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Dawkins, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Dawkins, Richard (Clinton Richard Dawkins), 1941– British evolutionary biologist and ethologist, b. Kenya, Ph.D. Oxford, 1966. He was a research assistant under Nikolaas Tinbergen at Oxford until 19...

naked mole rat

(Encyclopedia)naked mole rat, name applied to a species (Heterocephalus glaber) of small rodents found in E Africa, whose members—the only hairless rodents—live entirely in underground communities of 80 or more...

lac

(Encyclopedia)lac, resinous exudation from the bodies of females of a species of scale insect (Tachardia lacca), from which shellac is prepared. India is the chief source of shellac, although some is obtained from ...

rock crawler

(Encyclopedia)rock crawler, name applied to the slender, wingless insects of the family Grylloblattidae in the order Orthoptera. They have long antennae and range in length from 1⁄2 to 1 in. (15–30 mm). Rock cr...

Brachiopoda

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Internal anatomy of a lamp shell, Magellania, representative of the phylum Brachiopoda Brachiopoda brākēŏpˈədə [key], phylum of shelled sessile or sedentary marine animals, commonly know...

scarab beetle

(Encyclopedia)scarab beetle or scarab, name for members of a large family of heavy-bodied, oval beetles (the Scarabaeidae), with about 30,000 species distributed throughout most of the world and over 1,200 in North...

wings

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Structure of a bird wing B. Structure of a bat wing wings, flight organs of the bird, the bat, and the insect. Birds' wings are pectoral appendages that are basically the same in skeletal...

piculet

(Encyclopedia)piculet pĭkˈyələt [key], common name for a small bird of the family Picidae, which includes the woodpecker and the wryneck. Like the true woodpeckers, piculets are large-headed and have long, stic...

California, University of

(Encyclopedia)California, University of, at ten campuses, main campus at Berkeley; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1868, opened 1869 when it took over the College of California (est. 1853 a...

herbarium

(Encyclopedia)herbarium, collection of dried and mounted plant specimens used in systematic botany. To preserve their form and color, plants collected in the field are spread flat in sheets of newsprint and dried, ...