The Noronha skink is a species of skink from the island of Fernando de
Noronha off northeastern Brazil. Perhaps seen by Amerigo Vespucci in
1503, it was first formally described in 1839. Its subsequent taxonomic
history has been complex, riddled with confusion with Trachylepis
maculata and other species, homonyms, and other problems. The species
is classified in the otherwise mostly African genus Trachylepis and is
thought to have reached its island from Africa by rafting. The
enigmatic Trachylepis tschudii, supposedly from Peru, may be the same
species as the Noronha skink. The Noronha skink is covered with dark
and light spots on the upperparts and is usually about 7 to 10 cm (3 to
4 in) in length. The tail is long and muscular, but breaks off easily.
Very common throughout Fernando de Noronha, it is an opportunistic
feeder, eating both insects and plant material, including nectar from
the Erythrina velutina tree, as well as other material ranging from
cookie crumbs to eggs of its own species. Introduced predators such as
cats prey on it and several parasitic worms infect it.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noronha_skink>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
64:
The Great Fire of Rome started among the shops around the Circus
Maximus, eventually destroying three of fourteen Roman districts and
severely damaging seven others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome>
1863:
American Civil War: Led by Union Army Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the
54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first formal African
American military unit, spearheaded an assault on Fort Wagner near
Charleston, South Carolina .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54th_Massachusetts_Volunteer_Infantry>
1982:
Guatemalan military forces and their paramilitary allies slaughtered
over 250 Mayans in the village of Plan de Sánchez, Baja Verapaz.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_de_S%C3%A1nchez_massacre>
1996:
Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 exploded at about 00:31 UTC (20:31, July 17
EDT) off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all 230 on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800>
2005:
In a joint statement, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then
U.S. President George W. Bush announced the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear
agreement, a bilateral accord on civil nuclear cooperation between
their two respective countries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-U.S._civilian_nuclear_agreement>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
insipid (adj):
1. Unappetizingly flavorless.
2. Flat; lacking character or definition.
3. Cloyingly sweet or
sentimental
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insipid>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better
than not to be able to love at all.
--William Makepeace Thackeray
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Makepeace_Thackeray>
Show replies by date