratiomyidae, Ephydridae, Dixidae and Tipulidae.
Feeding.
Food habits of most species are largely unknown but broad statements may be made. Diptera are important pollinators and plant pests.
Detritivores.
Many Diptera are detritivores. Typical are "Dryomyza anilis" and, notably, "Musca domestica".
Flower feeders.
Many adult Brachycera feed on flowers notably Syrphidae which obtain all their protein requirements by feeding on pollen. The Calyptratae exhibit flower feeding in all families except Hippoboscidae Nycterebidae and Glossinidae and in the Acalyptratae the Conopidae are well known flower feeders. Other flower feeding Brachycerous families are Empididae, Stratiomyidae and the Acroceridae like various members of the Nemestrinidae, Bombyliidae and Tabanidae are nectar feeders with exceptionally long proboscises, sometimes longer than the entire bodily length of the insect. Flower feeding Nematocera include Bibionidae and some species in Tipulidae and other families.
Predators.
Adult Asilidae, Empididae and Scathophagidae feed on other insects, including smaller Diptera, Dolichopodidae and some Ephydridae feed on a variety of animal prey.
Both male and female mosquitoes feed on nectar and plant juices, but in many species the mouthparts of the females are adapted for piercing the skin of animal hosts and feed on blood as ectoparasites. The most important function of blood meals is to obtain proteins as materials for egg production. For females to risk their lives on blood sucking while males abstain, is not a strategy limited to the mosquitoes; it also occurs in some other families, such as the Tabanidae. Most female horse flies feed on mammal blood, but some species are known to feed on birds, amphibians or reptiles. Other bloodfeeding Diptera are Ceratopogonidae Phlebotominae Hippoboscidae, "Hydrotaea" and "Philornis downsi" (Muscidae), "Spaniopsis" and "Symphoromyia" Rhagionidae. There are no known acalyptrates that are obligate blood-feeders.
Larvae.
The larvae of Diptera feed on a diverse array of nutrients ; often these are different from those of adults, for instance the larvae of Syrphidae in which family the adults are flower-feeding are saprotrophs, eating decaying plant or animal matter, or insectivores, eating aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.
Larval Diptera feed in leaf-litter, in leaves, stems, roots, flower and seed heads of plants, moss, fungi, rotting wood, rotting fruit or other organic matter such as slime, flowing sap, and rotting cacti, carrion, dung, detritus in mammal bird or wasp nests, fine organic material including insect frass and micro-organisms. Many Diptera larvae are predatory, sometimes on the larvae of other Diptera.
Many Agromyzidae are leaf miners. Some Tephritidae are leaf miners or gall formers.
The larvae of all Oestridae oestrids are obligate parasites of mammals. (Oestridae include the highest proportion of species whose larvae live as obligate parasites within the bodies of mammals. Most other species prone to cause myiasis are members of related families, such as the Calliphoridae. There are roughly 150 known species worldwide.) Tachinidae larvae are parasitic on other insects. Conopidae larvae are endoparasites of bees and wasps or of cockroaches and calyptrate Diptera, Pyrgotidae larvae are endoparasites of adult scarab beetles. Sciomyzidae larvae are exclusively associated with freshwater and terrestrial snails, or slugs. They feed on snails as predators, parasitoids, or scavengers. Females search out snails for oviposition. Known Odiniidae larvae live in the tunnels of wood-boring larvae of Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and other Diptera and function as scavengers or predators of the host larvae. "Oedoparena" larvae feed on barnacles. The larvae of Acroceridae and some Bombyliidae are hypermetamorphic.
Milichiidae especially "Pholeomyia" and "Milichiella" Milichiidae are kleptoparasites of predatory invertebrates, and accordingly are commonly known as freeloader flies or jackal flies.
Ant associates.
Stylogastrines are obligate associates of some Orthoptera, other Diptera and ants. These flies typically use army ants' raiding columns to flush out their prey, ground-dwelling Orthoptera. Many species of Phoridae are specialist parasitoids of ants, but there are also species in the tropics that are parasitoids of stingless bees. These affected bees are often host to more than one fly larva and some individuals have been found to contain 12 phorid larvae.
The subfamily Microdontinae contains slightly more than 400 species of hoverflies (family Syrphidae) and, while diverse, these species share several characteristics by which they differ from other syrphids. The Microdontinae are myrmecophiles, meaning they live in the nests of ants. Larval Microdontinae are scavengers or predators in ant nests.
Adults of many species of the genus "Bengalia" are kleptoparasitic on ants and will snatch food and pupae being carried by ants or feed on winged termites.
Swarms.
Swarm-based mating systems typically involve males flying in swarms to attract patrolling females. Such swarms are often of immense size. Smaller swarms may be around a fixed point called a swarm marker. Swarming occurs in Chironomidae, Bibionidae, Platypezidae, Limoniidae, "Thaumatomyia notata", "Sepsis fulgens", Bibionidae, Platypezidae, Fanniidae, Coelopidae, Milichiidae and Trichoceridae. Chaoboridae form larval as well as adult swarms.
Mimicry.
Many Diptera are mimetic. An instance is Syrphidae often are brightly coloured, with spots, stripes, and bands of yellow or brown covering their bodies. Due to this colouring, and sometimes behaviour patterns, they are often mistaken for wasps or bees; they exhibit Batesian mimicry. The wing pattern of the sciomyzid"Trypetoptera punctulata" is very similar to some Tephritidae, and might, in fact, mimic the colour pattern of some spiders
There are several fly species that look like an ant. At least one species from the little studied Richardiidae genus Sepsisoma mimic ants, particularly the formicine ant Camponotus crassus.
Several species of Micropezidae (stilt-legged flies) resemble ants (especially the wingless, haltere-less "Badisis ambulans"), as do species in the genus "Strongylophthalmyia" and "Syringogaster"..Mydidae are mimics of stinging
Hymenoptera.
Behaviour.
Flies give visual (as distinct from chemical or other) signals during courtship.
Sexual selection and Courtship.
Many Diptera exhibit sexual selection and several patterns of sexual shape dimorphism, such as male body elongation, eye stalks, or extensions of the exoskeleton, have evolved repeatedly in the true flies (Diptera). "Phytalmia mouldsi" uses a resource defense mating system. "Deuterophlebia" males have extremely long antennae which they employ when contesting territories over running water, waiting for females to hatch.
Families of acalyptrate flies exhibiting morphological development associated with agonistic behaviour include: Clusiidae, Diopsidae, Drosophilidae, Platystomatidae, Tephritidae and Ulidiidae.
Some Empididae have an elaborate courtship ritual in which the male wraps a prey item in silk and presents it to the female to stimulate copulation.
Many observed behaviours remain unstudied.
Bioluminescence.
Around a dozen Keroplatidae species and "Orfelia fultoni" are unique among flies in displaying bioluminescence. In some species this is restricted to the larval stage but in others this feature is retained by the pupae and adults. It has been suggested that the ability to produce their own light is used by some predatory larvae as a lure for potential prey, although it also obviously makes themselves more susceptible to predation or parasitism.


Boyd Alexander

Lieutenant Boyd Alexander (16 January 1873 – 2 April 1910) was an English British Army officer, explorer and ornithologist.
Boyd was the oldest son (with a twin brother) of Lt Colonel Boyd Francis Alexander. On his mother's side he was the grandson of David Wilson the founder of the Great Eastern Hotel in Calcutta. He was born at Swifts Park at Cranbrook in Kent and educated at Radley and Sandhurst.
Alexander was commissioned in a Militia battalion of the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), and in October 1900 took up a commission in a regular battalion of that regiment. Promotion to lieutenant followed on 22 January 1902.
During 1902 he visited the Gold Coast Colony, where he made an ornithological survey of that colony, and in September that year he left for the Bonin Islands to investigate their avifauna.
Lieutenant Alexander was a member of an expedition which travelled across Africa from the Niger to the Nile, exploring the Lake Chad area. Alexander was accompanied by his brother Claud, Captain G. B. Gosling and Portuguese collector José Lopes. In February 1904 they set off from the mouth of the Niger, travelling upriver to Lokoja. Claud died in October of enteric fever after making a survey of the Murchison Range. Boyd and Gosling explored the area around Lake Chad. Gosling died in June 1906 at Niangara of blackwater fever. Boyd then followed the River Kibali, reaching the Nile late in the year and returning to England in February 1907. Alexander's account "From The Niger To The Nile" was published later that year. In 1908 he was awarded the Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society "for his three years' journey across Africa from the Niger to the Nile."
He described Willcocks's honeyguide on the basis of a specimen obtained on his 1901 expedition along the Volta river. His enthusiasm for Lake Chad was such that he and his twin brother Robert had an exact replica of Lake Chad made alongside their family home "The Swifts" at Cranbrook.
Alexander and Lopes sailed back to Africa in 1909. They visited Claud's grave at Maifoni in Bornu and then continued to Ouadai. Boyd was killed in a dispute with locals near Nyeri. His body was recovered by French soldiers and buried next to his brother in Maifoni.


Anthopleura hermaphroditica

Anthopleura hermaphroditica, also known as the small brown sea anemone, is a small anemone about 10 mm wide in diameter and very brown in colour. It is native to the waters around Chile and New Zealand. The brownish tinge of its outer surface makes it much harder to distinguish and find unlike some of the other sea anemones. This particular class of anemone can be seen under water as a small brown ring in soft fine sediment and slightly submerged.
This brown anemone has quite a high tolerance to changes in salinity and to a high concentration of organic matter in the water.
Feeding.
The small brown anemone feeds on plankton and small animals.
Habitat.
The small brown anemone is distributed throughout estuaries in current-free areas. They all usually found attached to cockles who with they form a commensal relationship as the anemone gets protection and the cockle becomes more camouflaged and so can hide better from predators such as the mud flat whelk ("Cominella glandiformis") or sea gulls.
Reproduction.
Fertilization is external and the zygote develops into a pear-shaped planula which attaches to rocks or solid substrate and develops into a young adult.


Chromatoid body

A chromatoid body is a dense structure in the cytoplasm of male germ cells. It is composed mainly of RNAs and RNA-binding proteins and is thus a type of RNP granule. Chromatoid body-like granules first appear in spermatocytes and condense into a single granule in round spermatids. The structure disappears again when spermatids start to elongate. The chromatoid body is crucial for spermatogenesis but its exact role in the process is not known. However, due to similarities with RNP granules found in somatic cells – such as stress granules and processing bodies – chromatoid body is thought to be involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. As chromatoid body is significantly bigger than other known RNP granules it is seen even with light microscopy and was discovered already in 1876 by A. von Brunn.


Albert Tullgren

Hugo Albert Tullgren (7 September 1874, in Stockholm – 1 July 1958) was a Swedish entomologist and arachnologist.
In 1899 he received his bachelor's degree from Uppsala University, then from 1902 worked as an assistant at the National Entomological Institute. From 1907 he was associated with the entomology department of the "Centralanstalten för försöksväsendet på jordbruksområdet" (Central Institute for Experimental Agriculture), of which, he became a professor in 1913.
The jumping spider genus "Tullgrenella" was named in his honor by Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão. The eponymous "Tullgren funnel" is a modified Berlese funnel, a device used to extract small insects and arthropods from soil samples.


Occipital branch of posterior auricular artery

The occipital branch of posterior auricular artery passes backward, over the Sternocleidomastoideus, to the scalp above and behind the ear. It supplies the Occipitalis and the scalp in this situation and anastomoses with the occipital artery.


Prolagus imperialis

Prolagus imperialis was an extinct species in the genus "Prolagus". It was one of the species in this genus that were recently discovered. Prolagus imperialis may have resembled a pika.
Nomenclature.
"Prolagus imperialis" was named after Poggio Imperiale, the place where its fossils were discovered. Its name might mean "first rabbit of Poggio Imperiale".
Size.
"Prolagus imperialis" is larger than the species which was discovered along with it, "Prolagus apricenicus". Also, "Prolagus imperialis" is the largest of all Prolagidae, weighing about 5 kilograms.


Novechiniscus armadilloides

Novechiniscus armadilloides is a species of terrestrial tardigrades. It is the only species of the genus Novechiniscus, which belongs to the family Echiniscidae. The species is endemic to the United States in the state of Utah.
The species was first described by Robert O. Schuster in 1975 as "Parechiniscus armadilloides". It was placed in its own genus "Novechiniscus" by Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen in 1987.


Ced-9

Cell death abnormality gene 9 ("CED-9"), also known as apoptosis regulator "CED-9", is a gene found in "Caenorhabditis elegans" that inhibits/represses programmed cell death (apoptosis). The gene was discovered while searching for mutations in the apoptotic pathway after the discovery of the apoptosis promoting genes "CED-3" and "CED-4". The gene gives rise to the apoptosis regulator CED-9 protein found as an Integral membrane protein in the mitochondrial membrane. The protein is homologous to the human apoptotic regulator Bcl-2 as well as all other proteins in the Bcl-2 protein family. CED-9 is involved in the inhibition of CED-4 which is the activator of the CED-3 caspase. Because of the pathway homology with humans as well as the specific protein homology, "CED-9" has been used to represent the human cell apoptosis interactions of Bcl-2 in research.
Discovery.
The "CED-9" gene was discovered in 1992 while searching the genome of "C. elegans" for mutations affecting cell death. The first mutation identified was a dominant gain of function mutation referred to as n1950 that allowed cells to survive when they were fated to die. The observed phenotype was similar to that observed in "CED-3" and "CED-4" loss of function mutants (known proteins from the apoptotic pathway). It was also observed that loss of function mutations in "CED-3" and "CED-4" were able to rescue cells with a "CED-9" loss of function mutation. These observations suggested that CED-9 functioned upstream of the CED-3 and CED-4 proteins in the same pathway.
Structure.
Gene.
The "CED-9" gene is located on chromosome 3 of the "C. elegans" genome. "CED-9" is transcribed from a polycistronic locus that also contains genes required for the mitochondrial Oxidative phosphorylation. The "CED-9" gene has been identified in two distinct transcripts, both transcribed from this locus. The first was identified as a 1.3 kb transcript encoding only the "CED-9" sequence. The second being a rare 2.1 kb bicistronic transcript containing the 1.3 kb transcript and an additional 0.75 kb transcript from an upstream gene found in the gene locus. this 0.75 kb transcript corresponds to the cytochrome protein "cyt-1" that functions in the electron transport chain within the mitochondria. The bicistronic transcript is then spliced giving rise to the two distinct mature messenger RNA (mRNA) for both genes. The most prevalent transcript however, is the 1299-nucleotide (~1.3kb) long transcript that encodes an 843-nucleotide mRNA containing 4 exons.
Protein.
"CED-9" encodes the apoptosis regulator CED-9 protein which is an important negative regulator protein in the apoptosis pathway of "C. elegans". The protein consists of 280 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 31824.42 Da. The structure of this protein has been solved using X-ray diffraction revealing 9 Helices, 2 Beta strands, and 2 turn motifs. The CED-9 protein belongs to the Bcl-2-like protein family. This refers to the homology between the ced-9 protein and the B-cell lymphoma proteins (Bcl) found in humans, specifically the Bcl-2 protein. CED-9 contains a BCL domain homologous to Bcl-2 domains BH1, BH2, and part of BH3 as well as a separate domain homologous to BH4 located near the N-terminus. CED-9 also includes a transmembrane domain on the C-terminal end of the structure that anchors the protein to the mitochondrial membrane. However, research shown that the C-terminal domain is not necessary for the protein's main function as an inhibitor of the CED-4 protein found in the same apoptosis signalling pathway.
Function.
Cell death, or apoptosis during early development is crucial for the correct morphology and refractivity of adult "C. elegans". This process involves a signal and interaction cascade of proteins leading to the engulfment and death of the targeted cell. Proteins in this cascade can be categorized into two groups; pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic. Pro-apoptotic proteins activate the apoptosis pathway while anti-apoptotic proteins suppress the pathway. CED-9 is classified as an anti-apoptotic protein.
Apoptosis in "C. elegans" is often simplified to interactions between four major proteins in the pathway; EGL-1, CED-9, CED-4, and CED-3. CED-3 is the final protease in the interaction network and is responsible for activating the proteins involved in cell disassembly. CED-9 is said to protect cells from the apoptosis pathway. Under normal conditions, in a cell not experiencing apoptotic signalling, CED-9 forms a complex with CED-4 at the membrane of the mitochondria. This interaction sequesters the pro-apoptotic signalling of CED-4. CED-4 consists of an asymmetric dimer of CED-4a and CED-4b proteins in which CED-9 can specifically recognize and bind CED-4a. This interaction is a highly specific recognition and binding interaction between the N-terminal tails of both proteins. When the cell receives an apoptotic signal via a receptor commonly referred to as a "death receptor", the protein EGL-1 is activated. The active EGL-1 binds CED-9 causing a Conformational change that interrupts and inhibits the CED-9 - CED-4 interaction. CED-4 is free to dissociate and activate the CED-3 protease effectively triggering the final stages for apoptosis.
Mutations.
The cells developed during embryogenesis and early life in "C. elegans" have one of two fates, to live and differentiate or apoptose. Apoptosis during development is highly regulated and only occurs in specific cells at specific times. Every cell division and cell death in the development of "C. elegans" from embryo to adult has been studied and documented to reveal a fixed pattern between individual organisms. Apoptosis during development is important for the proper morphology and refractivity of C. elegans, but it is not always essential for survival. Thus, over 100 mutations have been observed and documented as affecting the apoptotic pathway of "C. elegans". Many proteins involved in the interaction cascade were discovered because of these mutations and their resulting phenotype. "CED-9" mutants are among the mutations that affect this pathway. "CED-9" gain of function mutations are unresponsive to apoptosis signalling and allow cells fated to die, to survive. A notable example of a "CED-9" dominant gain of function mutation would be the "n1950" mutation which was the first mutation documented for "CED-9" and responsible for the gene's discovery. Loss of function mutations cause inappropriate cell death in the absence of apoptosis stimuli. Mutations in "CED-9" also reveal its maternal effect; where the genotype of the mother determines the phenotype of the progeny. Homozygous, loss of function mutants from a heterozygous mother experience some unpredictable cell death, however, give rise to unviable progeny themselves.
Significance.
The apoptotic pathway has been conserved in evolutionary history and is vital for the maintenance of multicellular organisms such as humans. A parallel pathway to the one found in "C. elegans" is also observed in mammals involving a number of homologous proteins. Disruptions to this pathway often lead to diseases that, in humans, include various cancers, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative disease. "Bcl-2" in particular is often found mutated in many human cancers. Due to the conserved nature of the apoptotic pathway and the extensive knowledge and understanding available for "C. elegans", the organisms apoptotic pathway can be used as a proxy for the human equivalent. "CED-9" is the homologue of "Bcl-2" which can provide researchers with information including the pathways the protein is involved in and the consequences of mutation that may parallel pathways or abnormalities in humans.


Scaphoid fossa

In the pterygoid processes of the sphenoid, above the pterygoid fossa is a small, oval, shallow depression, the scaphoid fossa, which gives origin to the Tensor veli palatini.
It is not the same as and has to be distinguished from the scaphoid fossa of the external ear or pinna.


Leucetta

Leucetta is a genus of sponges in the family Leucettidae, which was first described in 1872 by Ernst Haeckel. The type species is "Leucetta primigenia" Haeckel, 1872 by subsequent designation.
In Australia, "Leucetta" species are found off the coasts of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia. However, species of this genus are found worldwide.
Species.
Accepted species are:


Seriata

The Seriata are an order of turbellarian flatworms.
They are found in both freshwater and marine environments, and also include a number of species found in damp terrestrial conditions. Most are free-living, but the group includes the genus "Bdelloura", which lives comensally on the gills of horseshoe crabs. Seriatans are distinguished from other related groups by the presence of a folded pharynx and of a number of diverticula arising from the intestine. The intestine itself may be either simple or branched.


Peripatus bouvieri

Peripatus bouvieri is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatidae family. The type locality is in Colombia.


Althea Sherman

Althea Rosina Sherman (October 1853 – 1943) was born in Farmersburg Township, Clayton County, Iowa. She was an illustrator, educator, self-taught ornithologist, and writer who commissioned the building of the Chimney Swifts' Tower which allowed her to be the first to study and demonstrate the life cycle of chimney swifts. Her career in ornithology also led to her publishing more than 70 articles in scientific and ornithological journals and led to her election as a member of the American Ornithologists' Union and inclusion in the "Who's Who of Women in Science". Additionally, her work as an illustrator, particularly of the American goldfinch, inspired the Iowa Legislature to adopt the American goldfinch as the State bird.
Early life and education.
Sherman's father Mark was a self-taught tanner and shoe maker, but once these techniques were taken up by large factories he turned his attention towards farming, turning their prairie farm into a rich agricultural resource. For this he received considerable personal success as a farmer. However, although his daughter, Althea, later wrote about the animal and plant life that vanished under this agricultural development, the work of her father provided the best education for her and supported her in her later life whilst she carried out research.
Althea and her two older sisters, Amelia and Ada, often travelled 40 miles to an academy at Upper Iowa University to prepare for college. By the mid-19th century, a number of colleges offered courses to both women and men, but the oldest and best of these was Oberlin College in Ohio, in which all three girls enrolled. Amelia and Ada both started on courses to study medicine, but Althea took a different path and chose to dedicate herself to the study of art. Oberlin College maintained two separate degree routes: a classical and literary course. Althea was one of the highly motivated women who chose to follow the classical course, to which she later on attributed her success in her scientific career following her study of Greek and Latin.
Following her graduation from Oberlin College in 1875 with an AB in Art, Althea started teaching before returning to Oberlin College in 1882 to study for a master's degree. Althea then continued her teaching, interspersed with periods of further training as an artist. She then went on to teach at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, leaving in 1885 to study at the Art Students League of New York. In 1887, Althea then moved to Wichita, Kansas to be closer to her older sister Ada. She then worked in Wichita until she returned to her hometown to look after her father who was gravely ill.
In 1892, Althea became a supervisor of drawing at Tacoma Public Schools until she returned to Iowa in 1895 to care again for her father. Her father died in 1896 and Althea remained to care for her mother (Melissa Clark Sherman) until she died in 1902. Althea then remained in Iowa in her family home with her older sister, Dr. Amelia Sherman.
Scientific career.
Following a 20-year career in the arts, Althea then took up a career in science, specifically ornithology, due to her skills as an observer and illustrator. Rather than killing any birds, Althea became a strong pioneer in the life study of birds, setting up nest boxes and creating feeding areas for birds to be observed. From her home in Iowa, Sherman subscribed to a total of 26 scientific and ornithological journals and joined 15 societies. Sherman used her skills as an artist to meticulously study and detail her observations and studies, publishing over 70 articles on 38 species over her career that spanned three decades.
Articles were published in journals such as:
Her research led to her being elected as a member of the American Ornithologists' Union and inclusion in the "Who's Who of Women in Science" and "American Men of Science".
Chimney Swifts' Tower.
In 1915, Althea commissioned the building of a 28-foot tall, 9-foot square wooden tower which was designed to attract nesting chimney swifts for observation. A staircase ran through the center and doors and peepholes allowed Althea to be the first to observe and document the life cycle of the chimney swifts. The journals Althea created covered 18 years of data collection and over 400 pages of intricate detail on the birds. Nowadays, this remastered building - the only one of its kind, is visited by many tourists from nearby and abroad.
Althea Sherman died aged 89 before she could publish a book on her chimney swift data. However, Fred J. Pierce published a number of copies (1,500) of Sherman's "Birds of an Iowa Dooryard" following her death.


Andy Fordham

Andy "The Viking" Fordham (born 2 February 1962) is an English former professional darts player. He won the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship and the 1999 Winmau World Masters.
Darts career.
Fordham made his first appearance on the stage at Lakeside in the 1995 BDO World Darts Championship and reached the semi-finals before losing to Richie Burnett. Another semi-final defeat followed in 1996, this time to Steve Beaton. On both these occasions, his victor then went on to claim the title. Second round defeats followed in 1997 (to Marshall James) and 1998 (to Raymond van Barneveld) before Fordham made it to the semi-final stage of the World Championship for third time in 1999, but was defeated by Ronnie Baxter.
His 2000 campaign ended in the quarter-finals at the hands of Chris Mason and his fourth semi-final loss in 2001 was to Ted Hankey. In 2002 and 2003 he went out in the first and second rounds respectively.
Fordham finally put an end to his "nearly man" reputation in the 2004 World Championship. His run saw him win his first match comfortably, 3–0 against qualifier Brian Derbyshire. He then beat former Masters champion Tony West 3–0, and teased a 9-dart leg in the third set. He defeated Darryl Fitton in the quarter-finals 5–4, and then stunned Van Barneveld, the defending world champion and strong tournament favourite, by recovering from 0–3 and 2–4 down to win the match 5–4, in what is still considered one of the most dramatic and exciting matches in BDO history.
In the final, Fordham defeated Mervyn King, hitting a 139 checkout to take the eighth set 3–2 when King had reached a double-18, and then recovering from 2–0 down in the next set to take it 3–2 with double-8, and win the match by 6 sets to 3.
Showdown with Taylor and health concerns.
On 21 November 2004, Fordham, as reigning BDO world champion, faced off against Phil Taylor, the reigning PDC world champion, in a best-of-13-sets match at Purfleet's Circus Tavern. The special pay-per-view event was billed as "The Showdown" and was promoted and broadcast by Sky Sports. During the match, Fordham became unwell and complained of shortness of breath. He took a break after the seventh set and was advised not to continue by medical staff at the venue. Taylor was leading the match 5–2 at the time and declared the winner by default.
After the incident Fordham visited a doctor, and following medical tests he was informed that, as a result of long term alcohol damage, his liver was operating at only 25% capacity. He was advised to stop drinking alcohol immediately. Fordham's health has long been a concern; at one point he weighed and was in the habit of regularly consuming 24 bottles of lager before going on stage to play darts. He admitted to the media that he had felt more comfortable playing when not fully sober The doctors' advice led Fordham to seek help and assistance via the television programme "Celebrity Fit Club", where he became friends with the journalist and TV presenter Paul Ross.
While getting an exercise regime underway to try to lose some weight, in January 2005 Fordham returned to the Lakeside World championship as defending champion, but was defeated 3–2 in the first round by Dutchman Vincent van der Voort. He failed to progress past the first round of any of the other BDO majors that year, although he did reach the final of the Masters of Darts event, where he lost 7–1 to Phil Taylor.
Fordham made another Lakeside appearance in 2006 but again suffered a first round exit, this time losing 3–0 to Australia's Simon Whitlock. Fordham was scheduled to face Whitlock again in the first round of the 2007 BDO World Darts Championship, but prior to the tournament starting he was again hospitalised after complaining of chest pains and breathing difficulties. Subsequently, he had 18 litres of bile drained from his lungs and was to remain in hospital for three weeks. Fordham was withdrawn from the tournament, with Whitlock receiving a walkover to the second round. Less than one week after being discharged from hospital, Fordham suffered what was initially thought to be a minor stroke, but which turned out to be severe breathing difficulties caused by further fluid build-up in his lungs. He eventually made a full recovery. In 2008, Fordham applied for a liver transplant. Although initially on an emergency liver transplant list, he subsequently lost 17 st (108 kg, 238 lbs) in weight and stopped drinking alcohol completely, leading to an announcement in December that, due to the improvement in his physical well-being, he probably would not now require a transplant for five years.
Return to darts.
In September 2007, after a nine-month absence from darts due to his health issues, Fordham made an low-key return to the oche at the Turunc Open in Turkey. Fordham did comparatively well, reaching the semi-final of the singles event where he lost to the eventual winner Martin Phillips from Wales. During his lay-off from the game, Fordham had lost 10 stone (63.5 kg, 140 lbs).
He won one match in an attempt to qualify for the 2008 Lakeside World Championship, but went out in the last 128 and also lost in his opening match at the last 136 stage of the Winmau World Masters. He then received an invitation to play at the Zuiderduin Masters in December 2007 – but lost both matches 0–5, to Mark Barilli (averaging 53.43) and to Co Stompé (averaging 76.20).
Move to the PDC.
Fordham made his PDC debut in March 2009 at a Players Championship in Coventry, losing his preliminary round match 6–4 against Gary Scratchley. After ending his first six tournaments with no prize money and without a single win, Fordham won his first match at the East Midlands Players Championship, beating Jon Archer 6–4 and earned £200 for his efforts. He eventually lost to James Wade in the last 64 stage. He also won £200 in Austria and a combined total of £400 over two tournaments in Nuland. As of October 2011, Fordham was ranked 303 in the PDC Order of Merit, having not won any prize money since October 2009.
After steady improvement in results and increased practice to regain his skills, in 2013, he made a return to competitive tournament darts.
Return to the BDO.
It was announced that Fordham would return to the British Darts Organisation in 2013, starting with the Dutch Open. MariFlex were announced as his new sponsors in February 2013. He also extended his long running partnership with leading darts sponsor Winmau in May 2013.
Fordham was awarded a wild card for the televised stages at the 2014 BDO World Trophy and faced Alan Norris in the first round. He was beaten 6–2 by Norris.
In October 2015, Fordham advanced through a field of almost 200 players to qualify for the 2015 Grand Slam of Darts (a PDC major), winning one of two BDO UK Qualifiers. He was unable to qualify from a group consisting of Adrian Lewis, Michael Smith and Wayne Jones. His only victory, 5–3 against Jones, was his first televised win in over ten years, since the Masters of Darts in February 2005. Fordham also received a wildcard for the 2015 Zuiderduin Masters. He failed to qualify from his group because of an inferior legs difference to Brian Dawson. Also in 2015, Fordham notably reached the quarter-finals of the Jersey Classic and the last 16 of the Hal Masters, German Masters and BDO International Open.
As of September 2015, Fordham is awaiting clearance to play darts for the White Bear in the Chorley Darts and Dominoes League.
He extended his partnership with Winmau for a further five years in April 2016. Fordham was unveiled as an ambassador for the British Disability Darts Association (BDDA) in May 2016. Handed another wildcard for the 2016 BDO World Trophy, Fordham lost 6–2 to Glen Durrant in round one.
2018.
He attempted to qualify for the 2018 World Masters, reaching the last 272. As of October 2019 he has not participated in any BDO event.
Outside darts.
Fordham is the eldest of four children and has a brother and two sisters. He grew up in Charlton, south-east London and attended Charlton Manor Primary School and Eaglesfield Secondary School. He was a keen track-and-field athlete in his younger days and was nicknamed 'The Whippet' at school.
Fordham is a fat jake and even paraded his BDO World Championship trophy before a game at the rubbish tip in 2004, he is also a fan of Millwall F.C. and has paraded his trophy at half time at The Den .


Farrea occa

Farrea occa is a species of glass sponge in the family Farreidae.


Glossoscolecidae

The Glossoscolecidae are a large family of earthworms (annelids) which has native representatives in South and Central America. The species "Pontoscolex corethrurus" has a circumtropical distribution.
They are found mostly in forest, but one species of earthworms lives primarily in coastal beach sand. The earthworms in this family can reach up to 2 m in length.


Maxillary artery

The maxillary artery supplies deep structures of the face. It branches from the external carotid artery just deep to the neck of the mandible.
Structure.
The maxillary artery, the larger of the two terminal branches of the external carotid artery, arises behind the neck of the mandible, and is at first imbedded in the substance of the parotid gland; it passes forward between the ramus of the mandible and the sphenomandibular ligament, and then runs, either superficial or deep to the lateral pterygoid muscle, to the pterygopalatine fossa.
It supplies the deep structures of the face, and may be divided into mandibular, pterygoid, and pterygopalatine portions.
First portion.
The first or mandibular portion (or bony portion) passes horizontally forward, between the neck of the mandible and the sphenomandibular ligament, where it lies parallel to and a little below the auriculotemporal nerve; it crosses the inferior alveolar nerve, and runs along the lower border of the lateral pterygoid muscle.
Branches include:
Second portion.
The second or pterygoid portion (or muscular portion) runs obliquely forward and upward under cover of the ramus of the mandible and insertion of the temporalis, on the superficial (very frequently on the deep) surface of the lateral pterygoid muscle; it then passes between the two heads of origin of this muscle and enters the fossa.
Branches include:
Third portion.
The third or pterygomaxillary portion lies in the pterygopalatine fossa in relation with the pterygopalatine ganglion. This is considered the terminal branch of the maxillary artery.
Branches include:


Charadriiformes

Charadriiformes (, from "Charadrius", the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 350 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water and eat invertebrates or other small animals; however, some are pelagic (seabirds), others frequent deserts, and a few are found in dense forest.
Taxonomy, systematics and evolution.
The order was formerly divided into three suborders:
The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy lumps all the Charadriiformes together with other seabirds and birds of prey into a greatly enlarged order Ciconiiformes. However, the resolution of the DNA-DNA hybridization technique used by Sibley & Ahlquist was not sufficient to properly resolve the relationships in this group, and indeed it appears as if the Charadriiformes constitute a single large and very distinctive lineage of modern birds of their own.
The auks, usually considered distinct because of their peculiar morphology, are more likely related to gulls, the "distinctness" being a result of adaptation for diving. Following recent research, a better arrangement may be as follows:
Families in taxonomic order.
This is a list of the charadriiform families, presented in taxonomic order.
More conservatively, the Thinocori could be included in the Scolopaci (this combined sub-order is called Limicoli), and the Chionidi in the Charadrii. The suborders Thincori, Scolopaci, Chionidi, and Charadri are commonly referred to collectively as waders. Some taxonomy sources place the family Glareolidae in its own suborder, instead of being classified under suborder Lari. The buttonquails are of indeterminate or basal position in the Lari-Scolopaci "sensu lato" group. The arrangement as presented here is a consensus of the recent studies.
Cladogram based on Baker, A.J. "et al". (2012) and Boyd, J. H. "et al." (2016)
Evolution history.
That the Charadriiformes are an ancient group is also borne out by the fossil record. Alongside the Anseriformes, the Charadriiformes are the only other order of modern bird to have an established fossil record within the late Cretaceous, alongside the other dinosaurs. Much of the Neornithes' fossil record around the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event is made up of bits and pieces of birds which resemble this order. In many, this is probably due to convergent evolution brought about by semiaquatic habits. Specimen VI 9901 (López de Bertodano Formation, Late Cretaceous of Vega Island, Antarctica) is probably a basal charadriiform somewhat reminiscent of a thick-knee. However, more complete remains of undisputed charadriiforms are known only from the mid-Paleogene onwards. Present-day orders emerged around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, roughly 35-30 mya. Basal or unresolved charadriiforms are:
The "transitional shorebirds" ("Graculavidae") are a generally Mesozoic form taxon formerly believed to constitute the common ancestors of charadriiforms, waterfowl and flamingos. They are now assumed to be mostly basal taxa of the charadriiforms and/or "higher waterbirds", which probably were two distinct lineages 65 mya already, and few if any are still believed to be related to the well-distinct waterfowl. Taxa formerly considered graculavids are:
Other wader- or gull-like birds "incertae sedis", which may or may not be Charadriiformes, are:
Evolution of parental care in Charadriiformes.
Shorebirds pursue a larger diversity of parental care strategies than do most other avian orders. They therefore present an attractive set of examples to support the understanding of the evolution of parental care in avians generally. The ancestral avian most likely had a female parental care system. The shorebird ancestor specifically evolved from a bi-parental care system, yet the species within the clade Scolopacidae evolved from a male parental care system. These transitions might have occurred for several reasons. Brooding density is correlated with male parental care. Male care systems in birds are shown to have a very low breeding density while female care systems in birds have a high breeding density. (Owens 2005). Certain rates of male and female mortality, male and female egg maturation rate, and egg death rate have been associated with particular systems as well. It has also been shown that sex role reversal is motivated by the male-biased adult sex ratio. The reason for such diversity in shorebirds, compared to other birds, has yet to be understood.


Joan Paton

Joan Burton Paton née Cleland (1916–April 2000) was an Australian teacher, naturalist, environmentalist and ornithologist. One of the first women to become a member of the exclusive Adelaide Ornithologists Club, of which she was elected President 1991–1993, she also served as president of the South Australian Ornithological Association (1979-1982). Her father was Professor Sir John Burton Cleland, a notable microbiologist and pathologist who strongly encouraged her early interest in natural history.
Early life and education.
Joan Burton Paton was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the daughter of John Burton Cleland (1878–1971) and his wife, Dora Isabel Paton (1880–1955). She had three sisters, Dr Margaret Burton Cleland, Elizabeth Robson Cleland and Barbara Burton Cleland; and a brother, William Paton 'Bill' Cleland, who became a surgeon. The father encouraged his children's interest in science. Joan Paton was educated at the University of Adelaide, where she majored in organic chemistry and biochemistry. In 1951 she married Erskine Norman Paton (1922–1985), son of Adolph Ernest Paton and Ida Marie Poynton. Their son is Prof David Cleland Paton.
Career.
In 1967 Paton became a lecturer on ornithology in South Australia's Workers' Educational Association. Among those she inspired to work in ornithology and environmental conservation was Margaret Cameron, who became the President of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU).
Paton was active in the RAOU, as well as in the South Australian Ornithological Association (SAOA), of which she was elected Vice-President 1974–1979, and President 1979–1982. She was one of the first women to become a member of the exclusive Adelaide Ornithologists Club, of which she was elected president (1991-1993).


Duck Dodgers (TV series)

Duck Dodgers is an American animated television series, based on the 1953 theatrical cartoon short "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century", produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 2003 to 2005. The series is comic science fiction, featuring the fictional Looney Tunes characters in metafictional roles, with Daffy Duck as the title character. It originally aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
Concept.
Though primarily based around the original "Duck Dodgers" short (which is set in roughly 2350 AD), the series has also taken many visual and thematic cues from other Looney Tunes shorts unrelated to the Dodgers character and its science fiction premise.
Many other familiar characters from the Looney Tunes pantheon are featured in the series, often given traits to fit within "Duck Dodgers"' own universe. For example, Yosemite Sam becomes "K'chutha Sa'am," a parody of Klingons in "Star Trek", Elmer Fudd becomes a parasitic mind-altering alien disease known as "the Fudd" (a combination of the Flood and the Borg), Witch Hazel was "Leezah the Wicked" in one episode, Count Bloodcount was "Count Muerte" in two episodes, and Wile E. Coyote was a Predator-like alien hunter in one episode where Martian Commander X-2 and K-9 were hunting. Gophers Mac and Tosh appeared as Martian gophers on an alien golf course. Nasty Canasta, Taz, Rocky and Mugsy, and the Crusher also made appearances on this series. In a two-part episode, the "Shropshire Slasher" appears as a convict named the Andromeda Annihilator. Michigan J. Frog was the host of a talent show and Ralph Phillips played Babyface Moonbeam. Egghead Junior also appeared, as well as the unnamed evil scientist who owned Gossamer.
Theme songs.
In addition to pop culture references, the show's theme (arranged by the Flaming Lips) is sung by Tom Jones, in a style reminiscent of the theme from the James Bond film "Thunderball". Jones also appeared in caricature form in the second-season episode "Talent Show A Go-Go," to sing his signature song, "It's Not Unusual". Dave Mustaine of the thrash metal band Megadeth was featured in the third-season episode "In Space, No One Can Hear You Rock", with the band performing the song "Back in the Day" from their 2004 album "The System Has Failed".
Accolades.
"Duck Dodgers" was nominated in 2004 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production Produced For Children, Music in an Animated Television Production, Production Design in an Animated Television Production, and Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production. It won the Annie award for 2004 for Music in an Animated Television Production, music by Robert J. Kral. It was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing – Live Action and Animation and Special Class Animated Program in 2004, and again in 2005. It later won for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program—Joe Alaskey. The series ended production in 2005 after its third season.
Home media.
Warner Home Video released "Duck Dodgers – The Complete First Season: Dark Side of the Duck" to DVD on February 19, 2013, "Duck Dodgers – The Complete Second Season: Deep Space Duck" on July 23, 2013 and "Duck Dodgers - The Complete Third Season" on January 28, 2020.


Posterior lacrimal crest

The lateral or orbital surface of the lacrimal bone is divided by a vertical ridge, the posterior lacrimal crest, into two parts.
In front of this crest is a longitudinal groove, the lacrimal sulcus (sulcus lacrimalis), the inner margin of which unites with the frontal process of the maxilla, and the lacrimal fossa is thus completed.
The upper part of this fossa lodges the lacrimal sac, the lower part, the nasolacrimal duct.
The portion behind the crest is smooth, and forms part of the medial wall of the orbit.
The crest, with a part of the orbital surface immediately behind it, gives origin to the lacrimal part of the orbicularis oculi and ends below in a small, hook-like projection, the lacrimal hamulus, which articulates with the lacrimal tubercle of the maxilla, and completes the upper orifice of the lacrimal canal; the hamulus sometimes exists as a separate piece, and is then called the lesser lacrimal bone.


Quechuan mouse opossum

The Quechuan mouse opossum ("Marmosa macrotarsus") is a South American opossum species of the family Didelphidae. It is known from two areas of montane forest on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru, at altitudes from 300 to 2700 m. The type locality in the Valle de Occobamba is in the southern area, in Cuzco Region, while the northern area is in the vicinity of Moyobamba in San Martín Region. The true range may be more extensive and possibly extends into Bolivia. The northern area has suffered from habitat destruction, but the southern area is not seriously degraded.


Halechiniscidae

The Halechiniscidae are a family of tardigrades. The family was named and first described by Gustav Thulin in 1928.
Subfamilies and genera.
They are divided into the following subfamilies and genera:


Limnodriloides

Limnodriloides is a genus of clitellate oligochaete worms.
Species.
Species accepted within "Limnodriloides" include:


Spine of sphenoid bone

The great wings, or alae-sphenoids, are two strong processes of bone, which arise from the sides of the body, and are curved upward, lateralward, and backward; the posterior part of each projects as a triangular process which fits into the angle between the squama and the petrous portion of the temporal bone and presents at its apex a downwardly directed process, the spina angularis (sphenoidal spine). It serves as the origin for the sphenomandibular ligament.


Eoperipatus butleri

Eoperipatus butleri is a Malaysian species of velvet worm in the Peripatidae family.
Taxonomy.
"Eoperipatus butleri" was described by Richard Evans in 1901, from a single female specimen discovered by A. M. Butler in the Larut Hills of West Malaysia. The generic name "Eoperipatus" is derived from an Ancient Greek combining form of "ēṓs", meaning "dawn", and "peripatos", meaning "walking about". The specific name "butleri" is in honour of its discoverer.
Description.
The dorsal surface is brown with a darker brown mid-dorsal line extending from the first pair of oncopods to the anus. The ventral surface is slightly lighter brown than the dorsal surface. There are 24 pairs of oncopods. The type specimen was 52 mm in length, and 6 mm in width.


Inferior alveolar artery

The inferior alveolar artery (inferior dental artery) is an artery of the face. It is a branch of the first portion of the maxillary artery.
Structure.
It descends with the inferior alveolar nerve to the mandibular foramen on the medial surface of the ramus of the mandible.
It runs along the mandibular canal in the substance of the bone, accompanied by the nerve, and opposite the first premolar tooth divides into two branches, incisor and mental.
Incisor branch.
The "incisor branch" is continued forward beneath the incisor teeth as far as the middle line, where it anastomoses with the artery of the opposite side
The inferior alveolar artery and its incisor branch during their course through the substance of the bone give off a few twigs which are lost in the cancellous tissue, and a series of branches which correspond in number to the roots of the teeth: these enter the minute apertures at the extremities of the roots, and supply the pulp of the teeth.
Mental branch.
The "mental branch" escapes with the nerve at the mental foramen, supplies the chin, and anastomoses with the submental and inferior labial arteries.
Mylohyoid branch.
As the inferior alveolar artery enters the foramen, it gives off a "mylohyoid branch" which runs in the mylohyoid groove, and supplies the mylohyoid muscle.


Arthur Adams (zoologist)

Arthur Adams (1820 in Gosport, Hampshire – 1878) was an English physician and naturalist.
Adams was assistant surgeon Royal Navy on board HMS "Samarang" during the survey of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, from 1843 to 1846. He edited the "Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Samarang" (1850). Adam White collaborated with him in the descriptions of the Crustacea from the voyage. In 1857, during the Second China War whilst serving as Surgeon on HMS "Actaeon", he was present at the storming of Canton and awarded the China War Medal. He retired as Staff Surgeon aboard flagship HMS "Royal Adelaide" at Plymouth in 1870.
He was a prolific malacologist who described "hundreds of new species, most of them unillustrated and insufficiently
diagnosed". He partly worked together with his brother Henry Adams (1813–1877) and together they wrote "The genera of recent mollusca: arranged according to their organization" (three volumes, 1858). He also wrote "Travels of a naturalist in Japan and Manchuria" (1870), and an article about the interesting spiders seen on his travels.
Species named after Arthur Adams.
"Finella adamsi" (Dall, 1889), "Arcopsis adamsi" (Dall, 1886), "Hinnites adamsi" Dall, 1886 (synonym of "Pseudohinnites adamsi" (Dall, 1886) ), "Brachidontes adamsianus" (Dunker, 1857), "Nucinella adamsi" (Dall, 1898); likely "Natica adamsiana" R. W. Dunker, 1860, possibly "Octopus adamsi" Benham, 1944 (synonym of "Octopus huttoni" Benham, 1943), possibly "Zebrida adamsii" White, 1847.


Acanthotetilla

Acanthotetilla is a genus of demosponges belonging to the family Tetillidae.
They are distinguished from others in the family by the presence of distinctive, heavily spined skeletal structures called "megacanthoxeas".
Species.
There are seven species described in the genus:


Lissotis

Lissotis is a genus of bird in the bustard family, Otididae. Some authorities, such as the IUCN, consider it part of "Eupodotis"; the separation adopted here follows the "Handbook of the Birds of the World".
It contains the following species, both restricted to Africa:


Tensor veli palatini muscle

The tensor veli palatini muscle (tensor palati or tensor muscle of the velum palatinum) is a broad, thin, ribbon-like muscle in the head that tenses the soft palate.
Structure.
The tensor veli palatini is found anterior-lateral to the levator veli palatini muscle.
It arises by a flat lamella from the scaphoid fossa at the base of the medial pterygoid plate, from the spina angularis of the sphenoid and from the lateral wall of the cartilage of the auditory tube.
Descending vertically between the medial pterygoid plate and the medial pterygoid muscle, it ends in a tendon which winds around the pterygoid hamulus, being retained in this situation by some of the fibers of origin of the medial pterygoid muscle.
Between the tendon and the hamulus is a small bursa.
The tendon then passes medially and is inserted into the palatine aponeurosis and into the surface behind the transverse ridge on the horizontal part of the palatine bone.
Innervation.
The tensor veli palatini is supplied by the medial pterygoid nerve, a branch of mandibular nerve, the third branch of the trigeminal nerve - the only muscle of the palate "not" innervated by the pharyngeal plexus, which is formed by the vagal and glossopharyngeal nerves.
Function.
The tensor veli palatini tenses the soft palate and by doing so, assists the levator veli palatini in elevating the palate to occlude and prevent entry of food into the nasopharynx during swallowing. The tensed palate consequently provides a stable platform for elevation of the pharynx during swallowing by the pharyngeal muscles. Since it is also attached to the lateral cartilaginous lamina of the auditory tube (also known as the Eustachian tube), it assists in its opening during swallowing or yawning to allow air pressure to equalize between the tympanic cavity and the outside air. Equalization of air pressure in the tympanic cavity is essential for preventing damage to the tympanic membrane and a resulting loss of hearing acuity.


Gorgonia capensis

Gorgonia capensis, is a species of sea fan described by Sydney John Hickson in 1900. " Gorgonia capensis" is part of the genus "Gorgonia" and the family Gorgoniidae.


Planipapillus biacinoides

Planipapillus biacinoides is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatopsidae family. It is found in Victoria, Australia.


Grantiopsis

Grantiopsis is a genus of calcareous sponges belonging to the family Lelapiidae.


Pygmy mouse lemur

The pygmy mouse lemur (Microcebus myoxinus), also known as Peters' mouse lemur or dormouse lemur, is a primate weighing only ; it is the second smallest of the mouse lemurs. Its dorsal side is a rufous-brown colour, and creamy-white ventrally. It lives in dry deciduous forests.
The pygmy mouse lemur measures around (head-body length). Its small size and nocturnal nature made it difficult to locate for over a century, and was rediscovered in the Kirindy forest in western Madagascar in 1993. They are believed to inhabit other parts of the island, but so far have only been discovered in a localized area.
The lemur rests during the day, and it has a tendency to sleep in the open, which increases the risk of predation; although this danger is somewhat mitigated by sleeping alone. It can also use the abandoned nests of the Coquerel's giant mouse lemur ("Mirza coquereli"). During the mating season, sleeping sites of males are distributed over a much broader area than are female sites, indicating that male home ranges are larger than those of females. The home ranges of males overlap during the mating season, and males occasionally roam over long distances during a single night


Laevipilina rolani

Laevipilina rolani is a species of monoplacophoran, a superficially limpet-like marine mollusk. It is found off the northern coast of Spain.


Mandibular incisive canal

The mandibular incisive canal is a bony canal within the anterior mandible that runs bilaterally from the mental foramina usually to the region of the ipsilateral lateral incisor teeth. After branching into the mental nerve that exits the foramen of the same name, the inferior alveolar nerve continues anteriorly within the mandibular incisive canal as the incisive nerve, providing innervation to the mandibular first premolar, canine and lateral and central incisors. The mandibular incisive nerve either terminates as nerve endings within the anterior teeth or adjacent bone, or may join nerve endings that enter through the tiny lingual foramen.
The incisive canal is typically found within the middle third of the mandible in an apico-coronal dimension, reaching the midline 18% of the time.


List of paleognath species

The paleognaths (Palaeognathae) are a clade of bird species of gondwanic distribution in Africa, South America, New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. The group have more than 50 living species and includes the ostriches, rheas, kiwis, emus, cassowaries and tinamous. They are, with Neognathae, the two main lineages of modern birds (Neornithes). Extinct species assignment follows the Mikko's Phylogeny Archive, Paleofile.com website and Brodkob.
Summary of 2006 IUCN Red List categories.
Conservation status [v2017.3, the data is current as of May 8, 2018]:
Phylogeny.
Phylogeny based on the work of John Boyd.
Species.
Sometimes placed here.
Ichnotaxa and ootaxa