LIFE IN A DROP OF WATER

Acroperus harpae (Baird, 1834), Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Crustacea, Order Cladocerans Plankton (from greek πλαγκτόν, that vagabond) is the category that includes the ecological complex of aquatic floating organisms, not being able to actively directing their movement (at least in the horizontal direction), are passively transported by currents and wave action.…

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A COMPLICATED GROWTH…

Among the various life cycles of the myriad of forms of life, certainly the Jellyfish (Phylum Cnidaria, Class Scyphozoa) is one of the most extravagant. They, in fact, represent only the sexual planktonic phase of a small benthic polyp, that during the winter is fixed to the substrate, in the…

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GHOST OF THE WOODS

Photography: exuviae of Cicadidae (Westwood, 1840) Family of insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha, infraorder Cicadomorpha. Probably all of us know the cicada primarily for its particularly strong and, for some, annoying buzz audible in the hot summer days (and nights). They are males who “chirp” (emit), indeed…

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BORN TO BE SURVEYORS!

The Geometridae, from Latin geometres that means surveyors, (Geometridae, Leach, 1815) are a family of Lepidoptera (butterflies), which includes about 21,000 species. Most have cryptic drawing and coloring, suitable for camouflage in the environment, but some, such as those of the genus Abraxas, have vibrant aposematic colors, to warn predators to…

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INSIDE AN INSECT EYE

The eye of Insects is of two types: simple eyes or ocelli and compound eyes. Typically, the two types coexist, but one, the other or both may be lacking. The ocelli are divided into dorsal and lateral ocelli. The former normally coexist with the compound eyes and are three in…

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