Prickly fanpetals (Sida spinosa)

Prickly fanpetals (Sida spinosa) is plant species in the Malvaceae, annual or perennial shrubs, erect, up to 1 meter tall, woody stems, cylindrical, branched, rootstock light brown and leathery, scion green or reddish.

S. spinosa has leaves with stalks 2-20 mm long and 1-3 spiny tubercles on the stem at the base of the petiole. The blade is 0.5-4 cm long, 0.3-2.5 cm wide, elongated, oval or slightly rounded at the base, the margins are serrated and tapered at the tip.

The flowers grow in the axils of the leaves, fan-shaped, 5 lobes, white or yellow, the pistil and the middle are yellow.

The fruit is globose, pubescent on top, cracked at the apex but the seeds are detached from the crushed base. Seeds are 1.5 mm long, glabrous and brown to black.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Malvoideae
Tribe: Malveae
Genus: Sida
Species: Sida spinosa

Molucca albizia (Falcataria moluccana)

Sengon laut or Molucca albizia ( Falcataria moluccana ) is a species of wood-producing trees in Fabaceae, claimed to have the fastest growth in the world with the addition of a height of 7 m/year, producing white light wood for light construction, packing crates, particle boards and blockboards. F. moluccana has a height of 40 m and a diameter of 100 cm or more, the main stem is generally straight and cylindrical with clear bole up to 20 m. The bark is gray or whitish, smooth or slightly warted with a line of lenticels. Shady canopy, umbrella-shaped and tenuous. Young twigs have sides and hair. Double pinnate compound leaves, small minor leaves, easily fall out with one or more glands on the stem and length 23-30 cm. Leaf fins number 6-20 pairs, each containing 6-26 pairs of elliptical or elongated minor leaves with a very tilted, pointed tip, 0.6-1.8x0.5 cm. Small flowers, yellowish white, hairy, androgynous, collected in branched panicles, 10-25 cm long and located in the arm...

Six new species forming the Sumbana species group in genus Nemophora Hoffmannsegg 1798 from Indonesia

NEWS - Sumbawa longhorn ( Nemophora sumbana Kozlov, sp. nov.), Timor longhorn ( Nemophora timorella Kozlov, sp. nov.), shining shade longhorn ( Nemophora umbronitidella Kozlov, sp. nov.), Wegner longhorn ( Nemophora wegneri Kozlov, sp. nov.), long brush longhorn ( Nemophora longipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.), and short brush longhorn ( Nemophora brevipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.) from the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. The Lesser Sunda Islands consist of two parallel, linear oceanic island chains, including Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Sawu, Timor, Alor, and Tanimbar. The oldest of these islands have been continuously occurring for 10–12 million years. This long period of isolation has allowed significant in situ diversification, making the Lesser Sundas home to many endemic species. This island chain may act as a two-way filter for organisms migrating between the world's two great biogeographic regions, Asia and Australia-Papua. The recognition of a striking cli...

Banded dragonfish (Akarotaxis gouldae) diverged from Akarotaxis nudiceps 780,000 years ago

NEWS - A new species of dragonfish, Akarotaxis gouldae or banded dragonfish, off the western Antarctic Peninsula by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at Gloucester Point, the University of Oregon at Eugene, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, highlights the unknown biodiversity and fragile ecosystems of the Antarctic. A. gouldae was named in honor of the Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel (ARSV) Laurence M. Gould and crew. The larval specimen was collected while trawling for zooplankton and was initially thought to be the closely related Akarotaxis nudiceps hundreds of thousands of years ago. DNA comparisons with A. nudiceps specimens held in collections at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Yale University, and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris showed significant variation in mitochondrial genes that suggested the larval sample was a distinct species. Andrew Corso of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and colle...

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