5 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Mite Pockets Of Lizards "Many lizards are infested by chig gers, the larvae of trombiculid mites, which feed on tissue fluid and cell debris. Surprisingly, lizards seem to go out of their way to attract the chiggers -- they have special mite pockets that provide a protected, warm and humid site. In many cases, the skin of the lizard also has smaller scales than normal and a good blood supply in the pocket, which enables the parasites to feed more readily." There does not seem to be any advantage to the lizards providing plush accommodations for the chiggers. The chiggers can wreak havoc on their hosts in the form of skin lesions, allergic reactions, secondary infections, and the transmission of diseases. Nevertheless, some 150 species in 5 distinct lizard families possess mite pockets, which are often located in different places in different lizard species. Apparently, the mite pockets evolved separately several times. But why? (Benton, Michael J.; "The Mite Pockets of Lizards," Nature, 325:391, 1987.) Comment. Why haven't the lizards evolved thicker skin or some sort of chemical defense instead of reducing their fitness with mite pockets? Or, are other factors operating? From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 137 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/sf051b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 28: Jul-Aug 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Land animals: earlier and earlier Two biologists looking for plant fossils in the Catskills found instead the remains of ancient centipedes, mites, and spider-like creatures -- a classical case of serendipity. These animals were in a Devonian formation dated at 380 million years. It turned out that they were the oldest fossils ever found of purely land animals. (Some fossil animals of about the same age are known in European rocks, but in semiaquatic environments.) Two aspects of the fossils are of special interest: The animals found were already well-adapted to terrestrial life, inferring that the (assumed) invasion of the land from the sea has to be pushed back much farther in time; and Many of the fossil animals are essentially identical to modern forms, suggesting that little if any evolution has occurred in 380 million years. (Anonymous; "Fossils found in N.Y . Alter Scientists' View," Baltimore Sun, May 29, 1983. Comment. Note the sudden jump from no land animals to well-developed, frozen-in-time land animals. From Science Frontiers #28, JUL-AUG 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf028/sf028p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Rubberneckia The long-standing belief that unlimited rotary motion is impossible in animals has been shattered. It was, after all, a very reasonable assumption, because necks and other appendages turn only so far before bones and muscles begin to snap. Well, it seems that inside ter-mite guts there resides a single-celled animal with a head that rotates constant-ly 30 times a minute. Since none of its membranes shear during rotation, we must infer that membranes are basically fluid structures rather than solids as supposed. The animal, called Rubberneckia, has a shaft running the full length of its body plus a motor of undetermined character. To make Rubberneckia even more bizarre, thousands of tiny, rod-like bacteria occupy long grooves on the cell's surface. Like galley slaves, the bacteria row with their flagella to keep Rubberneckia moving -- a curious symbiotic relationship. (Cooke, Robert; "A Tale to Make Your Head Spin,: Boston Globe, March 20, 1984, p. 1. Cr. P. Gunkel) From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf033/sf033p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology When were the americas peopled? How many migrations were there? Astronomy Supernova problems Were titius and bode right? A LARGER SUN DURING THE MAUNDER MINIMUM Biology First yeti photos? Giant fish reported in china The mite pockets of lizards Evolution through mergers Geology Forests frozen in time A QUESTIONABLE 200-MILLION-YEAR HIATUS Geophysics Shake no quake REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MARFA LIGHT ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE HAS COMPLEX STRUCTURE Psychology Glossolalia: possible origins RARE BUT THERE: HYPNOTIC ENHANCEMENT OF EIDETIC IMAGERY ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/index.htm
... Kill the Unfit? BMX6 Unusual Aggression among Mammals BMX7 Unusual Mammal-Animal Psychological Interfaces Unusual Gut Symbionts Sperm-Whale Encounters with Giant Squid BP PLANTS & FUNGI Titles not yet posted BR REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS BRA EXTERNAL APPEARANCE AND AND MORPHOLOGY Exceptional Abundance and Diversity in Australia Newts and Salamanders Are Penisless; They Use Spermatophores Like Scorpions Some Male Salamanders Have Special Teeth to Inject Females with Pheromones Discardable (Sometimes Autonomous) Tails Mimicry in Reptiles Sports, Terata She-Male Snakes and Lizards Sharp Differences within Some Frog Species Caecilians Are Just Vertebrate Bags of Fluid Salamanders with Ballistic Tongues Tuataras Have No Penis, Unique among Reptiles Lizard Color Changes with Temperature Caecilians Have Pop-Out Eyes Convergent Evolution among Island Lizards Some Lizard Eggs Luminous Snakes with Rudimentary Legs Night-Shining Eyes Hinged Teeth Grass inside Turtle Egg Lizard Mite Pockets Blind Batrachians Design and Purposes of Forked Tongues Gender Changes in Frogs Frogs and Snakes with Aerodynamic Surfaces [BRB] Receptacles for Carrying Eggs Young Reptiles with Lures Snake with Extra Hinge in Jaw Reptiles that Change Color Midwife-Toad Saga (Kammerer) Gecko with Velcro Feet Neoteny and Heterchrony All-Female Species [BRF Parthenogenesis, Virgin Birth] Giant Reptiles Tuatara Third Eye Salamander Cannibalistic Morphs Convergence among Island Lizards Living Fossils (Evolutionary Stasis) Throat Teeth in Snakes Fringed Feet on Desert Lizards Olms Hairy Frogs Snakes Have Two Penises Changing Color to Control Temperature Spines to Condense Moisture Frogs with Pouches for Young Incubator Structures on Toads Chameleon Tongues Longer Than Bodies Riddle of the Basilisk BRB BEHAVIOR Snakes Swallowing Young Frogs Swallowing Young Frogs "Appreciating" Music Arboreal Salamanders Frogs Croaking in Unison Lizards Running on Water ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 5 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-biol.htm
