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General information and editorial notes News and Notes Summary of the Scientific Committee Meeting Members of the Scientific Committee 2002 Nature Discovery Fund: Call for Applications 2003 Project Update: Seasonal Adaptations in Insects The University of Guelph Insect Collection Insect biodiversity in the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary |
— test your knowledge of Canada and
its fauna — 1. Is the highest
point of land in Manitoba higher than that in Saskatchewan? Answer 2. What is a braided stream? Answer 3. Among parasitoid wasps that occur in Canada, name 20 families in
which all or nearly all members are parasitoids of other insects or other
kinds of terrestrial arthropods. Answer 4. How many species of cockroaches occur in Canada and how many of
these species are introduced? Answer 5. A specimen is returned after
identification by a specialist with the following report. Describe the
meaning (in terms of the maximum information it provides) of that
report. Inventidae: Neocoronus (mediatus
Thompson gp.) sp. 3 [n. sp. nr. pallidus (Johanson)
Answer
Answers to Faunal Quiz
1. The highest point of land in Manitoba (Baldy Mountain, 832 metres, in Duck Mountain Provincial Park) is lower than the Cypress Hills (1392 metres) in western Saskatchewan
2. A braided stream is one flowing in several dividing and reuniting channels resembling the strands of a braid, a phenomenon caused by obstructions created by sediment deposited by the stream. Depending on the zone, such a habitat can support diverse insects.
3. There are many families of parasitoid wasps that attack insects and their relatives in Canada, well over 40 families in total. Well known examples include Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, the Aphelinidae and other chalcidoids, the Eucoilidae, Alloxystidae and other cynipoids, proctotrupoids such as Proctotrupidae, Diapriidae, Platygastridae and Scelionidae, as well as Ceraphronidae, Bethylidae and other famiies. For a list see Mem. Ent. Soc. Can. 108 (1979): 487-489 or http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/hymenoptera_old.htm
4. 31 species of cockroaches have been recorded in Canada, including 26 species thought to be introduced, of which only four are established in the country (as opposed to adventitious in heated buildings or laboratories). (Vickery, V.R. at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/orthopteroids2.htm)
5. The report "Inventidae: Neocoronus (mediatus Thompson gp.) sp. 3 [n. sp. nr. pallidus (Johanson)]" means that the specimen is an undescribed species of the family Inventidae of the genus Neocoronus, within a recognized species group named after the species mediatus described by Thompson in Neocoronus. The specimen is recognized by the identifier as belonging to the species to which he has given the working label "species 3". That species is near the species pallidus that was described earlier by Johanson in another genus now treated as a synonym of Neocoronus. |
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