Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of 376/km2 (970/sq mi). Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, historically a somewhat larger region than the Benelux group of states, as it also included parts of northern France. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven.
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,462 square kilometres (564 sq mi) with a total population of 522,522 by 1 January 2008, ranking it as the 5th most populous in Belgium after Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, and Ghent. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos.
Hainina is an extinct mammal genus from the latest Cretaceous to the Paleocene of Europe.
The Lacertidae are the family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Afro-Eurasia. It is a diverse family with at least 300 species in 39 genera. They represent the dominant group of reptiles found in Europe. The group includes the genus Lacerta, which contains some of the most commonly seen lizard species in Europe.
Club Brugge Koninklijke Voetbalvereniging, known simply as Club Brugge, is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062. They play in, and are the reigning champions of Belgian First Division A, the top domestic league in Belgian football.
The Belgium national football team officially represents Belgium in men's international football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in Europe by UEFA—both of which were co-founded by the Belgian team's supervising body, the Royal Belgian Football Association. Periods of regular Belgian representation at the highest international level, from 1920 to 1938, from 1982 to 2002 and again from 2014 onwards, have alternated with mostly unsuccessful qualification rounds. Most of Belgium's home matches are played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.
George Albert Boulenger was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses.
The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation status: not simply the number of individuals remaining, but the overall increase or decrease in the population over time, breeding success rates, and known threats. Various systems of conservation status exist and are in use at international, multi-country, national and local levels as well as for consumer use.
Baron Michel Edmond de Selys Longchamps was a Belgian Liberal Party politician and scientist. Selys Longchamps has been regarded as the founding figure of odonatology, the study of the dragonflies and damselflies. His wealth and influence enabled him to amass one of the finest collections of neuropteroid insects and to describe many species from around the world. His collection is housed in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
Orthomerus is a genus of dubious hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of the Netherlands. It is today an obscure genus, but in the past was conflated with the much better known Telmatosaurus.
Eurhinodelphis is an extinct genus of Miocene cetacean. Its fossils have been found in Belgium, France, and Maryland.
Dactylorhiza praetermissa, the southern marsh orchid or leopard marsh orchid, is a commonly occurring species of European orchid.
Verschaffeltia splendida is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is the only species in the genus Verschaffeltia.
The Mediterranean, Southern or Miller's water shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae.
The crowned shrew or Millet's shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the British island of Jersey. It is almost indistinguishable from the common shrew, its habitatal preferences and habits are identical. However it has a different karyotype, is slightly smaller, and has small morphological differences, such as a longer rostrum relative to length of skull.
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms.
Max Fernand Leon Poll was a Belgian ichthyologist who specialised in the Cichlidae. In the years 1946 and 1947 he organised an expedition to Lake Tanganyika.
Flora of China is a scientific publication aimed at describing the plants native to China.
Puppigerus is an extinct genus of sea turtle from the Eocene. It is known from finds in the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, and Uzbekistan.
Beneziphius is an extinct genus of ziphiid cetacean known from late Miocene to Pliocene marine deposits in Belgium and fishing grounds off Spain. The genus name honors Pierre-Joseph van Beneden, who pioneered the study of Neogene marine mammals from Belgium.
