Here we present every month a blog about an animal group.
Category: Group of the month
Månedens gruppe for juni. Myrfiolene – ei artsgruppe der hybridisering skaper, endrer og fjerner mangfold
Hvorfor er denne gruppa interessant å studere?Myrfiolgruppa (Viola seksjon Plagiostigma, underseksjon Stolonosae; Violaceae) er ei av flere artergrupper i den nordlige tempererte sonen som diversifiserte som respons på global nedkjøling de siste ~5 millioner år. Å studere artene i denne gruppa gir derfor mulighet til å belyse de […]
The marsh violets – a lineage where hybridisation creates, modifies and deletes diversity
Why is this group interesting to study? The marsh violet group (Viola sect. Plagiostigma, subsect. Stolonosae, in part; Violaceae) is one of numerous north-temperate species groups that diversified in response to climate cooling in the last ~5 million years. Thus, studying this group has the potential to elucidate […]
Group of the month, May: The Krill
Featured photo: Euphausia superba, the Antarctic krill. Photo by Professor Dr. habil. Uwe Kils, uploaded to en.wikipedia.org. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Tiny but mighty, krill are among the most abundant animals on Earth and their collective role is […]
Group of the Month April: Family Rhytidocystidae
Cover image: Rhytidocystis polygordiae from the intestines of a polychaete Polygordius sp. (Scale bar = 15 μm) from Leander & Ramey, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1550-7408.2006.00109.x For this month’s group, I’m introducing another group of enigmatic protists, the family Rhytidocystidae. They belong to the phylum Apicomplexa, which is known for many […]
Group of the Month March: Laboulbeniales
Let me introduce you to the Group of the Month for March: A fungus! At this point you are probably thinking to yourself: “Wait a minute, that’s not a fungus. That’s clearly just a beetle…” And for the most part, you’d be right! Let’s zoom in a bit […]
Månedens Gruppe Mars: Laboulbeniales
La meg presentere månedens gruppe for mars: En sopp! Nå tenker du sikkert for deg selv: «Vent, det der er ikke en sopp. Det er helt klart bare en bille…» Og det er i og for seg riktig! La oss zoome litt lengre inn: Tankerekken fortsetter: «Hmm… Det […]
Group of the month: Cycliophora – the ringbearers and the “Norwegian” phylum
This month I will present to you a very small phylum of animals – both in size and in number of species. The phylum Cycliophora, which means the ring-bearer, comprises exactly one genus and two described species. These species are about 350 µm in body length, which is […]
Månedens gruppe: Cycliophora – ringbærerne og den «norske» fylumet
Denne måneden vil jeg presentere en svært liten dyregruppe – både i størrelse og i antall arter. Cycliophora, som betyr ringbærer, består av nøyaktig én slekt og to beskrevne arter. Disse artene er ca. 350 µm i kroppslengde, noe som er mindre enn en halv millimeter og omtrent […]
Group of the Month: Tree ferns – an Australian holiday discovery
A visit to the Adelaide Botanic Garden is certainly high up on the to-do list of a biologist visiting the capital of South Australia. In December 2024, a couple of days before the Australian midsummer, I had the pleasure to visit the Adelaide Botanic Garden and explored the […]
Christmas in the Ocean: The Marvel of Christmas Tree Worms
Today, I want to introduce a fascinating group of worms that are particularly relevant during the Christmas season. Known as Christmas tree worms, these marine annelids belong to the family Serpulidae. They are renowned for their radiolar crowns and their habit of dwelling within calcareous tubes attached on […]