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— test your knowledge of Canada and its fauna — |
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| General information and editorial notes News and Notes The Carmanah Canopy Project:
Conservation of Arthropod Biodiversity in Coastal Sitka Spruce Forests Project Update: Arthropods
of Canadian Grasslands Recent Publications associated with the Biological Survey |
1. What is crytoturbation, where is it most
marked, and why is it important to the Canadian biota? answer 2. What are fiords, and where are they most common in
Canada? 3. Name two families of Hymenoptera represented in Canada by only a single species. 4. In a kilogram of insects: 5. Specific names ending in –ensis usually indicate the type locality or country
of the species (e.g. canadensis). Give 5 such insect or arachnid names that are based on
Canadian localities, features or jurisdictions.
Answers to Faunal Quiz 1. What is crytoturbation, where is it most marked, and why is it important to the Canadian biota? Answer: Cryoturbation is soil movement with frost action, such as frost heaving. Most soils in Canada undergo freeze-thaw processes, and especially in arctic soils the resulting disturbance and sorting of particles is very marked, leading for example to a phenomenon known as patterned ground. Constant disturbance by frost in these regions leads to habitat instability, which hinders the survival of plants and of the animals that depend on them. 2. What are fiords, and where are they most common in Canada? Answer: Fiords are long deep arms of the sea occupying the lower portion of a channel with high steep walls. Typically, the fiord bottom is uneven with intrusive rock formations, and side streams enter from high level valleys by cascades or steep rapids. Such landforms are most common in Canada on the northwest coast. 3. Name two families of Hymenoptera represented in Canada by only a single species. Answer: The following families of Hymenoptera are represented in Canada by only a single species: Leucospidae, Pelecinidae, Vanhorniidae, Sierolomorphidae. 4. a) In a kilogram of insects: answer: The number of individual insects that weigh one kilogram is about 125 large caterpillars, 1,250 adult dragonflies, 8,000 honey bee workers, 50,000 well-fed houseflies, and several million egg-parasitic wasps. 4 b) what percentage of this weight is water that is readily removed by drying? answer: About 700 grams or 70% of this weight would be water;
different species and different stages vary, normally between about 60 and 80%. [based largely on information from the “Handbook of Biological Data”]. 5. Specific names ending in –ensis usually indicate the type locality or country of the species (e.g. canadensis). Give 5 such insect or arachnid names that are based on Canadian localities, features or jurisdictions. answer: Specific names of Canadian insects and arachnids ending in -ensis that are based on Canadian localities, features or jurisdictions include the following (there are many others): the oribatid mite Eureremaeus osoyoosensis, the lycosid spider Xysticus labradorensis, the aphids Aphis duckmountainensis and Acyrthosiphon assiniboinensis, the dytiscid beetles Agabus mackenziensis, Agabus vancouverensis and Ilybius churchillensis, the chironomid midge Apometriocnemus beringensis, the black fly Helodon albertensis, the sphaerocerid fly Pullimosina yukonensis, the anthomyiid fly Paradelia ogilviensis, and the moths Xanthorhoe baffinensis (Geometridae), Pyla gaspeensis (Pyralidae), Euxoa quebecensis and Merolonche atlinensis (Noctuidae).
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