Furcated tortoise beetle (Aspidimorpha furcata)

Furcated tortoise beetle (Aspidimorpha furcata) is a species of animal in the Chrysomelidae, winged, arboreal insect, having a round, transparent glass shield that covers the entire upper body.

The protective shield of the head is semicircular. The dorsal shield is circular and divided into two for each wing on the left and right.

The body is cylindrical, golden red or copper in color and shiny. A pair of golden red antennae with black tips.

An adult female produces about 150 eggs for 70-80 days. The grub stage is about 8-9 days and the pupa stage is about 4 days. This species inhabits bushes in forests, farmlands and open areas with lots of sunlight.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Superfamily: Chrysomeloidea
Family: Chrysomelidae
Subfamily: Cassidinae
Tribe: Aspidimorphini
Genus: Aspidimorpha
Species: Aspidimorpha furcata

Purhepecha oak (Quercus purhepecha), new species of shrub oak endemic to the state of Michoacán, Mexico

NEWS - In Mexico, several Quercus shrubby species are taxonomically very problematic including 8 taxa with similar characteristics. Now researchers report the purhepecha oak ( Quercus purhepecha De Luna-Bonilla, S. Valencia & Coombes sp. nov.) as a new tomentose shrubby white oak species with a distribution only in the Cuitzeo basin in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). Quercus Linnaeus (1753) subdivided into 2 subgenera and 8 sections of which section Quercus (white oaks) has the widest distribution in the Americas, Asia and Europe. This section is very diverse in Mexico and Central America with phylogenomic evidence indicating recent and accelerated speciation in these regions. The number of shrubby oak species in Mexico is still uncertain. De Luna-Bonilla of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues found at least 3 taxa in the TMVB, specifically Quercus frutex Trelease (1924), Quercus microphylla Née (1801) and Quercus repanda Bonpland (1809). In 2016,...

Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar (Amanita javanica)

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