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firefly

(Encyclopedia)firefly or lightning bug, small, luminescent, carnivorous beetle of the family Lampyridae. Fireflies are well represented in temperate regions, although the majority of species are tropical and subtro...

vulture

(Encyclopedia)vulture, common name for large birds of prey of temperate and tropical regions. The Old World vultures (family Accipitridae) are allied to hawks and eagles; the more ancient American vultures and cond...

warbler

(Encyclopedia)warbler, name applied in the New World to members of the wood warbler family (Parulidae) and in the Old World to a large family (Sylviidae) of small, drab, active songsters, including the hedge sparro...

Tymoshenko, Yulia Volodymyrivna

(Encyclopedia)Tymoshenko, Yulia Volodymyrivna, 1960–, Ukrainian political leader, prime minister of Ukraine (2005, 2007–10), b. Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk). She studied economics and cybernetics at Dnipropetrovsk S...

Boer

(Encyclopedia)Boer bo͝or, bôr [key] [Du.,=farmer], inhabitant of South Africa of Dutch or French Huguenot descent. Boers are also known as Afrikaners. They first settled (1652) near the Cape of Good Hope in what ...

staphylococcus

(Encyclopedia)staphylococcus stăfˌələkŏkˈəs [key], any of the pathogenic bacteria, parasitic to humans, that belong to the genus Staphylococcus. The spherical bacterial cells (cocci) typically occur in irreg...

color

(Encyclopedia)color, effect produced on the eye and its associated nerves by light waves of different wavelength or frequency. Light transmitted from an object to the eye stimulates the different color cones of the...

James II, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)James II, 1633–1701, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1685–88); second son of Charles I, brother and successor of Charles II. James made an effort to restore himself by landing in Irel...

Transvaal

(Encyclopedia)Transvaal trănzvälˈ [key], former province, NE South Africa. With the new constitution of 1994, it was divided into Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo), Pretoria-Wi...

cherry

(Encyclopedia)cherry, name for several species of trees or shrubs of the genus Prunus (a few are sometimes classed as Padus) of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for their fruits. The small, round red to black ...