1.
Whooper swan
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The Whooper Swan, pronounced hooper swan, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, francis Willughby and John Ray’s Ornithology of 1676 referred to this swan as “the Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan”. The scientific name is from cygnus, the Latin for “swan”, the whooper swan is similar in appearance to the Bewicks swan. It is larger, however, at a length of 140–165 cm, weight typically is in the range of 7. 4–14 kg, with an average of 9. 8–11.4 kg for males and 8. 2–9.2 kg for females. The verified record mass was 15.5 kg for a male from Denmark. It is considered to be amongst the heaviest flying birds, among standard measurements, the wing chord is 56. 2–63.5 cm, the tarsus is 10. 4–13 cm and the bill is 9. 2–11.6 cm. It has an angular head shape and a more variable bill pattern that always shows more yellow than black. Like their close relatives, whooper swans are vocal birds with a similar to the trumpeter swan. Whooper swans require large areas of water to live in, especially when they are still growing, the whooper swan spends much of its time swimming, straining the water for food, or eating plants that grow on the bottom. Whooper swans have a deep honking call and, despite their size, are powerful fliers, Whooper swans can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles to their wintering sites in southern Europe and eastern Asia. They breed in subarctic Eurasia, further south than Bewicks in the taiga zone. They are rare breeders in northern Scotland, particularly in Orkney, and no more than five pairs have bred there in recent years and this bird is an occasional vagrant to the Indian Subcontinent and western North America. Icelandic breeders overwinter in the United Kingdom and Ireland, especially in the nature reserves of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and of the Wildfowl. Whooper swans pair for life, and their cygnets stay with them all winter and their preferred breeding habitat is wetland, but semi-domesticated birds will build a nest anywhere close to water. Both the male and female build the nest, and the male will stand guard over the nest while the female incubates. The female will usually lay 4–7 eggs, the cygnets hatch after about 36 days and have a grey or brown plumage. The cygnets can fly at an age of 120 to 150 days, when whooper swans prepare to go on a flight as a flock, they use a variety of signaling movements to communicate with each other. These movements include head bobs, head shakes, and wing flaps and influence whether the flock will take flight and if so, Whooper swans that signaled with these movements in large groups were found to be able to convince their flock to follow them 61% of the time
2.
Species
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In biology, a species is the basic unit of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. While this definition is often adequate, looked at more closely it is problematic, for example, with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, or in a ring species, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear. Other ways of defining species include similarity of DNA, morphology, all species are given a two-part name, a binomial. The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs, the second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet. For example, Boa constrictor is one of four species of the Boa genus, Species were seen from the time of Aristotle until the 18th century as fixed kinds that could be arranged in a hierarchy, the great chain of being. In the 19th century, biologists grasped that species could evolve given sufficient time, Charles Darwins 1859 book The Origin of Species explained how species could arise by natural selection. Genes can sometimes be exchanged between species by horizontal transfer, and species may become extinct for a variety of reasons. In his biology, Aristotle used the term γένος to mean a kind, such as a bird or fish, a kind was distinguished by its attributes, for instance, a bird has feathers, a beak, wings, a hard-shelled egg, and warm blood. A form was distinguished by being shared by all its members, Aristotle believed all kinds and forms to be distinct and unchanging. His approach remained influential until the Renaissance, when observers in the Early Modern period began to develop systems of organization for living things, they placed each kind of animal or plant into a context. Many of these early delineation schemes would now be considered whimsical, animals likewise that differ specifically preserve their distinct species permanently, one species never springs from the seed of another nor vice versa. In the 18th century, the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus classified organisms according to shared physical characteristics and he established the idea of a taxonomic hierarchy of classification based upon observable characteristics and intended to reflect natural relationships. At the time, however, it was widely believed that there was no organic connection between species, no matter how similar they appeared. However, whether or not it was supposed to be fixed, by the 19th century, naturalists understood that species could change form over time, and that the history of the planet provided enough time for major changes. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, in his 1809 Zoological Philosophy, described the transmutation of species, proposing that a species could change over time, in 1859, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace provided a compelling account of evolution and the formation of new species. Darwin argued that it was populations that evolved, not individuals and this required a new definition of species. Darwin concluded that species are what appear to be, ideas
3.
Type (biology)
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In biology, a type is a particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralize the defining features of that particular taxon, in older usage, a type was a taxon rather than a specimen. Types are of significance to biologists, especially to taxonomists. Types are usually physical specimens that are kept in a museum or herbarium research collection, but failing that, describing species and appointing type specimens is part of scientific nomenclature and alpha taxonomy. If there is more than one named type that all appear to be the same taxon, then the oldest name takes precedence, and is considered to be the correct name of the material in hand. If on the hand the taxon appears never to have been named at all, then the scientist or another qualified expert picks a type specimen and publishes a new name. This process is crucial to the science of biological taxonomy, peoples ideas of how living things should be grouped change and shift over time. How do we know that what we call Canis lupus is the thing, or approximately the same thing. Depending on the nomenclature applied to the organism in question, a type can be a specimen, a culture. Some codes consider a subordinate taxon to be the type, for example, in the research collection of the Natural History Museum in London, there is a bird specimen numbered 1886.6.24.20. This is a specimen of a kind of commonly known as the spotted harrier. This particular specimen is the holotype for that species, the name Circus assimilis refers, by definition and that species was named and described by Jardine and Selby in 1828, and the holotype was placed in the museum collection so that other scientists might refer to it as necessary. Note that at least for type specimens there is no requirement for an individual to be used. The usage of the type is somewhat complicated by slightly different uses in botany. In the PhyloCode, type-based definitions are replaced by phylogenetic definitions, in some older taxonomic works the word type has sometimes been used differently. … Après avoir étudié ces diverses formes, jen arrivai à les considérer comme appartenant à un seul et même type spécifique, translation, This single character permits distinguish this type from all other species of the section. After studying the diverse forms, I came to them as belonging to the one. In botanical nomenclature, a type, is that element to which the name of a taxon is permanently attached, in botany a type is either a specimen or an illustration
4.
Land snail
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A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to sea snails and freshwater snails. Land snail is the name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells. The majority of land snails are pulmonates and that is, they have a lung and breathe air. A minority however belong to more ancient lineages where their anatomy includes a gill. Many of these land snails live in habitats or microhabitats that are sometimes damp or wet. Land snails have a muscular foot, they use mucus to enable them to crawl over rough surfaces. Like other mollusks, land snails have a mantle, and they have one or two pairs of tentacles on their head and their internal anatomy includes a radula and a primitive brain. In terms of reproduction, the majority of land snails are hermaphrodite, tiny snails hatch out of the egg with a small shell in place, and the shell grows spirally as the soft parts gradually increase in size. Most land snails have shells that are right-handed in their coiling, Land snails move by gliding along on their muscular foot, which is lubricated with mucus and covered with epithelial cilia. This motion is powered by succeeding waves of contractions that move down the ventral of the foot. This muscular action is visible when a snail is crawling on the glass of a window or aquarium. Snails move at a low speed. Snails secrete mucus externally to keep their bodies from drying out. The mucus that land snails secrete with the leaves a slime trail behind them. Snails also have a mantle, a layer of tissue which covers all of the internal organs as they are grouped together in the visceral mass. The mantle also extends outward in flaps which reach to the edge of the shell and in some cases can cover the shell, the mantle is attached to the shell, and creates the shell and makes shell growth possible by secretion. A lack of calcium, or low pH in their surroundings, can result in thin, cracked, usually a snail can repair damage to its shell over time if its living conditions improve, but severe damage can be fatal. When retracted into their shells, many snails with gills are able to protect themselves with a door-like anatomical structure called an operculum, Land snails range greatly in size
5.
Hypericum
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Hypericum /ˌhaɪˈpiːrᵻkəm/ is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae. Hypericum is unusual for a genus of its size because a worldwide taxonomic monograph was produced for it by Norman Robson, Robson recognizes 36 sections within Hypericum. The genus has a worldwide distribution, missing only from tropical lowlands, deserts. All members of the genus may be referred to as St. Johns wort, the white or pink flowered marsh St. Johns-worts of North American and eastern Asia are nowadays separated into the genus Triadenum. There are 490 individual species in the genus, hypericums vary from herbaceous annual or perennials 5–10 cm tall to shrubs and small trees up to 12 m tall. The leaves are opposite, simple oval, 1–8 cm long, the flowers vary from pale to dark yellow, and from 0. 5–6 cm in diameter, with five petals, most having prominent stamens. The fruit is usually a dry capsule which splits to release the small seeds. Some species are used as ornamental plants and have large, showy flowers, numerous hybrids and cultivars have been developed for use in horticulture, such as H. × moserianum, H. Hidcote and H. Rowallane. All of the cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit. Hypericum is a genus, containing 400–500 species. Cultivars include Hypericum calycinum Hidcote and Hypericum perforatum Anthos, Hypericum is broken up into 36 sections, each with its own subsections and species. They include, St. Johns-worts can occur as weeds in farmland. On pastures, some can be more than a nuisance, causing debilitating photosensitivity, Hypericum species are the only known food plants of the caterpillar of the Treble-bar, a species of moth. Other Lepidoptera species whose larvae feed on Hypericum include the common emerald, the engrailed, the grey pug. Common St. Johns-wort has long used in herbalism. Folk usages included oily extract and Hypericum snaps, Hypericum perforatum is the most potent species and it is today grown commercially for use in herbalism and medicine. Two main compounds of interest have been studied in more detail, as psychiatric medication, it is usually taken as pills, or as tea. Standardised preparations are available, and research has mainly studied alcoholic extracts, what research data exists supports a noticeable effect in many cases of light and medium depression, but no significant improvement of severe depression and OCD
6.
Holotype
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A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants and ICZN the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept. For example, the holotype for the butterfly Lycaeides idas longinus is a specimen of that species. An isotype is a duplicate of the holotype and is made for plants. A holotype is not necessarily typical of that taxon, although ideally it should be, sometimes just a fragment of an organism is the holotype, particularly in the case of a fossil. For example, the holotype of Pelorosaurus humerocristatus, a herbivorous dinosaur from the early Jurassic period, is a fossil leg bone stored at the Natural History Museum in London. Even if a specimen is subsequently found, the holotype is not superseded. Under the ICN, an additional and clarifying type could be designated, an epitype under Article 9.8, a conserved type is sometimes used to correct a problem with a name which has been misapplied, this specimen replaces the original holotype. In the absence of a holotype, another type may be selected, out of a range of different kinds of type, depending on the case, a lectotype or a neotype. For example, in both the ICN and the ICZN a neotype is a type that was appointed in the absence of the original holotype. This made the name Parasuchus hislopi a nomen dubium, texan paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee proposed that a new type specimen, a complete skeleton, be designated. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature considered the case and agreed to replace the type specimen with the proposed neotype. Type Allotype Paratype Type species Genetypes- genetic sequence data from type specimens, BOA Photographs of type specimens of Neotropical Rhopalocera
7.
Monacha cartusiana
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Monacha cartusiana is a species of small air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies. This is the species of the genus Monacha. The native distribution of species is Atlantic-Mediterranean. It lives in areas including, Great Britain. This species was fully protected in the United Kingdom under the Wildlife, ukraine This species has been accidentally introduced and naturalized in, United States - Newcastle County, Delaware The size of the egg is 1.8 mm
8.
Name-bearing type
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Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the name-bearing type is the biological type that determines the application of a name. Each taxon regulated by the Code at least potentially has a name-bearing type, the name-bearing type can be either a type genus, type species, or one or more type specimens. The family group includes the superfamily and all ranks below it and above the genus, including the family. The genus group consists of the genus and subgenus, a genus described after 1930 must have its type species fixed when first named, in taxa described earlier without such an explicit designation, the type species can be fixed subsequently. For example, the skink genus Euprepis contained nine species when first described by Wagler in 1830, accordingly, Euprepis is now a subjective synonym of Mabuya and the mostly African group Mausfeld and others incorrectly called Euprepis is known as Trachylepis. The species group includes species and subspecies, a name-bearing type of a species-group taxon is an actual specimen or set of specimens, the Code recommends that great care should be exercised to ensure the preservation of such specimens. It can either be designated in the establishing the name or designated later. In the former case, there is either a single name-bearing type, in species named before 2000 without explicit designation of a holotype, all specimens in the type series are considered as syntypes. Name-bearing types designated after the publication include lectotypes and neotypes. If a taxon has syntypes, one of those can be selected as the lectotype, a neotype may be designated to replace the previous name-bearing type when the original type is lost or by application to the Commission when the previous name-bearing type cannot be identified. If an illustration or description is used as the basis of a species, glossary of scientific naming References to Code refer to the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature. On the identity of Lacerta punctata Linnaeus 1758, the species of the genus Euprepis Wagler 1830. Mammal Species of the World, a taxonomic and geographic reference, 3rd ed. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press,2 vols. 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0 Holthuis, L. B, original watercolours donated by Cornelius Sittardus to Conrad Gesner, and published by Gesner in his works on aquatic animals. London, The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, ISBN 0-85301-006-4 Mausfeld, P. and Vrcibradic, D.2002. On the nomenclature of the skink endemic to the western Atlantic archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, miralles, A. Chaparro, J. C. and Harvey, M. B. Three rare and enigmatic South American skinks, musser, G. G. and Carleton, M. D.2005. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D. E. and Reeder, mammal Species of the World, a taxonomic and geographic reference
9.
Paratype
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In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype. Often there is more than one paratype, paratypes are usually held in museum research collections. The exact meaning of the term paratype when it is used in zoology is not the same as the meaning when it is used in botany, in both cases however, this term is used in conjunction with holotype. In zoological nomenclature, a paratype is officially defined as Each specimen of a series other than the holotype. In turn, this relies on the definition of a type series. Thus, in a series of five specimens, if one is the holotype. A paratype may originate from a different locality than the holotype, a paratype cannot become a lectotype, though it is eligible for designation as a neotype. Apart from species exhibiting sexual dimorphism, relatively few authors take the trouble to designate such a specimen. It is not uncommon for an allotype to be a member of a different species from the holotype. In botanical nomenclature, a paratype is a specimen cited in the description that may not have been said to be a type. It is not the holotype nor an isotype, if no types were specified, then all specimens cited are syntypes. If more than one specimen was cited as the type, then they are all syntypes, the author may choose to designate paratypes that could help subsequent botanists to know what collections were examined and considered part of the same taxon. Another specimen that shows different characteristics of the species from those shown by the holotype might be listed as a paratype. For example, a specimen from the same tree taken at a different time of year, or if the holotype is of one sex, like other types, a paratype may be specified for taxa at the rank of family or below. A paratype may be designated as a lectotype if no holotype, isotype, syntype, biological type Scientific name Binomial nomenclature
