Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

401 results found

waxbill

(Encyclopedia)waxbill, common name for small, brightly colored weaver finches of the Estrildini tribe of the family Estrildidae. Most are African with the exception of two S Asian species of avadavats, and one Aust...

treehopper

(Encyclopedia)treehopper, any member of three families of winged insects, remarkable for the curious shapes of most species. The shapes are due to the enlargement of the dorsal (upper) covering of the first thoraci...

lobster

(Encyclopedia)lobster, marine crustacean with five pairs of jointed legs, the first bearing large pincerlike claws of unequal size adapted to crushing the shells of its prey. The segmented body of the lobster consi...

click beetle

(Encyclopedia)click beetle, common name for members of the widespread beetle family Elateridae. Also called elater beetle, the click beetle has a hinge across the front of the body that allows it to flex, and a spi...

Hemichordata

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Dorsal view of an acorn worm, Saccoglossus, representative of the phylum Hemichordata Hemichordata hĕmĭkôrˌdāˈtə [key], small phylum of marine invertebrates closely related to both the ...

Porifera

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Canal systems of the three morphological types of sponges B. Internal anatomy of an asconoid sponge, representative of the phylum Porifera Porifera pōrĭfˈərə [key] [Lat.,=pore bearer],...

drongo

(Encyclopedia)drongo drŏngˈgō [key], any of the insect-eating Old World birds of the family Dicruridae. Most species have black plumage with an iridescent purple or green shimmer and long, deeply forked tails. T...

inchworm

(Encyclopedia)inchworm, name for the larvae of moths of the family Geometridae, a large, cosmopolitan group with over 1,200 species indigenous to North America. Also called measuring worms, spanworms, and loopers, ...

blister beetle

(Encyclopedia)blister beetle, common name for certain soft-bodied, usually black or brown, mostly elongate and cylindrical beetles belonging to the family Meloidae. Blister beetles are common insects found feeding ...

aloe

(Encyclopedia)aloe ălˈō [key] [Gr.], any species of the genus Aloe, succulent perennials of the family Lilaceae (lily family), native chiefly to the warm dry areas of S Africa and also to tropical Africa, but cu...