Tag - animal-tracker

 
 

ANIMAL TRACKER

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 2, 2002
Flatworm
* Japanese name: Namiuzumushi * Scientific name: Dugesia japonica * Description: Flatworms are tiny animals a bit like miniature slugs, about 1 cm long. They have thin, gray-brown bodies with a brain and sense organs at the head end (you can see the eyes in the photo). Flatworms move by gliding --...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 26, 2002
Robber fly
* Japanese name: Shioya abe * Scientific name: Promachus yesonicus * Description: Robber flies are robust insects with powerful legs. The face of the fly is covered in a dense "beard" of bristles, and there is a deep groove between the eyes. There are many species of robber fly (almost 5,000 worldwide),...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 19, 2002
Backswimmer
* Japanese name: Matsumomushi * Scientific name: Notonecta triguttata * Description:Backswimmers are aquatic insects, true bugs, with piercing mouthparts. They live underwater and are shaped like small boats, with a keel and a pair of oars -- long, powerful hind legs fringed with hairs -- that propel...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 12, 2002
Giant centipede
* Japanese name: Oogeji * Scientific name: Thereuopoda clunifera * Description: Someone went a bit leg-crazy when naming these animals. Although they are called centipedes (the name means "100 legs"), oogeji have only 15 pairs of legs. They are not insects (all of which have just three pairs of legs)...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 5, 2002
Swallowtail
* Japanese name: Kiageha * Scientific name: Papilio machaon * Description: There are several species of swallowtail butterflies in Japan, all of them easily recognizable by their swallowtails -- the tail-like appendages on the edge of the hind wings. Body length is 36-70 mm. Swallowtails have fully...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 21, 2002
Mayfly
* Japanese name: Monkagero * Scientific name: Ephemera strigata * Description: Mayflies are common, soft-bodied insects with short antennae and mouthparts that are vestigial (not used). They have two long cerci, tail-like structures growing from the end of the abdomen. They are easily recognizable because...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 14, 2002
Greater shrew-mole
* Japanese name: Himizu * Scientific name: Urotrichus talpoides * Description: The greater shrew-mole belongs to the mole family but, befitting its name, it has features of both moles and shrews. It has short, thick, dark-brown to black fur that conceals its small eyes and ears, a pointy nose and forepaws...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 7, 2002
Slender shrew
* Japanese name: Togarinezumi * Scientific name: Sorex gracillimus * Description: The shrew is the archetypal small furry mammal, resembling the first mammals that ever existed. It has brown fur with a white underside, a long tail, small ears and eyes, and a pointy nose. Slender shrews are 6-7 cm...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 31, 2002
Black soldier fly
* Japanese name: Amerika mizuabu * Scientific name: Hermetia illucens * Description: Black soldier flies look a bit like wasps, but they have no sting and are not interested in humans -- at least while we are alive. They are robust black flies about 15 mm long, with wings that lay over the body when...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 24, 2002
Wolf spider
* Japanese name: Komori-gumo * Scientific name: Pardosa astigera * Description: Wolf spiders are dark brown, predatory and fast-moving spiders measuring 7-10 mm long. Females may continue to grow after they are sexually mature. They do not spin webs like many spiders. They have eight eyes, in pairs:...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 17, 2002
Long-armed shrimp
* Japanese name: Tenaga-ebi * Scientific name: Macrobrachium nipponese * Description: Long-armed shrimp are accurately named. They are crustaceans in the family that includes lobsters and crabs, all of which have 10 pairs of legs. In the long-armed shrimp, the first five pairs are the walking legs,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 10, 2002
Crane fly
* Japanese name: Kiriuji gaganbo * Scientific name: Tipula aino * Description: Crane flies are slender insects with light-brown bodies, a black rim around the wings and long legs that dangle beneath them when they fly. This gives them their other English name (used by children): daddy longlegs. Crane...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 3, 2002
Water strider
* Japanese name: Himeamenbo * Scientific name: Gerris latiabdominis * Description: Water striders are common, semiaquatic insects, with bodies that are brown on top and silver-white underneath. They have three pairs of long legs, the front pair being well-separated from the others. Water striders use...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 26, 2002
Indian fritillary
* Japanese name: Tsumaguro-hyomon * Scientific name: Argyreus hyperbius * Description: This is a common butterfly in the nymphalid family. It has an orange body and distinctively marked orange wings with black spots (hyomon means "panther pattern"). The female, but not the male, has black wingtips....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 19, 2002
Copperhead snake
* Japanese Name: Nihon mamushi * Scientific name: Agkistrodon blomhoffii * Description: Copperheads are reddish-brown, coppery colored snakes of the viper family. They have thick bodies, 40-70 cm long, with chestnut-brown rings. * Where to find them: In forests and surrounding farmland, from Hokkaido...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 12, 2002
Humpback whale
* Japanese name: Zatokujira * Scientific name: Megaptera novaeangliae * Description: Measuring 12-14 meters, weighing 25-30 tons and with flippers up to 5.5 meters long, the humpback whale is unmistakable. It is black, with white patches on the flippers, which may also be encrusted with barnacles. The...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 5, 2002
Fruit fly
* Japanese name: Shojobae * Scientific name: Drosophila melanogaster * Description: This is a tiny (3-mm) fly, with red eyes and one pair of wings. It is almost too small to notice, yet the fruit fly is one of the world's most important organisms. Study of the fruit fly led directly to the science of...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 29, 2002
Earthworm
* Japanese name: Aka mimizu * Scientific name: Lumricus rubellus * Description: An earthworm's body consists of a tube within a tube. The inner tube is a digestive tract, the outer is segmented and muscular. Between the two are reproductive organs, and running the length of the body is a simple nervous...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 22, 2002
Asian hive bee
* Japanese name: Nihon mitsubachi * Scientific name: Apis cerana * Description: Asian hive bees are social insects. Hairy and bullet-shaped, they have well-developed tongues and back legs with special hairs that mesh together to form a flexible basket for carrying pollen. Bees are very strong and are...
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 15, 2002
Harvest mouse
* Japanese name: Kayanezumi * Scientific name: Micromys minutus * Description: This is Japan's smallest mouse, growing 5-8 cm long and weighing only 5 grams. Harvest mice have long, prehensile tails which they use for gripping the stems of grass when climbing. They have stubby noses and hairy ears;...

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