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Spider identification assistance Phoenix
Anyone know what kind of spider this is? They seem to be in the walls of my house...

LocationL Phoenix, AZ, USA

That's a nice silhouette of a male Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis.  That bizarre body, with the gigantic, forward-projecting, 'jackknife' chelicerae is unique and unmistakable.  These are quite harmless spiders.  A link to some useful information is below:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/26400

Sure does look like a Hobo spider but your photos don't show everything more
Photos could possibly pinpoint the spider and try to stay away this spiders could be a serious concern(really serious) and they're known to bite you even though you're not doing anything


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What is this plant growing on Asian spider-flower?
I found a densely-clustered plant (circled in red in photo) growing on top of an Asian spider-flower. I know what Asian spider-flower looks like. I'm in Chennai, India. What type of plant is this?

(Click the Image to enlarge it)

can you post a closer picture?

@AlwaysConfused I added new image.

@user33380 typically plants are very difficult if not impossible to identify without close-up pictures of leaves, stems, flowers, and/or fruits. If you can take any up-close pictures, you'll likely have much better luck getting this plant identified. See here for more hints regarding asking good [tag:species-identification] questions. Thanks.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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Water-bird that can take off vertically from the water?
If you look at ducks taking off, they take off at a pretty flat angle, building up speed before they finally get some altitude. This takes a lot of distance, it seems, for them to get high in the air.
But this lead to a question. Are there water birds that, sitting on the water, take off at a more vertical angle without the long run-up?
The best I can think of are flamingos, who cheat by having their feet on the ground, in the shallow waters. Some birds will dive into the water, grab a fish, then fly out at a high angle, but that's a bit different from sitting on the water then taking off.
Many birds are able to perform a vertical or near-vertical takeoff, on dry ground. Can any birds do this while sitting on the water?

I think this question is receiving inappropriate close votes. There is nothing opinion-based about this question.

Too bad you stipulate "sitting on the water"; that limits it to aquatic birds. A kingfisher can come up out of the water almost vertically.

Oh, the pitfalls of commenting! It's not a tradition; that's a pretty arrogant assumption. I downvote you occassionally, and only when you give a bad answer, like the one you deleted yesterday (?) or the day before.

Excuses, excuses.

Yes. A duck can be observed taking off near-vertically from the water's surface in this video. Watch the first duck to take off (from about 0:08). Immediately after take-off, the duck has a very low horizontal speed, and works to gain speed by a combination of flapping and vertically beating its tail. The full process is as follows:
Beat 1: The duck gives a sudden start. Both wings are beaten once on the water's surface to take advantage of the extra resistance the water provides, compared to air. The duck presumably also pushes down on the water with its feet below the surface in order to gain extra lift, but this is not visible.
Beat 2: By the start of the second downbeat, the duck's body is clear of the water, but the feet are obscured by spray.
Beat 3: The whole duck is clear of the water, and is gaining some horizontal speed. This wingbeat is accompanied by a clear vertical flap of the tail.
Beats 4 onwards: The duck continues to accelerate horizontally, remaining clear of the water.
Because the duck comes near-vertically off the water's surface, and remains airborne thereafter, I'd define the take-off as vertical, and the subsequent flight as transitioning into a duck's normal near-horizontal flight. Similar take-offs by terns can be seen in this video (but starting from a dive under the water's surface, see from about 1:02).
More generally, many waterbirds can take-off vertically from the water's surface, without requiring a run-up. All that is generally necessary is to face into the wind, and spread their wings. If the sea-surface is basically stationary, but there is wind, then any difference in speed between the air and the water can be exploited to generate lift.
If there is no effective wind (i.e., the water and the air are moving at the same speed), then the birds have to generate the lift for take-off by expending energy. Some species can do this, but it gets harder with increasing body-mass and wing-loading. I have personally observed a juvenile frigatebird (a species that generally weighs around 1 kg, but with very low wing-loading) lifting off vertically from the water's surface on a windless day. Note that frigatebirds would not normally land on the water (their feathers are not waterproof), and trying out a water landing seems to have been a play behaviour on the part of the juvenile.

Love that you actually address water birds. I would upvote you, but your video doesn't support your statement about it. Maybe some literature or a different video? The question is, 'Can any birds achieve a vertical or near-vertical takeof while sitting on the water?' There are birs that can leave the water at a vertical/near vertical direction: kingfishers and penguins, for example. But they aren't starting by sitting on the water.

@anongoodnurse the OP has asked the question in two forms - the one you highlight, and the softer "Are there water birds that, sitting on the water, take off at a more vertical angle without the long run-up?". The video unambiguously answers the 'soft' version, and if the lift-off is defined as the act of getting into the air, given sustained flight after that (as in my definition), I believe it also answers the 'hard' version that you have highlighted.

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What is this stick-like creature?
My wife noticed this on her trousers immediately after coming home - probably acquired after brushing past a bush. It's about one inch long, and does not move much - but when poked it will flex and appear to try to roll.
It looks for all the world like a stick - but I've googled "stick insect", and this doesn't seem to have enough (or the right kind of) legs.
We live in England, in a suburban setting. We both work in offices and don't have a lot of contact with nature.
Could it be a thorn moth larva?
Apologies for the quality of the photo; I can try to take a better one if it would help to get another angle.

Have just observed this same species here in Muskoka ,Ontario ,Canada .Never have come across this type of stick( almost slug like) creature with 4 lower stubby leg like appendages long body with two small eyes on top of the head. Almost giraffe like approximately 4 to 5 cms. Long brown with varigated markings gives appearance of bark.

This appears to be an inch-worm, the larval caterpillar stage of a moth (order Lepidoptera) in the  Geometridae family. According to Bugguide (my emphasis):

Larva - generally have only two pairs of prolegs (at the hind end) rather than the usual five pairs in most lepidoptera; the lack of prolegs in the middle of the body necessitates the peculiar method of locomotion, drawing the hind end up to the thoracic legs to form a loop, and then extending the body forward.

The systematics/taxonomy of this group is unclear, debated, and in flux. However, the majority of stick-like larval forms I could find seemed to be associated with the current Ennominae subfamily, which is also the largest of subfamilies in this family of moths.
Müller et al. (2019) just published the 6th volume of "The Geometrid Moths of Europe", which might be a good starting point for IDing this specimen more precisely. A book description from NHBS:

More than half of the European Ennominae, a total of 181 species, plus 21 new species for the European fauna are covered in two hardback parts (with text and plates in separate volumes), including difficult genera...

You could also keep an eye on or alternatively submit an ID request over at Wildlife Insight's Illustrated Guide to British Caterpillars.

Some stick-like examples: brown-variants of Odontopera bidentata, Biston betularia, Crocallis elinguaria, Colotois pennaria, etc. I do not know this group well enough nor is your picture good enough for me to go further than I already have. If you can provide more information or better pictures, I could try to delve in a bit deeper.

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Identification of colorful jelly-like marine creature
I'm on my trip to Gulangyu Island, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China. Today(4th February 2017), at 12:13 A.M., I saw a beach filled with huge rocks on which various dry shells reside. Among the shells, I spotted a colorful eye-like marine creature.

To figure out what it is, I torn it off from the rock. (don't worry, I've put it back after taking this photo)

Also, it feels soft when I poked it, and its size is approximately 1cm to 1cm. Could anybody please tell me what I've found?

You've found a sea anemone, a cnidarian of the Order Actiniaria. In this case, the anemone is closed and thus hiding its characteristic tentacles (likely as a form of protection while "out to dry").
I'm by no means an expert, but my guess is that you have a vertically striped species of the genus Diadumene  -- likely one of many morphotypes of the species Diadumene lineata. I've seen common names vary between "Striped Sea Anemone", "Lined Bead Anemone" and "Orange-Striped Green Anemone."
Here is a double stripe specimen from San Francisco, and below are two pictures from Ria Tan's Wild Singapore image collection:
Closed:

Open:

Without further information regarding size, color/length of tentacles etc., it will be hard for a non-expert like me to find a better answer.
According to the Wikipedia page, this species originated along the Pacific coast of Asia, but has spread more globally from attachment to ship bottoms, oyster shipments, and seaweed farming.
It appears from your picture, that you found your specimen out of water along the shoreline. Again according to the Wikipedia  article:

Diadumene anemones display high tolerance to inter-tidal exposure and drying out in extreme summer heat


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snake identification
While moving large, old oak logs I'd stacked a year ago to form a terraced garden, I noticed it was very moist under the logs.
I saw 5 kingsnakes, a scarlet snake,  a couple of small brown earth snakes and an unidentified snake:

Thicker body than the King snakes, very skinny head, 3-4 feet long, and  almost all brown.

Can you identify the snake?

  Note: Picture taken from about 10 feet away. The debris on the snake pictured is sawdust and wood pieces.
We catch, picture and release kingsnakes, rat snakes and hog nosed snakes all the time, but this one escaped before capture or a good picture. Only one copperhead in 18 years.
Location: Gasconade County, MO (USA; 1 mile from Rosebud, MO).

We have a 1.5 acre pond about 80 yards from the picture site.


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Example of species that went extinct because of excessive hunting by non-humanoid predators?
I was wondering if there were any species that went extinct for being excessively hunted/eaten by predators? I don't mean human hunting. For example, I wish to know if there's a species of frog that are now extinct, because they were driven to extinction by predation by snakes. In fact I'm also OK with examples where a species/class of plant or grass went extinct due to overgrazing? I want to know because I've always heard people say "Nature corrects itself" or "hunting is under control in the natural environment" etc. Is this argument valid?

I've always heard people say "Nature corrects itself" or "hunting is under control in the natural environment"

I wouldn't say that extinction of a species necessarily goes against that. You could call it a 'natural event', and not a problem.

nearly all pre human extinct prey animals must have perished also due to excessive predation. most striking is cats and rats and rabbits through human introduction, for example preying on flightless birds of NZ or natural bridge crossing, which is too long ago to map precisely. like mammals arrived in america, nearly all the marsupials of old america vanished, preyed and outcompeted.

The Brown Tree snake (Boiga irregularis) is responsible for five extinctions on the island of Guam. Some of these species existed only on Guam, while others exist elsewhere and so it is the Guam subspecies that has been lost.
Guam flycatcher (Myiagra freycineti). Last sighted in 1983.
Guam rail (Gallirallus owstoni) is extinct in the wild, but is now bred in captivity and has been introduced to the island of Rota.
Guam kingfisher (Todiramphus cinnamominus) is also extinct in the wild and exists only in a captive breeding program.
Guam flying fox (Pteropus tokudae). Went extinct in the late 1960's possibly as a result of the Brown Tree snake.
I had a suprisingly difficult time obtaining accurate lists of the Guam extinctions.
For an example of overgrazing leading to a local extinction, see St. Matthew island in the Bering Sea. The US Coast Guard introduced reindeer in 1944. By 1963 there were ~6,000. Without any natural predation to control the population, they are considered to have overgrazed, causing a population collapse to 42 by 1965 and no reindeer population by the 1980's.

Could you add your sources to your answer?

WHen new connections form between formerly isolated land masses there is usually a drastic shift in the ecosystem as new hunters and herbivores enter that the native animals have no defense for. Snakes, and rats are not native to many islands, when introduced they often decimate local animals. The same thing happens when humans introduce species. See the brown tree snake in Guam or rabbits in Australia or nile perch in lake Victoria.


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What is the etymology of "moura" in Mourasuchus?
Mourasuchus is a unique species of prehistoric crocodile so far discovered. It is a filter-feeder and has shared its habitat with Gryposuchus and the more fearsome Purussaurus in the Miocene Era --  reptilian counterpart of the Whale shark and Basking shark.

The original description of the species was given in 1964 by Llewellyn Ivor Price in:

Price, L. I. (1964). "Sôbre o crânio de um grande crocodilídeo extinto do alto Rio Juruá, Estado do Acre". An. Acad. Brasileira Ciên. 36 (1): 59–66.

As such, it seems plausible that the name means 'crocodile of Moura', Moura referring to Rio do Moura, a river in the Brazilian state of Acre where the animal's fossils were discovered.

Fossil crocodilians from Colombia and the Cenozoic history of the Crocodilia in South America (Langston, 1965) has the original description of Mourasuchus, so that would be the definitive source and contain the etymology. Unfortunately, copies of that book appear to be rare and the text not available online.
But guessing that "moura" is Latin or greek in origin leads to a promising result. Moura is the feminine of mourus, which comes from the ancient Greek for "black," "dark," or "obscure."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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What type of tree is this?
I photographed this group of trees a couple of years ago at the northern tip of Prudence Island in Narragansett Bay. Any idea what species these are?

Do you have any better pictures (i.e., close-ups of leaves or bark)? Also, what would you estimate their height to be? Any interesting characteristics to note? Did you see any seeds or flowers?

@theforestecologist These are the best photos I have, I'm afraid.  Height maybe 15-20 feet.  I was hoping someone could identify at least down to the family based on the location and overall growth form.

I'll try to give it a closer look then. Orient me real quick - are those flowers or young leaves  at the end of the branches? Is oppositely arranged, which should reduce our options

@theforestecologist Those are young leaves.  The photos were taken in May 2014.

Although it can't be said definitively because of the picture quality, these are actually very likely maple trees. It's possible that they are either Red Maple (Acer rubrum) or sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) trees in spring leafout.

Source
Evidence:

The branches have an opposite arrangement. Very few tree are opposite (see MADHORSE)
The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society claims that red maple is abundant on the northern part of the island.
The Virginia Cooperative Extension provides an incomplete but detailed list of trees that can tolerate salt spray.

Two maples, Acer psudoplatanus and Acer campestre, (which are tolerant of salt spray) are both present as an exotic plant in that region of the country (see BONAP range map 1 and 2)
The Prudence Island flora mentions that A. pseudoplatanus is a common escaped cultivar on the island.

I'm leaning toward Red maple because of the red leaves appearing -- this is more typical of A. rubrum compared to the often more yellowish spring leaves of A. pseudoplatanus.

Note: The salt spray and windy environment will cause these trees (and most vegetation along a coastline) to develop "strange" (often gnarly) tree shapes.


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What effect does a bat's echolocation have on other bats?

Bat echolocation is a perceptual system where ultrasonic sounds are emitted specifically to produce echoes. By comparing the outgoing pulse with the returning echoes, the brain and auditory nervous system can produce detailed images of the bat's surroundings. This allows bats to detect, localize, and even classify their prey in complete darkness. – Echolocation, Wikipedia

Furthermore, we read that:

[ . . . ] these bats contract their middle ear muscles when emitting a call, so they can avoid deafening themselves.

So far, so good. But this gives rise to two questions I've been challenging with. (And unfortunately I seem not to be able to find the correct search terms and I don't get relevant results)
Imagine two bats close together, flying in a distance of, say, 1 meter from each other. As we know, both echolocate in order to perceive the whereabouts of their surroundings. Bat #1 emits ultrasonic waves, but contracts its middle ear muscles so it won't get hurt. I imagine these two bats are close enough to each other for the waves to be harmful to bat #2's hearing as well.
Hence, two problems arise

Either the waves aren't harmful to the other one (I'd love some calculations on this, or hints on how to do some myself) or something's happening to bat #2 that doesn't let the ultrasonic waves damage its hearing. Certainly bat #2 isn't supposed to know when #1 will emit those waves, so what is happening?
Won't the waves bat #1 has emitted affect the waves bat #2 will emit? So, won't this affect bat #2's perception? We've seen many bats flying together in real life with [maybe seemingly] no trouble visualizing the surroundings, so this mustn't be the case, but why?

Maybe somewhere in this search? https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=bat+group+dynamics+and+echolocation&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C33&as_sdtp=

Maybe they can tune the frequency of their hearing to the frequency of emission, as per this paper? http://www.pnas.org/content/107/15/7048.short

Just came across this. Very interesting 1st question!! I had wondered this many years ago and never looked more into it.

Bat echolocation is an incredible and complex process. Bats can emit two kinds of ultrasonic signals. One is a short pulse (less than 5 ms long) that sweeps a wide range of frequencies (100 Hz to 25 kHz) and is referred to as a FM sweep, or a broadband signal. The second kind in a constant frequency (CF) and is much longer in duration (5-30 ms) and held at a specific frequency. In addition to the fundamental frequency there are first and second harmonics. This important for depth perception, pursuit of prey, and location of other bats!
Specifically, bats measure distance by comparing the time between emitted sound pulses and its returning echo. Rapid FM sweeps are especially well suited for target distance so the bat can adjust easily and locate the target. Bats can determine angle, size, elevation, azimuth, and velocity/movement of object from these time and frequency differences as well. Now, bats calculate their own velocity using the Doppler shift concept of their own echos. Meaning, when their signals comes back to them, they compare the amplitude of what their ultrasonic sound wave would be if they weren't moving to the received sound and calculate actual velocity off that (it is a very complicated process and I'm trying to simplify it to get to your question).
Ok, now that is the basics of echo location, but back to your question: What happens when there are multiple bats? Well, when you have many ultrasonic waves going at once, it might get confusing about which is your signal. At least that what you would think. Since the bats have such a wide range of frequencies they can vocally create (100 Hz to 25 k Hz), bats usually simply change the range they are vocalizing to prevent wave disruption. If you do get an overlap of waves from bats using the same frequency, you get something similar to Doppler effect where amplitudes are not what expected. Since they are pretty drastic changes (sometimes even canceling out the wave entirely), and a bat can sense if another bat is around them by calculating the size of the objects producing noise, a bat will know this distortion is due to another bat and not the prey. As a result one bat will have to change their frequency range. This has become sort of a dominance game for them as a result. The bats heightens (I think, might be lower) the frequency of their signals until one cannot go any farther. The one with the wider range is considered dominant and rules that frequency range. Neat right! Hope that answered your question!
Sources: http://scitation.aip.org/content/asa/journal/jasa/54/1/10.1121/1.1913559
Behavioral Neurobiology by Thomas Crew copyright 2000 (most of info from this source, great read if interested)

Interesting and accurately explains OP's 2nd question.

Thanks! Be sure to upvote the answer so other people know it is a good explanation :).

@ephackett Have you heard of the proposed Bioacoustics Stack Exchange? It seems like you might be a valuable member of that community. Please consider committing to the page so we can get closer to making it to the Beta stage. Cheers! https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/126698/bioacoustics?referrer=NDI3NDRkN2RkYmQ2M2Q3YTk5YjhlNjk0ZTFkZmY3MGIwNmM1ZDliNWMxNzMxOGIzOGVlNTMyY2M2NDAzNzY4N76lf0C63DSZ9D1MFeu97ZyTQM5mgMh5iflfL5ArRRe80


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Bug Identification: Is this small tubular, black bug a bed bug?
So I found this tiny bug on my wall in the bedroom of my apartment. I estimate it is about 3mm long by 1mm wide.

Is it a bed bug?
It does not seem to match any of the pictures I've seen online.
The apartment is very clean by most standards. The only other bug I've seen in here is the odd stink bug.
Northeast coast of USA.

Not a bed bug - some kind of carpet beetle larvae maybe (judging by the hairiness)

Related: What kind of insect can this be? This appears to be just a shell after and insect went through a metamorphosis process

Related: What kind of insect can this be?..., Can anyone help confirm this tiny insect larvae?, How to protect my mounted insect specimens..., Varied Carpet Beetle Larvae, What is the name of the critter depicted...,
What small insect is this?, What bug is this...

I'm going to suggest it is the larvae of a carpet beetle. Initially I thought possibly the Varied carpet beetle because of the lighter patches near the posterior end similar to this picture from the wiki page on this species:

Having said that the geographical range might not be correct so it could be a similar species so I've dug a bit deeper. There are some 120 species in North America, from this link I'd say that the Buffalo carpet beetle is a contender.
Carpet beetles are classified as a pest species:

"larvae feed on natural fibers and can damage carpets, furniture, clothing and insect collections"

Not all bad though, the larvae are also known as wooly bears, how nice.

Well that's good news. Better than bed bugs. Phew! Thanks!

well, woolly bears more often refer to a species of tiger-moth caterpillar: Pyrrharctia isabella


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How can we move our lips even though they don't have any bones?
How can we move our lips even though they don't have any bones?
We can move everything if it is attached to the bones. Example: Legs & Arms.
otherwise we can't move it.

Have you heard the term 'muscles'?

Yes. I heard it. How does it answer this question?

Muscles don't need to be attached to bones to function. Look at slugs.

@user47532 Tongue, eyelids, eyeballs, nostrils: do you have an idea about how we move them? Heart also "moves"! Please do some basic reading before asking a question.

@JM97 they are not bones. I was trying to get a point across that bones are not necessary for movement. It has already been said by others too. Muscles need to be attached to something to exert force but that need not be a bone.

Because of the Orbicularis oris muscle, it's a complex of muscles in the lips that encircles the mouth, It forms the greater part of the substance of the lips, lying between the skin and the mucus membrane, and extending from the edge of each lip to its root.


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What is this little owl-like bird?
I was walking outside (location: Netherlands) and just saw this little bird:

Unfortunately I had to take a long range picture with my cell phone so the quality is quite bad, however I hope still someone can identify this species. Personally I think it escaped somewhere as we have never seen it before and also did not seem to be scared of us.

This looks a lot like a double-barred finch (Taeniopygia bichenovii). Your note about this being an "owl-like" bird is supported by it's less common name, the "owl finch", so named for the dark ring around the face.

 Source: Wikipedia; Credit: Glen Fergus
If this is in fact the bird you saw, you're right that it's not native to your country (or continent or even hemisphere!). The Taeniopygia genus is in the Estrildidae family, and it only contains two species native to Australia! According to Wikipedia, T. bichenovii is found:

in dry savannah, tropical (lowland) dry grassland and shrubland habitats in northern and eastern Australia

You can read more at eFinch and The Atlas iof Living Australia.

@KingBoomie If there are any zoos in your area, you may want to give them a call to ask if they are missing this little fellow.

@AndrewKozak good idea; also any local pet stores that sell exotic birds. Could be one of their customers has lost a pet!

Public aviaries (volière in Dutch) are also a possibility.  Most exotic birds are not on the list of allowed pets in the Netherlands and although uncommon, aviaries are more common than zoos.

@AndrewKozak  Probably from a public aviary, while it had a ring there was no number on it so we gave it to a relative having birds himself and he would figure our where to bring the little fellow ;)


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Plural of "dibamus"
Migrated from English site.

Dibamus is a genus of legless lizards in the family Dibamidae, of the infraorder Dibamia.
Genera are usually given in singular, so what is the correct plural of Dibamus?
Families and orders are usually given in plural, so what are the correct singulars of Dibamidae and Dibamia?
Bonus question: What is the etymology of the root dibam-?

There is no plural...Just call them Dibamus species.

@Hav0k Not going to work. In reality, I want to know the plural of an item named Dibamus after the lizard. What are two of those called?

This is advice from a website on plants, but its advice is equally valid for plants or animals.

For example, if you wish to discuss several Pinguicula species, do you
call them Pinguiculae or Pinguiculas? The answer is that you can do
neither! Pinguicula is the name of the genus, a single group of plants
which was very carefully named. If you make up a word like
Pinguiculas, you are either implying that the genus has a letter "s"
at the end (which it does not), or you are saying that there is more
than one genus with the name Pinguicula---a logical absurdity.
So it is just wrong
to fabricate a plural form of a genus name. If you find yourself
writing a sentence where you want to create a plural form of a genus
(suppose you wanted to say, "I saw several Pinguiculas"), reconstruct
the sentence slightly into something like "I saw many Pinguicula
plants" or "I saw many Pinguicula species," whichever you meant. It is
not only correct, but also much clearer.

There is a caveat to this, which is when the genus is borrowed into English as a loanword, for example, a plant of the genus Delphinium has the common English name "delphinium", or an ape of the genus Gorilla has the common English name "gorilla". In this case, the English word is pluralised into "delphiniums" and "gorillas". Note that it is still perfectly correct to say "I saw two apes belonging to the genus Gorilla", but it is just long-winded.
In your case, the lizard does not fall into this category, so you should word your phrase as "several Dibamus lizards" or a similar alternative phrasing.

Nice, but not going to work. My issue is a technical item that has been named Dibamus after the lizard. Now I don't know how to refer to several Dibam...

@NBZ That's a completely different question, but has the exact same answer. The plural of the technical term will differ based on the term itself. For example, the Bittorrent client Azureus is named after the frog Dendrobates azureus, and I would pluralise that as "I am running two Azureus bittorrent clients".

Fine, I guess it will be "Dibamus thruster blocks" or "Dibamus engines" then.

Yup, I would probably do the same in your shoes.


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What strange jelly-like thing is shown in the photo?
What is shown in the pictures below? The photo was taken at the Australia's south coast (Queenscliff). The length of the thing is no longer than 50 cm... It doesn't move and has jelly-like consistency... My guesses were either some product (egg cluster or excrement) coming out of a mollusk, a torn part of some kind of sea plant or a part of a jelly-like creature...

Thanks @Gerardo! Yes, they look similar, but not exactly the same. For example, the shape is not elongated as on the photos, and internal rings don't look exactly like on the photos... I tried to google all names you've written, but didn't find anything that would look the same... However, I agree, it might be a colony of some living organisms, encapsulated in a jelly substance for survival purposes...

I see, maybe this one was washed away out of the sea and I should have brought it back into water. Maybe I discovered a new species :)

Do you have additional photos? Did you happen to  manipulate it in any way?  (e.g., poke it,  break it open,  etc)?

Jost poke.. Didnt move at all

I agree with @Gerardo-Furtado's comment that what you most likely have here is a colonial tunicate (or sea squirt) from the genus Botrylloides.
According to images and information available via the Taxanomic Toolkit for Marine Life of Port Phillip Bay$^2$, it appears as though you have a specimen of Botrylloides perspicuus (aka B. perspicuum).

[Photo credit: Mark Norman / Museum Victoria]

[Photo credit: Mark Norman / Museum Victoria]
Background

See here for a good general description of colonial tunicates (using the example of a related Botrylloides species).

In general, colonial tunicates are composed of numerous zooids embedded in a firm matrix called a tunic (or test).

Description

B. perspicuus is a colonial ascidian that can persist in tropical and subtropical waters at depths ranging from 1-170 m.

From The Australian Ascidiacea$^1$ (my emphasis):

External Appearance: The colonies are always robust, but very variable. Some are large, flat, stalked or sessile lobes up to about 4cm long, while others are thick, investing colonies, sometimes growing around wees or other debris. Occasionally ,the lobes are constricted along their length, and sometimes a stalked lobe grows out from a sessile cushion.

The test is always firm, translucent and smooth....

Zooids are sometimes in circular systems, arranged in rows along the length of the colony.

As with other species in the subfamily, the colours of the living colony are very variable.... [including] orange zooids.

The Australian Ascidiacea$^1$ also provides remarks about similarities/differences between B. perspicuus and closely related B. leachi (mentioned in the question's comments):

One difference to note is that B. perspicuus has a firmer tunic, which might explain the retained shape of the OP's specimen even out of water.

Range

This species lives primarily around Australia, with specimens ID'd from waters off Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria , and New South Wales$^1$. The specimen is found in Port Phillip Bay$^2$, which is where the OP's location (Queenscliff) is located.

  [Source: Atlas of Living Australia]
Other Info

Another similar looking species is B. violaceus, but this species is typically found elsewhere in the world.

Like many tunicates, B. perspicuus has been known to invade non-native waters, including those of the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean.

Transport of adult colonies on boat hulls, sea chests and aquaculture equipment is the most likely cause of anthropogenic introduction.

Though ID'd as a different related species, photos showing specimens very similar looking to that of B. perspicuus were documented around the United States.

Citations

Kott, P. (1985). The Australian Ascidiacea part 1, Phlebobranchia and Stolidobranchia. Mem Qd Mus. 23: pp 278-279., available online at http://biostor.org/reference/109626/page/279

Patullo, B., 2011, Ascidian, Botrylloides perspicuum, in Taxonomic Toolkit for marine life of Port Phillip Bay, Museum Victoria, accessed 27 Feb 2017, http://portphillipmarinelife.net.au:8098/species/10656

Note: The remaining info is supported by the above linked websites without formal citations.


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Are there animal species where some females have greater amounts of male-associated qualities than average males?
In the human species, some women ( a meaningful, though not large percentage) are taller and stronger than the average man.
Is a similar thing true in the animal kingdom? Are there some meaningful percentage of hens that would make better fighters than the average (game) cock? Cows that would be better at pulling plows than the average bull? Lionesses that could beat the average lion in a stand-up fight?
The point of the question is are there overlapping "bell curves" of size, strength, etc. so that "strong" females, while a clear minority, are nothing freakish. Or is it true in most (mammal) species that male strength is "off the charts" compared to female strength, except for "freaks."

What's a meaningful percentage, and how do you expect us to have these percentages? What makes you think that humans are the only species to have members of a sex that can outperform the other sex? Variation between individuals is often, perhaps usually, larger than the difference between the sex average on quite a lot of measures. Height and weight are two such cases, I think.

@SPr: The point of the question is are there overlapping "bell curves" of size, strengths, etc. so that "strong" females, while a clear minority, are nothing freakish. Or is it true in most (mammal) species that male strength is "off the charts" compared to female strength, except for "freaks."

There exists a very impressive variety of cases for either extreme case. This of course includes species where females are dominant, without exception. So you see, the variation in biodiversity covers both cases considerably. This is why attaching a single number can be misleading. Let's take the case of some hymenopterans, like bees and ants. Compare the queen to the size of a worker ant. Entire colonies of dozens of thousands of ants live and die by a single queen. These are the most abundant animals on earth by biomass and by individual number. What gives?

Outside of mammals larger females is actually fairly common, the most extreme version I can thing of is angler fish, where the females are dozens of times larger than the males.

Spotted hyenas are a matriarchal society and female hyenas are larger than males. Also, female hyenas dominate males.

they also have pseudopenis. so they are really pushing the look more masculine than males thing.


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Why does this plum/apricot hybrid look like brains?

Why does this plum/apricot hybrid look like brains?
Notes:

Here's a photo of what a normal fruit on the tree looks like.
Location is Zone 5, east of Toronto.
There are about 20 other fruits on the tree. This the only fruit on the tree that has this problem.
The date is June 26, 2019 (although plants have been delayed by about 3 weeks this year due to unusually cool and rainy weather).
I have had lots of disease problems on my prunus this year due to the wet weather.

It is difficult to say, but it is likely due to disease. Many plant diseases have the effect of convincing plant tissues that they are some other organ than what they actually are, which leads to deformations.
I was not able to find anything that looked as dramatic as the image that you show, but there are similar diseases in stone fruits that deform fruit:

Plum pox potyvirus: http://download.ceris.purdue.edu/file/1424
Plum pocket fungus/"Bent banana disease": https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/prune-plum-prunus-spp-plum-pockets, http://shropshireprunedamson.com/a-bad-case-of-bent-banana-disease/

I hope that this is helpful.

Another search term that might help or interest the OP is "gall" which describes such "fooled" tissue growths. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall

This is a guess, but perhaps the result of an infection by a fungal plant pathogen related to Taphrina deformans. T deformans infects species of the genus Prunus (i.e. the genus of prunes and apricots), but it's best known for causing peach leaf curl in another Prunus species, peaches.
For example, see this image of T. deformans infecting a leaf in Catalonia, Spain:

 Source: flickriver; Credit: esat_ahi
From Wikipedia:

trees infected with T. deformans will experience leaf puckering and distortion, acquiring a characteristic downward and inward curl. Leaves will also undergo chlorosis, turning a pale green or yellow, and later show a red or purple tint

And guess what? According to Wikipedia:

The fungus has higher infection rates following cooler, damper winters.

Are you sure your infected plant part is a fruit and not a grossly infected leaf? (Did you cut open the infected fruit to examine it closer)?
Management:
If it is T. deformans, Wikipedia summarizes some good management strategies:

Because infection depends on a wet environment, appropriate irrigation of crops can help control pathogen dispersal. Although some sources also suggest thinning fruit to control the spread of disease,[3] sanitation and culturing practices alone are insufficient to manage the pathogen.[2] Fungicide is preferred; chlorothalonil and ziram are favored, and copper is an organic option.[4] Fungicide application requires the correct timing and complete coverage of the crop.[11] It is recommended that growers spray fungicides after leaf-fall, or after 90% senescence of leaves. In wetter climates, where multiple sprays may be necessary, spraying is recommended in the late fall and in late winter or early spring.[3] Post-infection spraying of fungicide is inadequate to control the disease.[11]

Update: (Side-note)
I still think T. deformans seems like a possible cause of your plum disease, but...
Apparently, there is a closely related species to T deformans called Taphrina communis, which causes Plum pocket by instead infecting the fruits of plums.

According to Kansas State University Research and Extension:

In contrast to peach leaf curl, symptoms of plum pocket are most conspicuous on the fruit. Small, whitish spots develop on young plums soon after blossom. The spots enlarge and eventually cover the entire fruit. Seed fails to form in infected plums; the fruit becomes hollow and enlarges to many times normal size. At this stage, the distorted plums have a red to grayish tint. Young shoots and leaves may be deformed and killed by the disease, but these symptoms are not as common as in peach leaf curl.

I couldn't find any pictures that matched your tree's symptoms, and truthfully the symptoms of plum pocket don't quite match what you're describing. However, for completeness sake, I thought I'd add this information here.


text:
Is this poison ivy?

Location: Sunny, dry, well-drained yard. East of Toronto, Ontario.
Date: August 2, 2022
Description: Three leaves, new leaves are oily and reddish, woody stem, vine crawls along ground
Hint: It's possible to zoom in on the photos by clicking on them a couple of times

The question is about the larger 3-leaved plant in the center of the photos. Not the smaller, more serrated 3-leaved plants in the background which are alpine strawberries. (I'm extremely familiar with strawberries -- there's no question there.)

This appears to be poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans).

Descriptions (Univerity of Michigan):

Distinguished by alternate compound leaves composed of three leaflets, the middle leaflet petiolule longer than the other two.  The leaves of this woody plant are usually shiny, especially when new.  Leaf margin varies greatly: smooth, toothed and lobed are all been observed.  Leaf shape also varies: some leaves elliptic and others much more round in shape.  Leaf color changes with season and age; young leaves in the spring often have a reddish tint, while mature leaves turn dark green, while leaves might change to orange yellow and red before falling in the fall. Toxicodendron radicans can grow as a vine, shrub, or sprawling plant; sometimes vine stems have a hairy appearance due to aerial roots that emerge from climbing stems

 Long answer
As can be seen from the range maps in BONAP's North American Plant Atlas*, three species of Toxicodendron have been found in Ontario: T. radicans ([eastern] poison ivy), T. rydbergii (western poison ivy), and T. vernix (poison sumac). Well-known (by name) [Atlantic] poison oak (T. pubescens) does not occur above 40oN Latitude (i.e., North of the "Mason-Dixon Line") so can be ruled out.  Of the three species present in eastern Canada, only the two species of poison ivy are trifoliate (i.e., having 3 leaflets). T. vernix is also grows as a tree so can be doubly ruled out.

*Note: USDA PLANTS Database shows greater range spread of all species (e.g., see here and here), but the species indicated to be found in Ontario does not change.
How to tell the difference between eastern and western poison ivy?
Different sources use different criteria. Let's explore:

Rhoads & Block (2000) "The Plants of Pennsylvania"
 A. vines or erect shrubs; leaves trifoliate
  - aerial roots usually present; leaflets not folded....................... T. radicans
  - aerial roots not present; leaflets somewhat folded along the midrib..... T. rydbergii

 Left: Aerial roots on climbing vine of T. radicans [Source] ; Right: folded leaflets of T. rydbergii [Source]

To be fair, I've definitely seen T. radicans appear to have slightly folded leaves under certain circumstances, so I think this aspect of the key is suboptimal.

Weakley (2015) "Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States"
 1 Leaflets 3, toothed, lobed, or entire; shrub or vine.
   2 Fruits pubescent or papillose; leaflets entire, coarsely toothed, undulate, or round-lobed; lower surfaces of leaflets either velvety puberulent, sometimes becoming glabrate in age (T. pubescens) or glabrous (glabrescent or rarely pilose beneath) but with prominent tufts of tannish hairs present in the vein axils (T. radicans var. radicans).
     3 Leaves sparsely pubescent (rarely pilose beneath), the apex and the lobes (if present) generally acute to acuminate; drupes papillose, scabrous or puberulent; plant a high-climbing vine or stoloniferous shrub; [of mesic, swampy, or dry habitats].......... T. radicans var. radicans
     3 Leaves velvety puberulent (sometimes becoming glabrate in age), the apex and the lobes (if present) generally obtuse to broadly acute; drupes pubescent (becoming glabrate); plant a stoloniferous shrub; [of dry habitats, especially sandhills] ............. T. pubescens
   2 Fruits glabrous (or very sparsely pubescent); leaflets coarsely toothed or notched (rarely entire); lower surfaces of leaflets glabrous to pubescent, but without tufts of tannish hairs in the vein axils.
     4 Leaves densely pilose and velvety on the lower surface; leaves pubescent on the upper surface; pubescence of the leaves erect ................................................................................................................................. T. radicans var. pubens
     4 Leaves glabrous to sparsely strigose on the lower surface; leaves glabrous on the upper surface; pubescence of the leaves appressed.
       5 Leaflets suborbicular or broadly ovate, nearly as wide as long; petiole glabrous (rarely glabrescent); plant a shrub, the stems upright, entirely lacking aerial roots, not vining; fruits (3-) 4-7 mm in diameter .......................................... T. rydbergii
       5 Leaflets ovate to lanceolate; petiole puberulent to densely pubescent; plant a shrub or vine, the stems upright or twining; fruits 2.5-5.5 mm in diameter ................................................................................................... T. radicans var. negundo

Clearly, Weakley goes into much more detail and includes lots of less well-known botanical terms as well as various varieties (subspecies) of T. radicans. A look at USDA PLANTS Database suggests of the varieties of T. radicans listed, only var. radicans and var. negundo are found in Ontario.

Of note, if we could see tan-colored tufts of hairs in the corners (axils) of the leaf veins on the underside of the leaves or fuzzy (pubescent) fruits, we could definitively rule in favor of T. radicans var. radicans. Or, if we could see aerial roots on the vines we could rule out T. rydbergii.

T. radicans can have either glabrous (not hairy) or sparingly hairy petioles, which doesn't help us decide between T. radicans and T. rybergii (not that we can easily see that detail in your images anyway).

I find leaf shape and border (margin) to be quite variable for all species listed (as Weakley hints at), so stopping at leaf shape alone always makes me feel like I'm giving an underwhelming answer. Despite this, T. rydbergii will almost always have coarse teeth/notches, which your image does not. (The ovate/lanceolate shape of T. radicans var. negundo would itself stand out as unique from the others, and again your specimens lack this leaf shape).

If I zoom into your image, I can see evidence of leaf hairiness (look around the border so that the contrast of the darker background enables you to see the hairs). This rules in favor of T. radicans var. radicans.

Other common trifoliate plants or poison-ivy look-alikes:

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia Creeper) -- has 5 palmately-compound leaflets

Rhus aromatica (Fragrant sumac) -- terminal leaflet lacks petiole

Acer negundo (Boxelder) -- grows as tree. Leaves are oppositely arranged.

Rubus spp. (Raspberries, blackberries) -- presence of prickles

Yes, this is very likely to be poison ivy. It has all the right hallmarks (trifoliate leaves, long petiole, ovate leaflets with few teeth, shiny blades, and slightly elongated central petiolule), in an appropriate location, and there's little else in the area it's likely to be confused with.
Two species of poison ivy are possible in this area, Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy, or eastern poison ivy) and T. rydbergii (western poison ivy). I think I can see that the petioles (connection from the group of three leaflets to the stem) here are pubescent (hairy), which would indicate T. radicans. If any nearby is climbing, that would also point to T. radicans. Otherwise, if it's only low-growing and has glabrous (non-hairy) petioles, then it's likely T. rydbergii.


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Identify this organism
Can anyone identify this organism please? Often I see it inside my home on the walls moving very slowly.
please click for a better-quality image
some more info:

Geographical location: India (north part)
Image taken recently (March 2018)
Size of organism: about 1 cm in size.

You have to add your geographical location, what the time of year was, the approximate size etc. Also, can't you possibly provide a higher quality picture? This one is kind of grainy.


text:
What is this weed?
I first noticed this weed a few years ago, and saw its long, thin, V-shaped bean-shaped seed pods on meter height plants.  The pods start out connected together at the far end, but eventually separate into an inverted V.
If I recall, correctly, the thin pods split open to release very small seeds with a sail.
It somewhat resembles milkweed, but is branched, red stemmed and, of course, has these strange pods.
Location: My back yard, in Augusta County, in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

You'd be better off asking for plant identification at https://gardening.stackexchange.com The people there would be more likely to identify it as many requests for plant identification come in.

My guess is Hemp Dogbane. The milkweed "family" has 140 species; all have milky sap. Add red stems, branching, downward-facing pods, and hemp dogbane comes up.

The flowers are white, not perfectly like common milkweed, and the pods hang down.

A photo with flowers and pods can be found here.
Hemp Dogbane is common throughout the country.


text:
What species of insect is this?
I saw this insect near a beach in Corsica France:

It's a mole cricket (in the family Gryllotalpidae).

Notice the cricket-like appearance of the posterior/abdominal portion of the insect, but the powerful, broad and flattened fore-legs that are designed for digging (reminiscent of a mole's digging legs). In fact, the family name literally means cricket-mole (from Latin, 'gryllus' = cricket and 'talpa' = mole).
Mole-cricket fore-legs:

Anterior mole legs:

The Gryllotalpidae are a monophyletic group in the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts and crickets). A 2015 paper by O. J. Cadena-Castañeda clarified/updated the phylogeny of this family using morphological characteristics.
The specific species is dependent on your location and morphological characteristics (and possiblly "song" differences too).
See here for a brief explanation and access to dichotomous keys to use to better ID the specific genus. Other keys exist here (SE USA), here, and likely via a google search. However, I couldn't quickly find a European key.
Here's an additional useful resource on these insects from University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Department.
Based on the OP's location in France, the European mole-cricket Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa (or one of it's closely related European allies in the Gryllotalpa genus) is probably a good initial guess at the OP's specific species. As seen from UC Berkeley's "CalPhotos" collection:

Note: to follow-up with a now deleted answer. The OP's insect is NOT an earwig. The confusion lies in the existence of posterior cerci. Though cerci are well known on earwigs (i.e., their "pincers"), many insects have a pair of posterior cerci (though typically they are functionless vestigial structures). Therefore, cerci are not strictly indicative of earwigs. Further, the enlarged and flattened fore-limbs of the OP's picture are not present in any species of earwig (which do not dig), but instead are the calling-card for the digging mole-crickets

I assumed the deleted answer (earwig) was incorrect and that's why I waited for more answers. Thanks for the detailed explanation!


text:
Identify insect

I am from north east India and I found a really beautiful bug in my backyard.
Can someone please help me identifying it?
Size: about 3 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.

I can't say what species this beetle is but I think it's a species in the Anomala genus in the subfamily Rutelinae (Shining Leaf Chafers). One photo I can link you to is found at Coleoptera Atlas Anomala grandis.
Dorsal view of Anomala grandis

Ventral view of Anomala grandis

The only reason I wouldn't consider it specifically to be the beetle you found is because the beetle in the photo occurs in Thailand. How far it range is, I have no idea. It might be found as far as you are. A common name for it is little green leaf beetle. Coleoptera Atlas lists its maximum size at 27 mm. There is another larger Anomala species that looks similar called Anomala cupripes or large green chafer beetle. I wonder about the reliability of some of the sources though as it's only supposed to be 20 mm! The name is also one used around 1900 so it might even be the same as A. grandis.
If the photos look like they fit your beetle, and depending on the size of yours, you can use this information to make some inquiries in your region. It's all I can do as resources in English about insects in other parts of the world are often limited.

I think the hair is missing from the photo

It looks like a Chrysina Lecontei, a type of scarab. Perhaps you can provide a better top and bottom photo (directly above and below)?

Sorry but it was dead when i found it,and i dont get the chance to take more photos.

This is a scarab, but the species given in the answer is from the wrong side of the planet (see http://bugguide.net/node/view/134203/bgimage for images with locality data); Google-searching "Scarabaeidae India" results in more than 100,000 hits; fortunately a starting point (the Fauna of British India  series) does have a partial online presence (see here: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/36758#page/5/mode/1up) but is also quite old: the first part of the three available dates from 1910 ...

Please remember that the Latin name of the species starts with lower case (C. lecontei).


text:
Where should I go for online information on animals endemic specifically in Mozambique?
I've been involved with the citizen science project "Wildcam Gorongosa" for over half a year now (website, forum). As there are lots of unexperienced volunteers, many questions are being asked. Often I'd like to answer, but also not having a biology background I usually have to do some research first to give an accurate answer. For this reason, I'm looking for informative, up-to-date online resources, like e.g. search engines, animal guides etc.
I have come across a few websites that give some information on animals in the whole of Africa (e.g. ultimateungulate.com) - but I wonder if there are more suitable places to go if I'm specifically looking for animals in Mozambique (or even Gorongosa National Park). I'm still relatively new to the topic - where would a scientist involved with research on Mozambican ecology go and look for this kind of "specific" information? As the project deals with pictures taken by wildlife cameras, I am only interested in animals of a certain size (I guess rat-sized and larger). I'd be happy to find e.g. more information on the appearance of each species, its geographic distribution, their respective habitats and their general behavior.
I realize that this question is somewhat broad - please do ask ahead, I'll try to add details if necessary!

Here is a large list of animals (sorted by guilds) that can be found throughout Mozambique.

Each animal in the list is linked to a page with picture and information!

Wikipedia maintains a few lists of animals found in Mozambique.

See here for  a list of mammals (sorted by order).
See here for a list of birds (sorted by order).
They also have 2 lists for mollusks (fresh-water, marine) and 1 for plants.

Gorongosa's own website provides a list of common animals found in Gorongosa:
http://www.gorongosa.org/explore-park/wildlife
As user Sudachi mentioned in a comment below,  iNaturalist and GBIF also have lots of well-managed species lists and observation data.

I'd also like to add a few resources. iNaturalist and GBIF also have lots of well-managed species lists and observation data.


text:
What happens to male turkeys?
My family and I have almost never seen a wild male turkey though we have seen countless female turkeys. Is the male to female sex ratio of turkeys at birth extremely low? If not, what happens to the male turkeys?

Where do you live? I assume you are talking about wild turkeys? How did you distinguish between male & females?

This is referring to wild turkeys and in the western U.S. The main way is that the male turkeys have the big tail feathers in the back. Though I admit that it is possible that I am unable to distinguish between male and female turkeys otherwise.

This article from the humane society suggests that the male-female ratio in wild turkeys is generally 1:1 1.
It's likely that nothing 'happens' to the male turkeys. Possibly you and your family may be miscounting some males as females; you mention in your comment the big tail feathers, but both sexes have fairly long tail feathers so that may not always be particularly reliable. The best way to tell the sexes apart are listed in this article 2 with pictures of both sexs and descriptions of what differences are most helpful for IDing. Younger male turkeys may also be more difficult to differentiate from females.
An additional point is that male and female turkeys often form their own flocks. These flocks interact in certain times of year, but not all the time. Depending on the consistency of the timing and location of where you're seeing the turkeys, the high degree of females might just be due to this phenomenon. The places you're frequenting might be a popular hangout for a specific hen/chick flock, or several, leading you to conclude that there are way more female turkeys than males.


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Computer Virus that infects DNA?
I have watched a talk by Mikko Hypponen (CEO of the security company F-Secure) called Silicon Plague. There, roughly at minute 51 of the talk, he mentions a computer code that is supposed to be able to infect DNA.
I was googling and found the corresponding article posted ~2.5 years, and some c++ codes. Let me cite:
 The computer code, written in C++, hosts the DNA sequence of M.mycoides
 JCVI-syn1.0. At runtime it acts as follows:

 1) Preparing the DNA sequence of M.mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 in the memory,
    (with slightly modified watermarks).
 2) Encoding own file-content in base32. The base32 code is then encoded in
    JCVI's DNA-encoded alphabet.
 3) This representation of its digital form is then copied to a
    watermark of the bacteria's genome in memory. With this, a fully
    functional bacterial DNA sequence including the digital code is
    generated.
 4) Next, it searches for FASTA-files on the computer, which are text-based
    representations of DNA sequences, commonly used by many DNA sequence
    libraries.
 5) For each FASTA-file, it replaces the original DNA with the bacterial
    DNA containing the digital form of the computer code.

 The code has a classical self-replication mechanism as well, to eventually
 end up on a computer in a microbiology-laboratory with the ability of
 creating DNA out of digital genomes (such as laboratories by the JCVI).

As far as I understand, the program tries to go into biology-lab computers with genome files, and modify the content with some content of itself. This sounds scary. Unfortunately, I'm not at the level yet where I would understand whether that could work (undergraduate student), so my question is: Does that idea work? Could there really be a computer virus that infects DNA?

The c++ is here.

I was going to call BS but this looks pretty legitimate. It could of course work in theory, but I don't see any practical application

@MalharKhushu-Well, what is the practical application of any other computer virus ? :)  Unless we call stealing money and destroying data, a 'practical application' :) :)

Hi ACGT. Really nice post. However, the question is a bit ambiguous. Are you asking 1: if this virus could reflect/translate/exist in real-world DNA? or 2: if the virus could INFECT an existing organism (cell)? The answer for the first question is undoubted YES, and to the second question is undoubted NO. There is no evidence that the code is wrong. So, as long as it is in the right machine (craing inst) it WILL work. Your question will be treated more seriously 10 years from now on as we WILL see these kind of viruses more often.

First bacterial genome created entirely with a computer links to PNAS: Chemical synthesis rewriting of a bacterial genome to achieve design flexibility and biological functionality open access.

Computer virus alters cancer scan images computer virus can give you virtual cancer and a real hospital bill.

As I understand from your post, the computer virus you are talking about is modifying database (FASTA files) in genetics. That would have a pretty bad impact on research in genetics and medicine.
If one uses such a database to synthesize/edit sequences and then introduce this DNA into a living organism, then yes the computer virus would have affected a living organism. If the sequence the computer virus has introduced is able to be transcribed into mRNA and go on infecting other cells, and eventually spread, then I guess one could say that the computer virus would have become an actual virus.
However, two things are to be considered. First, I very much doubt such a thing could go unnoticed. Second, anyone could have fun and create novel sequences. The only thing the virus does is corrupting files in a computer. The eventual existence of a man-made virus has no specific relationship with the computer virus and doing too much analogy here would stand little meaning.

This is very silly.
All the computer virus is doing is corrupting a text file in a computer database.
If someone uses the information in the corrupt file to synthesize actual DNA to modify a living organism, the agent is the human. The computer code has no interaction whatever with the DNA.
This is just the same as if the person accidentally or deliberately engineered some pathogenic feature into an organism — a more realistic and worrying phenomenon.
PS
Fortunately this particular C++ code is for a Windows executable, and NCBI is all Unix.

"Fortunately this particular C++ code is for a Windows executable" - So what? The virus could 'infect' a fasta file before you submit it to NCBI DB.

@SolarWInd This PS was meant to be taken in the same spirit as the question.( I leave you to work that out.) However, since you ask, the scenario envisaged NCBI GenBank's database in which the sequence ALREADY resides being infected with a computer virus to corrupt it, not the user uploading the sequence. Of course, one can upload any sort of nonsense — one doesn't need a computer virus to do that — but that wasn't the scenario.

The computer file does NOT contain DNA. It is a computer file. And the virus is NOT targeted at the Craig Institute (not that that is relevant). It contains a TEXTUAL REPRESENTATION of DNA bases (not even the sugar and phosphate) which can be interpreted (by someone reading it) in a different code than the genetic code — like a cipher. He could have devised a code in which he had written a message "Don't forget to feed the cat", but this one can be typed out by a human being and compiled into a Windows executable. (Glad I don't run Windows. Prefer the cat.)

"All the computer virus is doing is corrupting a text file" - You just contradicted yourself. If the virus can infect a computer file containing 'DNA' strings (you said it can) and the file is used to synthesize REAL DNA, then yes, the virus worked! And the virus is targeted to Craig Institute, which happens to synthesize DNA (from computer files). Voilà!

@SolarWind you don't know what you're talking about here. Please stop before you embarrass yourself further.

"This is very silly." I think at one point this was said about the idea of proteins being infectious, or that surgical instruments should be sterilized.

@uhoh — There must be a name for the type of guilt by invented association in your criticism. However I went on to explain why I thought the proposition was silly. I suggest any criticism should be directed at that argument.

It's 5PM Friday here, I'm going to read through again tomorrow morning. I hope it's not a case of the DNA saying the RNA did it, and the RNA saying the ribosome did it, and the ribosomes saying the protein... or should it be...

@uhoh — Are you confusing suicide with homicide? And wouldn't it be better to find the body before concluding that there had been a crime?

It's 7:30 AM and still on my first cup of coffee, I'm going to need at least three neurons firing before I can respond, give me a few more minutes...

okay we've got three neurons going strong and two more will be on-line shortly. I still see this as 100% non-silly. To me a conceptual virus exploits existing behavior. It doesn't matter if that's molecular behavior, OS behavior, or human behavior. The currently discussed virus exploits all three, which makes it quite a "clever" virus. So no, I don't see this as silly at all.

You’re entitled to your view and your down vote. The poster accepted an extended version of my argument in another answer two years ago, so the world moves on, unimpeded by computer viruses infecting its DNA. I suggest we do likewise.

I already have a fasta for a XDR tuberculosis strain on my computer.  It's not hurting anyone, nor will it.  If someone wrote a script that changed the fasta file I have of drug sensitive strains to put in resistance-granting mutations, that's going to screw up some analyses, but it's not going to kill anyone.

It's theoretically possible that a particular DNA sequence could trigger a bug in one of the programs that deals with sequenced DNA and inject executable x86 code into the computer's memory that then causes it to insert that DNA into something that's then going to be synthesised... producing an organism that contains the computer virus in its DNA and might will then, eventually, be sequenced again...
But if that were actually possible, it probably would've happened already! At the very least, some DNA sequences would cause a crash, and then the bug would be fixed. But if it weren't... it's theoretically possible for a gene to evolve that uses that. Wouldn't that be cool? (But yeah, that's never going to happen.)


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Why are vaccines for polio taken orally while vaccines for TB need to be injected?
My thoughts are that maybe the TB antigens necessary to produce an immune response are proteins; therefore they can be digested in the stomach and small intestine. But I may be wrong though. I am confused why I can't say the same for polio vaccine.

There are different polio vaccines - one live (attenuated) vaccine which is given orally and one inactivated, which is injected. The main reason for using the live orally vaccine is that it provides excellent immunity (better than the inactivated) since it uses the natural infection route (oral-faecal) in the body where it enters through cells in the intestine. Besides that, it is also much less expensive than the inactivated form, which is a big thing when doing mass immunisations in developing countries.
The live vaccine, however, may mutate back into a more infectious form as you shed live (attenuated) viruses after the immunisation, so these are not used anymore. Now we are very close to the eradication of the poliovirus. The risk of getting new infections is viewed as being too high these days. See this paper for more information: "Vaccine-derived polioviruses and the endgame strategy for global polio eradication."

Also the injected vaccine often does not stop someone getting infected with polo and passing it on, it "just" stops the person getting ill from polo.

@IanRingrose can you explain your claim, preferably with citations? A vaccine (any vaccine) is meant to stimulate the immune system so it can quickly destroy the infectious agent when it is encountered. "Passing on" a disease means it has taken hold in your body in sufficient amounts that others can be exposed to it, that's what the word "infectious" means. Vaccines stop that transmission.

@MattDMo,  Polio is spread by getting into someone’s stomach and coming out of the other end, but needs to get into someone blood to make them ill,   The injected vaccine quickly gives a good level of immunity from white blood cells; however it produces very low levels of immunity in the intestine.  (As a result, when a person immunized with IPV is infected with wild poliovirus, the virus can still multiply inside the intestines and be shed in the faeces, risking continued circulation) see http://www.polioeradication.org/Polioandprevention/Thevaccines/Inactivatedpoliovaccine%28IPV%29.aspx

There are also different types of the oral vaccine, as there are 3 types of polio can including all 3 in the vaccine make it less effective, see http://www.polioeradication.org/Polioandprevention/Thevaccines.aspx

It comes down to a choose between the vaccine that gives the best protection for the person getting given the vaccine, and the vaccine that is best at stopping ANYONE from getting polo, by stopping polo spreading.

@IanRingrose thanks for that! I forgot about injected vaccines not being very good at stimulating mucosal immunity.

The reason why the oral polio vaccine is not digested in the stomach is that the poliovirus itself has adapted such that it can survive the acidic conditions of the stomach. By using an attenuated (mutated to not cause neurological symptoms) version of the virus, the oral vaccine can also survive the acidic conditions of the stomach. For TB which is transmitted not through ingestion but through inhalation, the bacterium is not resistive to the stomach acid and therefore a different vaccination strategy had to be used which requires injection (which, as described in the answer by Chris, is also less dangerous).

Note that rotavirus vaccine, given to infants, is also given orally, and it too is a GI tract infection.  We think of polio as affecting the nerves, but that's a weird exceptional outcome, it's usually a stomach bug.  So when we expect the primary infection to happen in the gut, that's where we prime the immune system.

A point to note that TB is cause by a bacterium and not virus as you've written "the virus is not resistive to the stomach acid..."

Also note that breastmilk, while not a vaccine, does contain antibodies, and those do work to reduce the rate of GI illness.  So there is an immune system working in the gut, and it can be affected by vaccines and antibodies given orally, they don't get digested before they have a protective effect.

@ABcDexter, Thanks, I corrected the answer accordingly.

@swbarnes2 This may be true for newborns but certainly not for adults. All antibody based treatments are given intravenously (see also monoclonal antibody therapy).

As stated by others, polio is primarily a gastro bug, an enterovirus related to Coxsackie and a number of others which produce stomach and respiratory symptoms, as well as various others.
Most polio infections result in nothing worse than a case of "the stomach flu", but in a small percentage of cases the virus escapes from the GI tract and produces neurological symptoms.  And in a small percentage of those there is the paralysis that people associate with polio.
Since the route of infection is primarily oral, a live (but "attenuated") polio virus can be administered orally to achieve immunity to the "real" virus.  Other diseases are either not spread orally or they do not have live-attenuated vaccines that have been developed.  Simply administering the antigens orally would not work, as they would be too dilute and would be quickly neutralized by digestive juices.


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Rust on kettle dangerous to consume?
I recently traveled to Japan, where I picked up a cast-iron kettle known as a tetsubin. When I opened it up, I found that the inside was heavily rusted. Rust is a result of various combinations of $\ce{Fe^2+}$ and $\ce{Fe^3+}$ bonded to different combinations of oxygens and hydroxides. Would it be safe to drink water boiled in this kettle? I know that Iron is a dietary supplement, but I am not sure in what form our bodies can use iron. Are these oxidation states potentially harmful for the human body? Additionally, is there anything else (such as bacteria) that I should be worried about? I assume that bacteria would be killed since I am boiling the water, though. I am not sure if this question fits withing the scope of the biology stackexchange and if not, where should I post this question?
By the way, I will take full responsibility if I chose to implement any suggestion on this page. If I were to blame anyone else for their free advice, that would make me a jerk.

Your best bet would be to season it first. Since you risk getting tetanus from this type of thing.

Do you know how heat resistant tetanus is? I would assume that boiling water would kill most bacteria.

Excessive iron can cause liver toxicity (cirrhosis). I don't think tetanus would be an issue. I think there is no real connection between rusty iron and tetanus. Tetanus bacteria- Clostridium tetani lives in the soil. For farmers, unwashed tools (and hence perhaps rusty) can be a source of C. tetani. This doesn't mean every rusted object can give you tetanus.

Perhaps you can sand the kettle a bit to remove the rust. There are many households that use cast-iron vessels and there seems to be no real health issues with them.

Background:
Iron exists in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +6, although +2 and +3 are the most common.
How is Iron Handled by the Body:
According to Wikipedia:

After uptake in human cells, iron storage is carefully regulated; iron ions are never "free". This is because free iron ions have a high potential for biological toxicity.

Performed by the protein Transferrin that traps the Fe$^{3+}$ ions.

has such a high stability constant that it is very effective at taking up Fe3+ ions even from the most stable complexes.
At the bone marrow, transferrin is reduced from Fe$^{3+}$ and Fe$^{2+}$ and stored as ferritin to be incorporated into hemoglobin.

Dangers of Iron:
A number of sources reference toxicity and dangers of iron:

The Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. Institute of Medicine indicates that Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (known as ULs) for iron is 45 mg/day. [Source].

Note: Tolerable upper intake level (UL) is the highest level of daily nutrient consumption that is considered to be safe for, and cause no side effects in, 97.5% of healthy individuals in each life-stage and sex group.

The World Health Organization (2003) suggests:

The average lethal dose of iron is 200–250 mg/kg of body weight, but death has occurred following the ingestion of doses as low as 40 mg/kg of body weight

Of course, one can get iron poisoning due to an acute overload of Fe.

Toxic effects begin to occur at doses above 10–20 mg/kg of elemental iron.
Ingestions of more than 50 mg/kg of elemental iron are associated with severe toxicity
See Abhilash et al. (2013) for an example study examining fatail Fe overdoe in adults.

Note: inhalation of Iron Oxide dusts is complicated but potentially dangerous, but should be of no concern to you.

However, outside of trying to OD on iron supplements, it's not easy to consume that much iron. So even given all tose nasty numbers, I wouldn't be too concerned

According to 2 citations (Greentree & Hall 1995 and Goyer 1996) in The toxicity of iron, an essential element:

Because iron must be ionized to be absorbed, metallic iron  and iron oxide (rust) are not generally of concern when they are ingested.

Even when iron is heated (and supposedly ionized) very little becomes available for ingestion:

This source cites a 1986 study that found that cooking in a cast iron skillet added typically 1-4 mg (though as high as 7 mg) of iron into the food (well below dangerous levels)
Besides, iron oxide is already present in most drinking water.

Concentrations of iron in drinking-water are normally less than 0.3 mg/L [source] and is seldom found at concentrations greater than 10 mg/L or 10 ppm [source].

Bacteria connection:
There are bacteria associated with rust:

Iron-oxidizing bacteria are chemotrophic bacteria that derive the energy by oxidizing dissolved ferrous iron

However, these species are aquatic, and are more likely to be found in ground water or well-water. (not living in your kettle).

What about Tetanus? From Wikipedia:

Tetanus is often associated with rust, especially rusty nails. Although rust itself does not cause tetanus, objects that accumulate rust are often found outdoors or in places that harbour anaerobic bacteria. Additionally, the rough surface of rusty metal provides a prime habitat for C. tetani endospores to reside in (due to its high surface area), while a nail affords a means to puncture skin and deliver endospores deep within the body at the site of the wound.[21]

In other words, rust really has nothing directly to do with tetanus, a soil-dwelling species. One might just inconveniently find a sharp, rough rusty item in the soil to introduce the soil-living species into their bodies.(again, it shouldn't be a concern in your case).

Conclusion Would it be safe to drink water boiled in this kettle?
Almost certainly. But if you're concerned about it, just sand off the rust and  boil it to kill off anything that might be living there (more likely from old food/drink residues). Otherwise, get yourself a new kettle :p.

Citations

Goyer RA. (1996). Toxic effects of metals. In: Klaassen CD, ed. Casarett & Doull’s Toxicology: the basic science of poisons. 5th ed. New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill;715-716.
Greentree WF, Hall JO. (1995). Iron toxicosis. In:Bonagura JD, ed. Kirk’s Current therapy XII  small animal practice. Philadelphia, Pa: WB Saunders Co;240-242.
WHO. (2003).  ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN: Guidelines for drinking-water quality, 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Health criteria and other supporting information. World Health Organization, Geneva, 1996.

boil it to kill off anything that might be living there - I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that C. tetani endospores can survive even autoclaving.

C. tetani endospores can survive 15min of 121C autoclaving. But can be killed by autoclaving for 20min.

@JayCkat Good to know. Also a good thing that there is just about 0% chance that they are present in the kettle! :p


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What is the primary cause of death for small animals in urban and suburban areas?
Small birds (sparrows, robins, jays, finches) and mammals (squirrels, rats, opossums, raccoons) are a common sight in many urban and suburban communities with green space. However, I observe carcasses of these animals relatively infrequently.
I imagine that the following are some of the most common causes of death:

Predation (the species I mention are small, and somewhere in the middle of the food chain)
Age-associated decline in foraging ability, leading to starvation
Disease
Fatal contact with infrastructure (collisions with buildings or wind turbines, contact with electricity lines)

I can think of two reasons why we don't see carcasses very often:

predation is the most common cause of death
individuals that succumb to disease/starvation end up in their nests/dens

Is this plausible? Has this been studied systematically, e.g. in populations of birds with tracking bands?

Cats, windows, and cars appear to be the leading causes of avian (bird) deaths:

 Major sources of anthropogenic bird mortality in the USA [from Fig 2b, Loss et al. (2015)]
Cats and vehicles are likely leading causes of death for many small non-avian animals as well.

Loss et al. (2013) estimated that 6.3–22.3 billion mammals are killed by free-ranging domestic cats in the USA each year.

The Wikipedia article for roadkill provides the following discussion of vehicular deaths:

In 1993, 25 schools throughout New England, United States participated in a roadkill study involving 1,923 animal deaths. By category, the fatalities were: 81% mammals, 15% bird, 3% reptiles and amphibians, 1% indiscernible. Extrapolating these data nationwide, Merritt Clifton (editor of Animal People Newspaper) estimated that the following animals are being killed by motor vehicles in the United States annually: 41 million squirrels, 26 million cats, 22 million rats, 19 million opossums, 15 million raccoons, 6 million dogs, and 350,000 deer.

I welcome others to corroborate these claims with a more reputable source in the comments. (I will try to do so myself and will update as I find them.)

DISCALIMER: I was previously only aware of Loss et al.'s work, so the emphasis of my post is on their papers. I did not otherwise search exhaustively for data. Noticeably absent from my post is mention of deaths caused by pest control (trapping and poisoning). I may update this post with more info as I come across it.

 Citations
Loss, S.R., Will, T. and Marra, P.P., 2013. The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States. Nature communications, 4(1), pp.1-8.
 Loss, S.R., Will, T. and Marra, P.P., 2015. Direct mortality of birds from anthropogenic causes. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 46, pp.99-120.

It's quite hard to generalize, but this paper seems to suggest anthropogenic mortality increases with body size in mammals. Hence, small mammal mortality would be caused more by predation/competition/diseases than roadkill, imho.
To answer your question why we don't see so many carcasses, I would say that scavenging is very common and i don't see why a 'perfectly fine' protein source should be wasted.

The overwhelming cause of death of small animals ( and deer) that I see is that fearsome predator , the Toyota, Ford, Chevy, etc; AKA roadkill. I am in suburban E.TX. Other than that ,Coopers Hawks are common here and take many small birds. Also barred Owls are common and they are eating something. I think it is politically incorrect to estimate how many birds and bats are killed by wind turbines so those will be difficult numbers to get and they are not located in suburban areas. There are individual studies such as the local college studied the life cycle of Carolina Wrens ; but I doubt you will find anything covering  the range you are asking about.


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Cocoon like bug on exterior walls south florida

Can anyone tell me what this is? One side of my house has 30 to 40 of them. when I try to pick them off they leave either brown spots or fibers from the cocoon. Is there anyway to deter them?

Could you provide approximate size/dimensions. Also, given that you have so many, could you post a picture of what's inside?

Are they all "plastered" to the the side of the house as this one appears to be, or are they dangling down, too?


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Why does pink colour reduce aggressiveness?
According to this Wikipedia page, a shade of pink colour known as "Baker-Miller_Pink" has been known to reduce aggressive behaviour.
Is there any biochemical reaction responsible for this?
Specifically, are any hormones responsible for this?
If yes, then which ones?

Where did you find this claim? A source would be good...

You can just see in the wikipedia

Please put your sources in here, your question might otherwise be close as "primarily opinion based" or unclear.

The page on Wikipedia says - research has shown conflicting results....,  also see this ( http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1988/pdf/1988-v03n04-p202.pdf )

Thanks I read about that.But my question is different.

Some research have been done recently by a set of scientists different from what JM97 mentioned and their results too contradicted what was believed to be the effect of this shade of pink from the earlier experiments performed in 1970-1980. The paper.

I'm voting to close this question as the quoted hypothesis is not valid according to recent published papers.

I think this question should remain open - a good answer should probably contain proposed hypotheses for the effect and any data towards a mechanism and/or a refutation of the existence of the phenomenon. I don't think a question should be closed based only on a faulty premise.


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Indirect pathway of movement and Parkinson's?
So Parkinson's disease leads to the loss of dopaminergic neurons. I understand how the direct pathway (an excitatory pathway) is inhibited, leading to a loss of movement. However, how can the loss of dopamine neurons cause enhancement of the indirect pathway (which enhances its inhibitory effect, leading to a loss of movement)?
I assumed that loss of neurons would decrease stimulation of both pathways.

It's not that simple. There are still several theories out there...each of them fairly complex.

The dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta are a part of neither the direct nor the indirect pathway. The dopaminergic system rather acts as a modulator between those two pathways. More dopamine steers the system towards the direct pathway, less dopamine towards the indirect pathway.
One of the best explanations of the basal ganglia that I've ever seen were video lectures by Dr. Najeeb on youtube.
explanation of the basal ganglia pathways
pathologies involving the basal ganglia
At the beginning of the second video there is a short review of the pathways he explains in the first one. At 5:06 he starts talking about Parkinson's disease.
A paper about the topic:
Functional organization of the basal ganglia: Therapeutic implications for Parkinson's disease (Obeso et al. (2008)


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Land Shrimp Sighting (Western Europe): What is it?
This approx. 6cm long insect was moving rapidly across the asphalt in a wavy/jumpy motion. It makes me think of a shrimp. It has a kind of widened head like a hammerhead shark.
I got two shots with my smartphone camera. Not the best quality.
What is it?

Position: Western Europe
Season: Start of Summer (June 20)
Time of day: Mid-morning
Location: Next to a largish marsh area currently kept as mini natural reserve in the middle of agricultural fields after large-area
school buildings got dropped on the landscape. Sadly this area is
likely to be marred by additional construction soon, the money is
just too good and attracts sharks and brown envelopes.

The size (~2 inches), broad "quadrate" head, and long posterior abdomen leads me to believe this is a relatively large larva of a Predaceous Diving Beetle (family Dytiscidae).

The larvae are sometimes called "water tigers" due to their large mandibles and voracity as aquatic predators.

One possible example:

 Dytiscus marginalis; Sources: Left: Wikipedia, right: Wikimedia
From Wikipedia:

When still in larval form, the beetles vary in size from about 1 to 5 cm (0.5 to 2.0 in). The larval bodies are shaped like crescents, with the tail long and covered with thin hairs. Six legs protrude from along the thorax, which also sports the same thin hairs. The head is flat and square, with a pair of long, large pincers.

The larvae of these insects are found across the globe in most surface waters (lentic and lotic), and they are known to leave the water to dig a suitable terrestrial site in the mud to pupate (Miller & Bergsten, 2016) -- this is likely why you saw this fairly large individual on land near your marsh.
Distinguishing species:
Your image does not provide enough detail to convincingly distinguish to species. I will provide some general details below, but I'll also mention that many species are only differentiated by internal or microscopic differences (e.g., male genitalia; Miller & Bergsten, 2016), and that even more macroscopic differentiating details tend to be on the ventral side of the insect (which is not visible in your image).

I couldn't find any accessible keys for the larvae of European or even more broadly Palearctic species.

Larval keys do exist, though just for other regions of the world (e.g., Michat et al 2008 for Argentina and Watts 2002 for Australia) or for only narrow taxa (e.g., Fery 2003 or Holmgren et al 2016).

Pederzani (1995) provides a global key for adults.

Miller and Bergsten (2016) supposedly provide a fairly stellar global-focused key to genera, but I could not find access to it online.

Some characteristics of note:

Larval characteristics of the family (from WV DEP): two claws on each leg; legs 5-segmented; abdomen usually terminates in a pair of urogomphi

Differentiating characteristics between common genera Dytiscus and Cybister available on bugguide.net

You can find some similar looking species here, and -- although from USA -- this Dytiscus species shares similar dorsal paired/longitudinal striping, number of body segments, and similar caudal anatomy.
Certainly, the similar-sized (up to 60mm), double-striped, European species, Dytiscus marginalis (the Great Diving Beetle), that I show above could very well be your species.

Citations:
 Fery, H., 2003. Dytiscidae: V. Taxonomic and distributional notes on Hygrotus Stephens, with emphasis on the Chinese fauna and a key to the Palearctic species (Coleoptera). Water beetles of China, 3, pp.133-193.
 Holmgren, S., Angus, R., Jia, F., Chen, Z.N. and Bergsten, J., 2016. Resolving the taxonomic conundrum in Graphoderus of the east Palearctic with a key to all species (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae). ZooKeys, (574), p.113.
Michat, M.C., Archangelsky, M. and Bachmann, A.O., 2008. Generic keys for the identification of larval Dytiscidae from Argentina (Coleoptera: Adephaga). Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina, 67(3-4), pp.17-36.
Miller, K.B. and Bergsten, J., 2016. Diving beetles of the world: Systematics and biology of the Dytiscidae. JHU Press.
Pederzani, F. 1995. Keys to the identification of the genera and subgenera of adult Dytiscidae (sensu lato) of the world (Coleoptera Dytiscidae). Atti della Accademia Roveretana degli Agiati, Serie 7 B, 4: 5-83.
Watts, C.H.S., 2002. Checklists & Guides to the Identification, to Genus, of Adult & Larval Australian Water Beetles of the Families Dytiscidae. Noteridae, Hygrobiidae, Haliplidae, Gyrinidae, Hydraenidae and the SuperfamilyHydrophiloidea (Insecta: Coleoptera)., Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Identification and Ecology Guide, 43.

This is my 200th (gold badge) [tag:species-identification] post :). NEAT!

Congrats!!! Well done and well earned. :)


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Are there people who can change one of their eyes' depth of focus, while not changing the other eye's?
Are there people who can change one of their eyes' depth of focus, while not changing the other eye's depth of focus, without any surgical or other external mechanical intervention?
Edit: let's assume both eyes are functional and not obstructed.

Have to tried to find an answer to your question, please share as queries with low or no effort are off-topic in Biology SE?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because the asker doesn't show any attempt at an answer.

What is the fun people have in closing questions? You can also just let it rot away in silence. What is the important difference?

Don't quote me on this, Stack Exchange started as Stack Overflow with the aim to build an open access online library of good (quality) questions and answers on computer programming. So to maintain the quality of the site these measures; downvoting,editing, flagging and closing others' posts have been implemented. About why not leave questions with low effort open? [...]

[...] Well, just to maintain the quality. Leaving them open would mean questions the site wants to discourage (low effort/ unclear/ opinion-based / too broad) are being entertained. Mostly questions are answered by biologists here (and concerned experts in other  communities) who donate their time to help others find an answer, this just ensures that they are not spoon feeding the asker which disinterest them and anybody who wishes to take up the challenge of answering good questions. Our help page can be found here.


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Why do emperor penguins breed during the antarctic winter?
No land animal, and I think no sea animals either, stay in the antarctic during winter - except for one: The emperor penguin. These penguins not only stay there, but their prolonged stay involves 4 months of harsh winter, averaging -70$^o$C, no sunlight and no food for that period of time. And if that wasn't enough, then it's during that time that the emperor penguin male incubates the egg alone, left by his female mate. The male emperor penguins gather together to endure the antarctic winter.
My question thus becomes very obvious: Why does the emperor penguin stay in Antarctica during winter at all, and moreover, breed there during that time and incubates a precious egg in the harshest conditions on earth, while all other animals flee for their lives?

It could be that Antarctica is their niche, land that they don't have to compete with or worry about other animals stealing their eggs as much. Also when they incubate over the winter, the chicks will hatch and grow and be fed during the more productive summer.

Scroll down to "why do emperor penguins breed in such severe conditions"   http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/wildlife/Emperor-penguins.php

They breed during the arctic winter because they are large enough to get their own food during the summer.

Because that's when they're 'cool' !

From my experience working on sheep farms in Australia, it could very well be for similar reasons to why farmers breed their sheep at specific times in the year - they breed their sheep, so that by the time winter hits the lambs are large enough and have enough wool to make it through. The penguins lay their eggs in the dead of winter, but they then incubate for 65-75 days, by this time winter will have largely passed, and the chicks will be growing in the spring and then summer. By laying in the winter, the penguins avoid exposing their young to a winter for as long as possible.
Another point to consider: As you said, Antartica is largely devoid of other life during the winter. To me, what I hear is: There will be no predators to feed on the eggs, or attack the vulnerable penguins incubating their eggs.
Reference: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/wildlife/animals/penguins/emperor-penguins/breeding-cycle


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The smell of the shield bug (aka stink bug)
Every time a shield bug flies into my room I try to kill it. Unfortunately, they leave a strong smell after crushing them. Whenever I smell their odor, I always wonder what  the chemical compound is that the bug releases. Does anyone know what the smelly chemical is? If so, please help me out. I always wanted to know what that molecule was.

is this helpful?

If you don't like the smell,  you could always try to not kill it. Let it find it's own way out or help it on it's way with a glass and a piece of paper.

If an edit is already made and has not been approved then no further edits are allowed until the edit is approved/disapproved. @AlwaysConfused

Shield bugs (also known as stink bugs) are a group of insects in the superfamily Pentatomoidea. As summarized by this article from Rice University, the components of the chemical odor of these insects consist primarily of long chain alkanes, aldehydes, and esters. Esters are to be expected as they're the primary components of many odors. This article also includes other ecological info about the shield bugs' stink, as well as links to some references (including this peer reviewed journal article by Krall et all (1999)).
Another article mentions a 2006 study from Clemson University that identified 2 of the aldehydes in stink bug odor as trans-2-decenal and trans-2-octenal.