Dung beetle (Scarabaeus viettei) This species is a very important species in the nutrient cycling of ecosystems and plays and important role in structuring the soil. They primarily feed on the dung of animals and possess the ability to remove dung by burying it in the ground. The generally prefer the dung of herbivores but will also collect the dung from omnivores. There are three groups of dung beetles all which have different ways of handling, using or disposing the dung of animals. The rollers will generally roll dung into balls which can be used as a food source or will be used as brooding cavities. The tunnelers will simply put the dung inside of the ground where they find it. The dwellers will use the dung as a place of where they can live in. These beetles have a well-developed sense of smell and can easily find or track the dung of animals. A dung beetles lifespan varies depending on various factors such as predation. It is expected that dung beetles can live till the age of 5 years, but is generally between 3 and 5 years. The main predator of this species is insect-eating animals such as reptiles and birds. Daddy long leg (Phalangium opilio) This species is defined for its small body size with very long legs. The daddy long leg can vary between being a nocturnal or diurnal species which in turn contributes to their various body colorations. They only have one pair of eyes with is situated in the middle of the head and is orientated to the side. They cannot make webs as they have no silk glands and also does not produce venom as it has no venom glands. They generally eat small insects or they can feed on fungi, various plant materials, dung or dead animals. They don’t have well developed vision, as their single pair of ... ... middle of paper ... ... provide the mites protection. This tree has a dense evergreen canopy and mostly prefers moist soils. Its bark has a very rough texture and can vary in colour from black to grey. Their leaves are very simple and alternate with a dark green colour. Various insects pollinate their flowers and their seeds are dispersed either through water or by the animals that eat their fruits. Animals that feed on the fruits include monkeys, baboons, brown-headed parrots, the kudu, the impala, the jackal and grey hornbills. Snakes generally stay close to the tree as they prey on various rodent and bird species that feed on the prey. The leaves of the tree can be consumed by elephants, kudus and the eland. The wood of this tree is very strong and is commonly used to make wooden spoons and canoes and extracts of various parts of this plants is used for its anti-biotic properties.
Because of its size and abundance, T. californicus is commonly regarded as the insect of the sea. This creature is generally very small, from 1-3 mm in size as adults. They are cylindrically shaped, and have a segmented body (head, thorax, abdomen) though no noticeable division between body regions (Powlik 1966). Each segment of the body has a pair of legs. They use their 'legs' to propel themselves through the water in short rapid jerks. They have 2 pairs of long feathered antennae, a chitin us exoskeleton and a single eye in the middle of their head, this simple eye can only differentiate between light and dark.
After conducting the experiments, the hypothesis was found to be incorrect. The data’s common trend was; as the beetle’s mass increased, the amount of weight it could pull decreased. One of the beetles tested had a mass of 1.6 grams and was able to pull only a mass of 18.6 grams. The second beetle had a mass of 1.8 grams and was able to pull 37.3 grams.
ImageText BoxImageOne of the biggest threats to the environment of Ontario is the Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar dispar). The species itself is native to Europe and Asia. How this affects us is by weakening trees across Ontario and North America. The first time the gypsy moth was found in Ontario was 1969. The gypsy moth can be found in southern Canada (Ontario), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. It is known to weaken trees and the caterpillar form live in trees and during most outbreaks its caterpillar feces would fall from the trees to the ground or even on top of humans. The average Gypsy Caterpillar can grow 5-6 centimeters long. With five pairs of blue spots and six pairs of bright red dots on their back. The female moth are white and can fly on the other hand, the male moth are brown and can also fly. The female have a 5cm wing span but male have a 2.5cm wing span. The gypsy moth usually lives in open forests and other forests and take up at least 20% of the space. The Gypsy moth are about 4cm long, tan coloured and can be located on tree trunks, furniture, and buildings. (OFAH Invading Species Awareness Program, 2012)
Has digitigrade hind legs and is able to stand up on them for short periods of time, usually to get a higher vantage point or to intimidate enemies.
First, the kukui tree is one that can be easily recognized due to its unique physical characteristics. Simply based on its size, the tree can grow up to 80 feet with trunks that are three feet in diameter. Also, the tree stands out very much because of its silver-green colored leaves that darken with age (World Agroforestry). These characteristics of size and color are very distinguishable from a distance but that is not all that the tree has to offer. The nuts hidden within the leaves only grow up to around two inches in diameter but are still distinguishable. Also, the tree contains small bunches of flowers but these are harder to notice (World Agroforestry). These features attribute to the plant’s appearance but more importantly serve some adaptive purpose.
popular ornamental tree in America. Because of the large range of species of dogwood, it is easy to grow them almost anywhere in the US. Today, dogwoods are cultivated with primarily horticultural purposes, however history shows that they have more than just aesthetic value. Dogwood bark was used during the civil war by confederates as an ingredient in tea to treat pain and fevers. Not only has the dogwood been used as a remedy during the civil war, it has even been proven to halt the spread of malaria. Cornus florida have a bark that is enriched in tannin which has been used as a substitute for quinine because they both have antimalarial properties. Other unique uses of dogwood include their berries. The dogwood provides food for many animals and the Cornus mas is commonly cultivated in Southeastern Europe for its berries. These berries can either be eaten raw, turned into jam, or fermented into wine. The composition of dogwood timber is very fine-grained and dense. This makes dogwood timber ideal for items that require a strong wood, such as tool handles.
Fox, R. 2001. Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine: Artemia Franciscana. Lander University. http://webs.lander.edu/rsfox/invertebrates/artemia.html, retrieved February 13, 2011.
The scientific name for the Tailless Whip Scorpion is Amblypygids. Their domain is Eukarya, kingdom is Animalia, phylum is Athropoda, class is Arachnida, order is Amblypygi, family is Paracharontidae, and their genus is Heterophrynus Pocock. Tailless Whip Scorpions can range from three to twenty-six point three inches, with legsize in consideration. Their bodies are wide and flat with a sturdy carapace and a segmented abdomen. They have a pair of eyes at the front of the carapace and three eyes further back on the carapace on each side. Even though Tailless Whip Scorpion possesses eight eyes their eyesight is poor to below average. Their pedipalps serve as sensors and are modified for grabbing and keeping possession of their prey. Their first pair of legs are used as sensory organs and not used for walking. These legs are very thin and can lengthen several times the scorpion’s body. They use these legs to feel out the surface they’re walking on in front of them. The other six legs are for walking. They have eight legs in total. They lack silk-spinning spinnerets that most spiders have and poison glands that most scorpions have. This leaves them harmless to species larger than them. They get the term “Whip ...
tail. They have gray or rosy brown backs with lighter gray or brown hind legs and have
Theridiidae is a family of spiders called comb-foot spiders. The reason Theridiidae is called comb-foot spiders is because they have a row of setae on their fourth pair of legs. This helps the spiders to wrap their silk around the prey to capture it. Some of the species in this family have a practice of sexual cannibalism. Sexual cannibalism is when the female spider eats the male after they mate. The Theridiidae is known as the cobweb spiders. The types of the Theridiidae spiders I will be discussing are the widow spiders or know by the genus name Latrodectus. There are a lot of myths that people believe about the widow spiders, which make people afraid of them. I will give a description about them and correct any miss inform idea about them.
Arachnida is a subphylum of Arthropoda, consisting of over 100 000 species, many of them being parasites which can carry disease. They are found in all environments, and mostly have eight legs, which is a feature, together with the fact that they do not have wings or antennae, often used to distinguish them from the other subphyla, though there are exceptions. They include spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites. Their bodies are divided up into three parts: the cephalothorax, the opisthosoma and the thorax, and use a type of lung for gas exchange. Most Arachnids are carnivorous, and eat pre-digested insects and other small animals. They reproduce using internal reproduction usually lay eggs, except for the scorpion which bears living young. The word ‘Arachnid’ comes from the Greek word ‘Arachne’ meaning ‘spider’.
Atelerix albiventris, also commonly known as the four-toed hedgehog, is a fascinating organism with a plethora of intriguing characteristics. The hierarchical classification of this organism is as follows: Kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, order Insectivora, family Erinaceidae, genus Atelerix, and species albiventris. In the genus Atelerix, there are four other species. The members of this genus include the four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris), the Somali Hedgehog (Atelerix sclateri), the Southern African Hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis), and the North African hedgehog (Atelerix algirus) (Santana 2010).The two distinctive features of the class Mammalia are the presence of hair and mammary glands. The function of hair is to serve as an insulator while the mammary glands enable females to produce nutritious, calorie-rich milk and nurse their young. Members of the order Insectivora are insect-eating mammals that have a long snout and either covered in fur or spines. Insectivores are seen as primitive mammals because they lack certain advanced characteristics seen in complex mammals, such as the primates. Instead of a ridged brain they have a smooth brain and instead of two separate openings for the genitals and anus, they have a cloaca, which serves as the opening for both the urinary and reproductive tracts. Furthermore, three commonly known mammals in this order Insectivora are the hedgehog, mole, and the. The genus Atelerix contains the African hedgehogs, which are distinguishable spines covering their bodies, a white fur belly, and typically are between six to eight inches in length (Vaughan 1972)
Holcomb, D. 2005. "Pseudoryx nghetinhensis" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed March 14, 2014 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Pseudoryx_nghetinhensis/
If you had a choice between a burger and a bowl of crickets, I think I would know which you choose to eat. As disturbing as this sounds, in the near future we may not have that choice. With our annual protein consumption rising, and Europe’s protein sources decreasing, coupled with a growing population, we may have only one alternative… Insects.