Black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata)

Susana or black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata) is a species of plant in the Acanthaceae, perennial vines, stems wrapped around other plants up to 5 meters long in warmer zones, heart or arrow-shaped leaves.

T. alata has cylindrical stems with linear angles, branched, green or reddish, full of white hairs 1-2 mm long, creeping on the ground or wrapped around other plants for vertical climbing.

Leaves heart or arrow-shaped, 3-8 cm long, 3 cm wide, wavy edges, both surfaces hairy. The leaf blades sit on the stalk, 6 cm long and attach at a distance of 4-13 cm on the axis of the stem and are 1 cm thick.

Star flowers, mostly yellow to orange, 5 petals and 8 cm long inflorescence axis. The crown tube is 2 cm long in the middle and is black-purple in color. The single flower has 2 bracts, triangular to oblong in shape, hairs that taper outward, 18-20 mm long and 9-10 mm wide.

Petals serrated, 2 mm long, 15-17 lobe-shaped awl. The crown tube is 4 cm long and shows 5 large crown lobes measuring 2 cm in diameter with a capillary bud on the outside. The fruit has a length of 16-18 mm, smooth hair, 7 mm in diameter. Four seeds and 3.5 mm. Seeds germinate easily in humus-rich soil with little sand.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Acanthaceae
Subfamily: Thunbergioideae
Genus: Thunbergia
Species: Thunbergia alata

Temulawak (Curcuma zanthorrhiza)

Temulawak or Java ginger or Javanese ginger or Javanese turmeric or Curcuma xanthorrhiza ( Curcuma zanthorrhiza ) is a plant species in Zingiberaceae, grows well in loose soil in tropical forests in the lowlands to an altitude of 1500 meters above sea level and tubers are used for medicinal herbs and drinks. C. zanthorrhiza has pseudo stems up to 2 m tall. The stem is a midrib of upright, overlapping leaves, green or dark brown in color. Rhizomes are perfectly formed, large, branched and reddish brown, dark yellow or dark green. Each bud forms 2-9 leaves with a circular shape extending to lancet, green or light purple to dark brown, leaves 31-84 cm long and 10-18 cm wide, stems 43-80 cm long and each strand is connected with a midrib. Flowers are dark yellow, uniquely shaped and clustered with lateral inflorescences. The stems and scales are in the form of lines, 9-23cm long and 4-6cm wide, having protectors with comparable crowns. Petals are white, hairy and 8-13mm long. The...

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Bright white flat-backed millipede (Trichopeltis jiyue) like moon emerging from behind dark rain clouds

NEWS - Bright white flat-backed millipede ( Trichopeltis jiyue sp. nov.) from Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, is the second recorded epigean species of Trichopeltis Pocock 1894 in China. Jiyue (Chinese spelling) refers to the bright white appearance of the animal, like the moon emerging from behind dark rain clouds. Polydesmida is one of the most diverse orders of Diplopoda (millipedes) with about 5000 species in 30 families and is widely distributed worldwide. All Polydesmida are blind, eyeless and metaterga usually show small to prominent lateral paranota or paraterga. Cryptodesmidae Karsch 1880 is a family Polydesmida with about 40 genera and 130 species distributed in the Neotropics (Mexico to Argentina), Afrotropics (continental sub-Saharan Africa) and Asia-Australasia (Central Asia and the Himalayas to Japan and Papua New Guinea). In tropical or subtropical Asia and Australasia, 12 genera and 36 species have been documented in Cryptodesmidae. Trichopeltis P...

Dlium