Showing posts with label Vertebrates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vertebrates. Show all posts

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Taxonomically not what you eat

One should be cautious in naming a taxonomic group for their ecological habits.

I offer you these examples:

1. Most turtles are amphibious; all are reptiles, not amphibians. Turtles have scales, lay hard leathery eggs, have the physiological and genetic makeup of reptiles. I often see phrases such as, "turtles and other Amphibians" in writing about biology by non-scientists. The taxonomic term 'amphibians' is not helpful in getting across to people that turtles are reptiles.

2. Consider the Carnivora. Most Carnivora are carnivores, but some, such as the giant panda, eat largely plants. Further, many carnivorous mammals are not Carnivora in the taxonomic sense. Unnecessarily confusing.

3. Pity the poor Insectivora. It turns out things are worse than just dietary nonconformity (not all the Insectivora ate insects, and not all insectivorous mammals were called Insectivora). The group called Insectivora no longer exists! Biologists had assumed that similarities in diet and morphology among the moles, shrews, tree shrews, golden moles, hedgehogs, moonrats, solenodons, tenrecs, elephant shrews and colugos were the result of common descent (they all had these traits because they were all closely related to each other). It is now clear that Insectivora was an ecological rather than taxonomic grouping. This is because modern molecular genetic and phylogenetic methods make clear that most of these Insectivores are not any more closely related to each other than they are to you, or to an elephant. Specifically, the moles, shrews, solodons, hedgehogs and moonrats form one group, whose closest relatives include the carnivores and hoofed mammals. The tree shrews and culogos (of southeast Asia) are more closely related to the primates. The golden moles, tenrecs and elephant shrews (all African groups) are related to larger mammals found in Africa such as the aardvarks and elephants.

4. The Caprimulgidae (Latin for goat suckers), do not suck goats. They were named for a feeding behavior falsely attributed to them. They are in fact insectivores.

Friday, February 08, 2008

El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area, February list

Here is the February list. 53 species are listed at present.

Birds:
Western Scrub-Jay
Stellar's Jay
American Crow
Northern Raven
Hutton's Vireo
Black Phoebe
Yellow-rumped Warblers
Townsend's Warbler
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Oak Titmouse
House Sparrow
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Bush Tit
Hermit Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Dark-eyed Junco
Cedar Waxwing
American Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch
Pine Siskin
House Finch
Wild Turkey
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Great Horned Owl
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker
Red-shafted Flicker
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Anna's Hummingbird
Selasphorus Hummingbird (Either Allen's or Rufous, two nearly indistinguishable)
Turkey Vulture
American Coot
Double-crested Cormorant
Ring-Billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove

Mammals:
Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)
Mule Dear (Odocoileus hemionus)
Voles (Microtus californicus? runways and burrows)
Pocket Gophers (burrows)
Fox (Grey fox? scat)
Skunk (smelled, species?)

Herps:
Southern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata)
California Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus)
Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris)

Friday, December 07, 2007

El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area

I've decided to compile a list of vertebrates occurring in El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area. More specifically, in the smaller northern section of the park that is directly behind my house.


View Larger Map

I may expand to the whole Natural Area once my mobility increases.

This afternoon, I took a short walk in the park from 1:15-1:40.

I saw or heard the following birds:
Western Scrub-Jay
Stellar's Jay
American Crow
Northern Raven
Yellow Rumped Warblers
Bewick's Wren
Chestnut-backed CHickadee
House Sparrow
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Anna's Hummingbird
Turkey Vulture
Red Tailed Hawk

UPDATE:
(Added 12/9/07)
Red-shafted Flicker
Red-breasted Sap-Sucker
American Robin
Black Towhee
Bush Tit
Mourning Dove

(Added 12/11/07)
Hermit Thrush
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
House Finch

(Added 12/12/07)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker

(Added 12/14)
Dark-eyed Junco
American Goldfinch

(Added 12/16)
American Coot
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Northern Mockingbird


I saw, or sign of the following mammals:
Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)
Mule Dear (Odocoileus hemionus)
Voles (Microtus californicus? runways and burrows)
Pocket Gophers (burrows)
Fox (Grey fox? scat)

I didn't see any herps or fish.
(Added 12/16)
Southern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata)

Nothing unusual so far. I will add more as I see it.