Acraeini
The Acraeini are a tribe of butterflies of the subfamily Heliconiinae in the family Nymphalidae. The recognized genera are: Abananote Potts, 1943 Acraea Fabricius, 1807 – acraeas Actinote Hübner, – actinotes Altinote Potts, 1943 – altinotes Bematistes Hemming, 1935 Cethosia – lacewings Miyana Pardopsis Trimen, 1887The genus Acraea is paraphyletic and needs to be redelimited; this will re-establish the old genus Telchinia, others. Media related to Acraeini at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Acraeini at Wikispecies
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 per cent of the total described species of living organisms, it is one of the most widespread and recognizable insect orders in the world. The Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest the order may have more species than earlier thought, is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera and Coleoptera. Lepidopteran species are characterized by more than three derived features; the most apparent is the presence of scales that cover the bodies, a proboscis. The scales are modified, flattened "hairs", give butterflies and moths their wide variety of colors and patterns. All species have some form of membranous wings, except for a few that have reduced wings or are wingless. Mating and the laying of eggs are carried out by adults near or on host plants for the larvae.
Like most other insects and moths are holometabolous, meaning they undergo complete metamorphosis. The larvae are called caterpillars, are different from their adult moth or butterfly forms, having a cylindrical body with a well-developed head, mandible mouth parts, three pairs of thoracic legs and from none up to five pairs of prolegs; as they grow, these larvae change in appearance, going through a series of stages called instars. Once matured, the larva develops into a pupa. A few butterflies and many moth species spin a silk case or cocoon prior to pupating, while others do not, instead going underground. A butterfly pupa, called a chrysalis, has a hard skin with no cocoon. Once the pupa has completed its metamorphosis, a sexually mature adult emerges; the Lepidoptera have, over millions of years, evolved a wide range of wing patterns and coloration ranging from drab moths akin to the related order Trichoptera, to the brightly colored and complex-patterned butterflies. Accordingly, this is the most recognized and popular of insect orders with many people involved in the observation, collection, rearing of, commerce in these insects.
A person who collects or studies this order is referred to as a lepidopterist. Butterflies and moths play an important role in the natural ecosystem as pollinators and as food in the food chain. In many species, the female may produce from 200 to 600 eggs, while in others, the number may approach 30,000 eggs in one day; the caterpillars hatching from these eggs can cause damage to large quantities of crops. Many moth and butterfly species are of economic interest by virtue of their role as pollinators, the silk they produce, or as pest species; the term was coined by Linnaeus in 1735 and is derived from Greek λεπίς, gen. λεπίδος and πτερόν. Sometimes, the term Rhopalocera is used for the clade of all butterfly species, derived from the Ancient Greek ῥόπαλον and κέρας meaning "club" and "horn" coming from the shape of the antennae of butterflies; the origins of the common names "butterfly" and "moth" are varied and obscure. The English word butterfly is with many variations in spelling. Other than that, the origin is unknown, although it could be derived from the pale yellow color of many species' wings suggesting the color of butter.
The species of Heterocera are called moths. The origins of the English word moth are more clear, deriving from the Old English moððe" from Common Germanic, its origins are related to Old English maða meaning "maggot" or from the root of "midge", which until the 16th century was used to indicate the larva in reference to devouring clothes. The etymological origins of the word "caterpillar", the larval form of butterflies and moths, are from the early 16th century, from Middle English catirpel, catirpeller an alteration of Old North French catepelose: cate, cat + pelose, hairy; the Lepidoptera are among the most successful groups of insects. They are found on all continents, except Antarctica, inhabit all terrestrial habitats ranging from desert to rainforest, from lowland grasslands to mountain plateaus, but always associated with higher plants angiosperms. Among the most northern dwelling species of butterflies and moths is the Arctic Apollo, found in the Arctic Circle in northeastern Yakutia, at an altitude of 1500 m above sea level.
In the Himalayas, various Apollo species such as Parnassius epaphus have been recorded to occur up to an altitude of 6,000 m above sea level. Some lepidopteran species exhibit symbiotic, phoretic, or parasitic lifestyles, inhabiting the bodies of organisms rather than the environment. Coprophagous pyralid moth species, called sloth moths, such as Bradipodicola hahneli and Cryptoses choloepi, are unusual in that they are found inhabiting the fur of sloths, mammals found in Central and South America. Two species of Tinea moths have been recorded as feeding on horny tissue and have been bred from the horns of cattle; the larva of Zenodochium coccivorella is an internal parasite of the coccid Kermes species. Many species have been recorded as breeding in natural materials or refuse such as owl pellets, bat caves, honeycombs or diseased fruit; as of 2007, there was 174,250 lepi
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation and habitat area. Phytogeography is the branch of biogeography. Zoogeography is the branch. Knowledge of spatial variation in the numbers and types of organisms is as vital to us today as it was to our early human ancestors, as we adapt to heterogeneous but geographically predictable environments. Biogeography is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology, evolutionary biology and physical geography. Modern biogeographic research combines information and ideas from many fields, from the physiological and ecological constraints on organismal dispersal to geological and climatological phenomena operating at global spatial scales and evolutionary time frames; the short-term interactions within a habitat and species of organisms describe the ecological application of biogeography.
Historical biogeography describes the long-term, evolutionary periods of time for broader classifications of organisms. Early scientists, beginning with Carl Linnaeus, contributed to the development of biogeography as a science. Beginning in the mid-18th century, Europeans explored the world and discovered the biodiversity of life; the scientific theory of biogeography grows out of the work of Alexander von Humboldt, Hewett Cottrell Watson, Alphonse de Candolle, Alfred Russel Wallace, Philip Lutley Sclater and other biologists and explorers. The patterns of species distribution across geographical areas can be explained through a combination of historical factors such as: speciation, continental drift, glaciation. Through observing the geographic distribution of species, we can see associated variations in sea level, river routes and river capture. Additionally, this science considers the geographic constraints of landmass areas and isolation, as well as the available ecosystem energy supplies.
Over periods of ecological changes, biogeography includes the study of plant and animal species in: their past and/or present living refugium habitat. As writer David Quammen put it, "...biogeography does more than ask Which species? and Where. It asks Why? and, what is sometimes more crucial, Why not?."Modern biogeography employs the use of Geographic Information Systems, to understand the factors affecting organism distribution, to predict future trends in organism distribution. Mathematical models and GIS are employed to solve ecological problems that have a spatial aspect to them. Biogeography is most keenly observed on the world's islands; these habitats are much more manageable areas of study because they are more condensed than larger ecosystems on the mainland. Islands are ideal locations because they allow scientists to look at habitats that new invasive species have only colonized and can observe how they disperse throughout the island and change it, they can apply their understanding to similar but more complex mainland habitats.
Islands are diverse in their biomes, ranging from the tropical to arctic climates. This diversity in habitat allows for a wide range of species study in different parts of the world. One scientist who recognized the importance of these geographic locations was Charles Darwin, who remarked in his journal "The Zoology of Archipelagoes will be well worth examination". Two chapters in On the Origin of Species were devoted to geographical distribution; the first discoveries that contributed to the development of biogeography as a science began in the mid-18th century, as Europeans explored the world and described the biodiversity of life. During the 18th century most views on the world were shaped around religion and for many natural theologists, the bible. Carl Linnaeus, in the mid-18th century, initiated the ways to classify organisms through his exploration of undiscovered territories; when he noticed that species were not as perpetual as he believed, he developed the Mountain Explanation to explain the distribution of biodiversity.
This showed different species in different climates proving. Linnaeus' findings set a basis for ecological biogeography. Through his strong beliefs in Christianity, he was inspired to classify the living world, which gave way to additional accounts of secular views on geographical distribution, he argued that the structure of an animal was closely related to its physical surroundings. This was important to a George Louis Buffon's rival theory of distribution. After Linnaeus, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon observed shifts in climate and how species spread across the globe as a result, he was the first to see different groups of organisms in different regions of the world. Buffon saw similarities between some regions which led him to believe that at one point continents were connected and water separated them and caused differences in species, his hypotheses were described by his books, Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière, in which he argued that varying geographical regions would have different forms of life.
This was inspired by his observations comparing the Old and New World, as he determined distinct variations of species from the two regions. Buffon believed there was a single species creation event, that different regions of the world were homes for varying species, an a
Aposematism
Aposematism refers to the appearance of an animal that warns predators it is toxic, distasteful or dangerous. This warning signal is associated with the unprofitability of a prey item to potential predators; the unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to eat, such as toxicity, foul taste or smell, sharp spines, or aggressive nature. Aposematism always involves an advertising signal which may take the form of conspicuous animal coloration, odours or other perceivable characteristics. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both the prey, since both avoid potential harm; the term was coined by Edward Bagnall Poulton for Alfred Russel Wallace's concept of warning coloration. Aposematism is exploited in Müllerian mimicry, where species with strong defences evolve to resemble one another. By mimicking coloured species, the warning signal to predators is shared, causing them to learn more at less of a cost to each of the species. A genuine aposematic signal that a species possesses chemical or physical defences is not the only way to deter predators.
In Batesian mimicry, a mimicking species resembles an aposematic model enough to share the protection, while many species have bluffing deimatic displays which may startle a predator long enough to enable an otherwise undefended prey to escape. The term aposematism was coined by the English zoologist Edward Bagnall Poulton in his 1890 book The Colours of Animals, he based the term on the Ancient Greek words ἀπό apo away, ση̑μα sēma sign, referring to signs that warn other animals away. The function of aposematism is to prevent attack, by warning potential predators that the prey animal has defences such as being unpalatable or poisonous; the detected warning is a primary defence mechanism, the non-visible defences are secondary. Aposematic signals are visual, using bright colours and high-contrast patterns such as stripes. Warning signals are honest indications of noxious prey, because conspicuousness evolves in tandem with noxiousness. Thus, the brighter and more conspicuous the organism, the more toxic it is.
This is in contrast to deimatic displays, which attempt to startle a predator with a threatening appearance but which are bluffing, unsupported by any strong defences. The most common and effective colours are red, yellow and white; these colours provide strong contrast with green foliage, resist changes in shadow and lighting, are chromatic, provide distance dependent camouflage. Some forms of warning coloration provide this distance dependent camouflage by having an effective pattern and colour combination that do not allow for easy detection by a predator from a distance, but are warning-like from a close proximity, allowing for an advantageous balance between camouflage and aposematism. Warning coloration evolves in response to background, light conditions, predator vision. Visible signals may be accompanied by odours, sounds or behaviour to provide a multi-modal signal, more detected by predators. Unpalatability, broadly understood, can be created in a variety of ways; some insects such as the ladybird or tiger moth contain bitter-tasting chemicals, while the skunk produces a noxious odour, the poison glands of the poison dart frog, the sting of a velvet ant or neurotoxin in a black widow spider make them dangerous or painful to attack.
Tiger moths advertise their unpalatability by either producing ultrasonic noises which warn bats to avoid them, or by warning postures which expose brightly coloured body parts, or exposing eyespots. Velvet ants such as Dasymutilla occidentalis both have bright colours and produce audible noises when grabbed, which serve to reinforce the warning. Among mammals, predators can be dissuaded when a smaller animal is aggressive and able to defend itself, as for example in honey badgers. Aposematism is widespread in insects, but less so in vertebrates, being confined to a smaller number of reptile and fish species, some foul-smelling or aggressive mammals. Pitohuis and black birds whose toxic feathers and skin comes from the poisonous beetles they ingest, could be included, it has been proposed that aposematism played a significant role in human evolution. The most numerous aposematic vertebrates are the poison dart frogs; these neotropical anuran amphibians exhibit a wide spectrum of toxicity. Some species in this poison frog family are conspicuously colored and sequester one of the most toxic alkaloids among all living species.
Within the same family, there are cryptic frogs that lack these toxic alkaloids. Although these frogs display an extensive array of coloration and toxicity, there is little genetic difference between the species. Evolution of their conspicuous coloration is correlated to traits such as chemical defense, dietary specialization, increased body mass; some plants are thought to employ aposematism to warn herbivores of unpalatable chemicals or physical defences such as prickled leaves or thorns. Many insects, such as cinnabar moth caterpillars, acquire toxic chemicals from their host plants. Among mammals and zorillas advertise their foul-smelling chemical defences with contrasting black-and-white patterns on their fur, while the similarly-patterned badger and honey badger advertise their sharp claws, powerful jaws, aggressive natures; some brightly coloured birds such as passerines with contrasting patterns may be aposematic, at least in females.
Synonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that goes by a different scientific name, although the term is used somewhat differently in the zoological code of nomenclature. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies; this name is no longer in use: it is now a synonym of the current scientific name, Picea abies. Unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms have a different status. For any taxon with a particular circumscription and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation: it is always an alternative to a different scientific name. Given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name, one taxonomist's synonym may be another taxonomist's correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is named more than once, independently.
They may arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to become one, a species is moved to a different genus, a variety is moved to a different species, etc. Synonyms come about when the codes of nomenclature change, so that older names are no longer acceptable. To the general user of scientific names, in fields such as agriculture, ecology, general science, etc. A synonym is a name, used as the correct scientific name but, displaced by another scientific name, now regarded as correct, thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as "a taxonomic name which has the same application as another one, superseded and is no longer valid." In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have synonyms mentioned as such after the current scientific name, so as to avoid confusion. For example, if the much advertised name change should go through and the scientific name of the fruit fly were changed to Sophophora melanogaster, it would be helpful if any mention of this name was accompanied by "".
Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the term "synonym" in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes: they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural. A name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature. Speaking in general, name changes for nomenclatural reasons have become less frequent over time as the rules of nomenclature allow for names to be conserved, so as to promote stability of scientific names. In zoological nomenclature, codified in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names of the same taxonomic rank that pertain to that same taxon. For example, a particular species could, over time, have had two or more species-rank names published for it, while the same is applicable at higher ranks such as genera, orders, etc.
In each case, the earliest published name is called the senior synonym, while the name is the junior synonym. In the case where two names for the same taxon have been published the valid name is selected accorded to the principle of the first reviser such that, for example, of the names Strix scandiaca and Strix noctua, both published by Linnaeus in the same work at the same date for the taxon now determined to be the snowy owl, the epithet scandiaca has been selected as the valid name, with noctua becoming the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest published name, the senior synonym, by default takes precedence in naming rights and therefore, unless other restrictions interfere, must be used for the taxon. However, junior synonyms are still important to document, because if the earliest name cannot be used the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. For other purposes, if a researcher is interested in consulting or compiling all known information regarding a taxon, some of this may well have been published under names now regarded as outdated and so it is again useful to know a list of historic synonyms which may have been used for a given current taxon name.
Objective synonyms refer to taxa with same rank. This may be species-group taxa of the same rank with the same type specimen, genus-group taxa of the same rank with the same type species or if their type species are themselves objective synonyms, of family-group taxa with the same type genus, etc. In the case of subjective synonyms, there is no such shared type, so the synonymy is open to taxonomic judgement, meaning that th
Vagrantini
Vagrantini is a tribe of butterflies in the subfamily Heliconiinae found from east Africa over the Indian subcontinent to eastern Asia and Australia. Listed in alphabetical order: Algia Herrich-Schäffer, 1864 Algiachroa Parsons, 1989 Cirrochroa Doubleday, 1847 – yeomen Cupha Billberg, 1820 Lachnoptera Doubleday, 1847 Phalanta Horsfield, 1829 – leopards Smerina Hewitson, 1874 Terinos Boisduval, 1836 Vagrans Hemming, 1934 Vindula Hemming, 1934
Phylogenetics
In biology, phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms. These relationships are discovered through phylogenetic inference methods that evaluate observed heritable traits, such as DNA sequences or morphology under a model of evolution of these traits; the result of these analyses is a phylogeny – a diagrammatic hypothesis about the history of the evolutionary relationships of a group of organisms. The tips of a phylogenetic tree can be living organisms or fossils, represent the "end", or the present, in an evolutionary lineage. Phylogenetic analyses have become central to understanding biodiversity, evolution and genomes. Taxonomy is the identification and classification of organisms, it is richly informed by phylogenetics, but remains a methodologically and logically distinct discipline. The degree to which taxonomies depend on phylogenies differs depending on the school of taxonomy: phenetics ignores phylogeny altogether, trying to represent the similarity between organisms instead.
Usual methods of phylogenetic inference involve computational approaches implementing the optimality criteria and methods of parsimony, maximum likelihood, MCMC-based Bayesian inference. All these depend upon an implicit or explicit mathematical model describing the evolution of characters observed. Phenetics, popular in the mid-20th century but now obsolete, used distance matrix-based methods to construct trees based on overall similarity in morphology or other observable traits, assumed to approximate phylogenetic relationships. Prior to 1950, phylogenetic inferences were presented as narrative scenarios; such methods are ambiguous and lack explicit criteria for evaluating alternative hypotheses. The term "phylogeny" derives from the German Phylogenie, introduced by Haeckel in 1866, the Darwinian approach to classification became known as the "phyletic" approach. During the late 19th century, Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory, or "biogenetic fundamental law", was accepted, it was expressed as "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny", i.e. the development of a single organism during its lifetime, from germ to adult, successively mirrors the adult stages of successive ancestors of the species to which it belongs.
But this theory has long been rejected. Instead, ontogeny evolves – the phylogenetic history of a species cannot be read directly from its ontogeny, as Haeckel thought would be possible, but characters from ontogeny can be used as data for phylogenetic analyses. 14th century, lex parsimoniae, William of Ockam, English philosopher and Franciscan friar, but the idea goes back to Aristotle, precursor concept 1763, Bayesian probability, Rev. Thomas Bayes, precursor concept 18th century, Pierre Simon first to use ML, precursor concept 1809, evolutionary theory, Philosophie Zoologique, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, precursor concept, foreshadowed in the 17th century and 18th century by Voltaire and Leibniz, with Leibniz proposing evolutionary changes to account for observed gaps suggesting that many species had become extinct, others transformed, different species that share common traits may have at one time been a single race foreshadowed by some early Greek philosophers such as Anaximander in the 6th century BC and the atomists of the 5th century BC, who proposed rudimentary theories of evolution 1837, Darwin's notebooks show an evolutionary tree 1843, distinction between homology and analogy, Richard Owen, precursor concept 1858, Paleontologist Heinrich Georg Bronn published a hypothetical tree to illustrating the paleontological "arrival" of new, similar species following the extinction of an older species.
Bronn did not propose a mechanism responsible for precursor concept. 1858, elaboration of evolutionary theory and Wallace in Origin of Species by Darwin the following year, precursor concept 1866, Ernst Haeckel, first publishes his phylogeny-based evolutionary tree, precursor concept 1893, Dollo's Law of Character State Irreversibility, precursor concept 1912, ML recommended and popularized by Ronald Fisher, precursor concept 1921, Tillyard uses term "phylogenetic" and distinguishes between archaic and specialized characters in his classification system 1940, term "clade" coined by Lucien Cuénot 1949, Jackknife resampling, Maurice Quenouille, precursor concept 1950, Willi Hennig's classic formalization 1952, William Wagner's groundplan divergence method 1953, "cladogenesis" coined 1960, "cladistic" coined by Cain and Harrison 1963, first attempt to use ML for phylogenetics and Cavalli-Sforza 1965 Camin-Sokal parsimony, first parsimony criterion and first computer program/algorithm for cladistic analysis both by Camin and Sokal character compatibility method called clique analysis, introduced independently by Camin and Sokal and E. O. Wilson 1966 English translation of Hennig "cladistics" and "cladogram" coined 1969 dynamic and successive wei
