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Daldinia concentrica (Bolton: Fr.) Ces. & De Not. is an ascomycete belonging to Xylariaceae family. This fungi grows in a special way, building concentric layers around its core, characteristic which gives its name. It is a cosmopolite fungi, grows on dead wood and can be locally common. Its flesh has a coal-like consistency. Some studies have shown that this species produces chemical compounds with anti-HIV effects, antioxidant activity and phytotoxic activity.

This specimen was found in the laurel forest of Anaga, located in the northeast of the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands.

#fungi #xylariaceae #anaga #canary islands #tenerife #laurel forest #daldinia

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~ Statuette of Anubis. Period: Ptolemaic Period Date: 332-30 B.C. Place of origin: Egypt Medium: Plastered and painted wood.

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Danish Runic Inscription 66: The Mask Stone

Danish Runic Inscription 66 or DR 66, also known as the Mask Stone, is a granite Viking Age memorial runestone that was discovered in Aarhus, Denmark. The runestone is famous for bearing a depiction of a facial mask and an Old Norse runic inscription describing a battle between kings. There is insufficient evidence to establish which battle the inscription refers to, but the Battle of Svolder and the Battle of Helgeån have been proposed as candidates. The mask depicted has been explained by the Moesgård Museum as “probably intended to be protection against evil spirits.” The runic text indicates that the stone was raised as a memorial by four men in memory of a man named Fúl. The relationship between the men is described as a being a félag, which was a joint financial venture between partners during the Viking Age.

This small butterfly belongs to the species Pararge xiphioides, an endemic species from Canary Islands. It is very common in La Gomera, La Palma, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Its caterpillar feeds on some Poaceae plant species. This one rests on Echium plantagineum.

#Butterfly #Canary Islands #Entomology #Trip #Trekking #Endemic species #Lepidoptera #Nymphalidae #Tenerife

amnhnyc

It’s time for Trilobite Tuesday! In 1984, a thousand years after these layers were first noted by local residents, Chinese scientists formally described an amazing 515 million year old Lower Cambrian fauna located within the Maotianshan Shales of Chengjiang County in China’s southern province of Yunnan. There, mixed amid a variety of primitive trilobite species including Eoredlichia intermedia (photo), Yunnanocephalus yunnanensis, Wutingaspis tingi and Kauyangi pustulosa, were an astounding assortment of soft-bodied creatures, many of which resembled those found in the legendary– though 5 million years more recent– Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Material from the Chinese site (which along with a number of other similarly-aged local layers, including the Chiungchussu and Qionzhusi formations, have become collectively recognized as the Chengjiang Biota) had been known as early as the 10th Century.

It wasn’t until scientific expeditions began exploring the area in late 1970s, however, that research began to unravel the myriad scientific mysteries that lay within these 50-meter thick, hard mudstone layers. So far, 185 different species (with over half being arthropods… four being the aforementioned trilobites) have revealed themselves in the Chengjiang Biota, with the possibility that even more are still hidden within these ancient rocks, waiting to be discovered.

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It’s time for Trilobite Tuesday! Trilobites were among the most successful creatures ever to exist on Earth. Their march through evolutionary time began back in the Lower Cambrian, some 521 million years ago, and lasted for nearly 270 million years, until the end of the Permian, 252 million years ago. During this unfathomable length of time (which ostensibly bookends the entire Paleozoic Era), these highly adaptable arthropods filled virtually every available marine niche while producing over 25,000 scientifically recognized species. Certain localities around the world – including key Carboniferous (Mississippian & Pennsylvanian) and Permian outcrops in Kazakhstan, Belgium China and New Mexico (home of this Pudoproetus ferlingensis)– have produced fossilized examples of the diminutive proetida order, usually an inch or less in size, that represent the last members of the noble trilobite dynasty. And while these end-of-the-line trilobites apparently filled a wide variety of oceanic habitats – ranging from deep open water to shallow continental shelves – their versatility wasn’t enough to save them from their eventual fate. As life on our ever-changing planet has continually proven, nothing lasts forever, and for reasons that continue to both confound and fascinate scientists, the end of the Permian also signaled the end of trilobites… along with 90 percent of life around the globe, an event which represents the greatest mass extinction in the history of Planet Earth.

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Smilodon, or saber-toothed cat, lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch, a period that spanned from 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago. More robustly built than any modern cat, Smilodon boasted particularly well-developed forelimbs and exceptionally long upper canine teeth. Numerous remains of Smilodon have been found at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Scientists are unsure why this site attracted so many saber-toothed cats, but some suggest these cats may have been scavengers rather than hunters. Smilodon’s enormous canines, or “sabers,” protruded inches below its chin line when its jaws were closed. In order to stab its prey, the saber-toothed cat had to open its lower jaw to a 95-degree gape so as to clear the points of the sabers. The phrase “sabertoothed tiger” is a bit of a misnomer, as Smilodon is not an especially close relative of modern tigers.

Learn more in the Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals: https://goo.gl/ovFF4c

amnhnyc

Did you know today is Shark Awareness Day?

These impressive teeth, which come from the enormous extinct shark Carcharodon megalodon, hang ominously in our Vertebrate Origins Hall. This animal, which lived in the seas 10 million years ago, easily dwarfed modern Great white sharks. Current estimates put this species at a maximum total length of about 52 feet (15.9 metres) and an approximate mass of 48 tons (tonnes). By comparison, the largest known White Shark was about 23.5 feet (7.1 metres) long and had a mass of roughly 2.3 tons (tonnes). Fossilized Carcharodon teeth are found all around the world, but some of the best preserved are from North Carolina, like these exhibited at the Museum. For an astounding 400 million years, sharks have roamed the oceans in search of prey. Along the way they took on a wide variety of forms, from the intimidatingly tremendous—as in the case of the Carcharodon megalodon—to the Pale Catshark, a modern shark you could easily hold in your hand.

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A Museum researcher once called Archaeopteryx the “poster child” for evolution. The first skeleton of the dinosaur was found in Germany around the time that Charles Darwin published his seminal On the Origin of Species in 1859. With both avian and reptilian traits (the animals possessed feathers and long bony tails), Archaeopteryx helped the public understand the possible link between dinosaurs and modern birds.

Research in 2009, however, undermined the idea that the dinosaur was actually the first bird. When Museum scientists studied Archaeopteryx’s growth rates, they discovered they grew much slower than birds do, only reaching adult size after approximately 970 days. This turned the idea that Archaeopteryx was a missing link on its head, only complicating the puzzle further. Despite this discrepancy, it is now widely accepted that birds did in fact descend from dinosaurs. Whether or not Archaeopteryx is an avian ancestor, or just an example of a convergently-evolved feathered dinosaur is now a separate question.

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Scarab pectoral from the burial of Shoshenq II

The central motif is of a scarab beetle supporting the sun disc, It is flanked by two rearing cobras crowned with the “Hedjet” the white crown of Upper Egypt.

3rd Intermediate Period, 22nd Dynasty, ca. 885 BC, gold, lapis lazuli, green and red faience. height: 7 cm, from Tanis. Now in the Egyptian Museum Cairo.