The French Southern and Antarctic Lands is an overseas territory of France. It consists of:
- Adélie Land, the French claim on the continent of Antarctica.
- Crozet Islands, a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar.
- Kerguelen Islands, a group of volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, southeast of Africa.
- Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands, a group to the north of the Kerguelen Islands.
- Scattered Islands, a dispersed group of islands around the coast of Madagascar.
The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave crickets, camel crickets, Hogan bugs, spider crickets, land shrimp, and sand treaders. Those occurring in New Zealand are typically referred to as jumping or cave wētā. Most are found in forest environments or within caves, animal burrows, cellars, under stones, or in wood or similar environments. All species are flightless and nocturnal, usually with long antennae and legs. More than 500 species of Rhaphidophoridae are described.
The Culicomorpha are an infraorder of Nematocera, including mosquitoes, black flies, and several extant and extinct families of insects. They originated 176 million years ago, in the Triassic period. There are phylogenetic patterns that are used to interpret bionomic features such as differences in the nature of blood-feeding by adult females, daytime or nighttime feeding by adult females, and occurrence of immature stages in aquatic habitats.
The Crozet Islands are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
The subantarctic fur seal is a species of arctocephaline found in the southern parts of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. It was first described by Gray in 1872 from a specimen recovered in northern Australia—hence the inappropriate specific name tropicalis.
The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV Belgica, it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the first expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Among its members were Frederick Cook and Roald Amundsen, explorers who would later attempt the respective conquests of the North and South Poles.
Gerlache Strait or de Gerlache Strait or Détroit de la Belgica is a channel/strait separating the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula. The Belgian Antarctic Expedition, under Lt. Adrien de Gerlache, explored the strait in January and February 1898, naming it for the expedition ship Belgica. The name was later changed to honor the commander himself.
Emil Gheorghe Racoviță was a Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist, and Antarctic explorer.
The Chironomidae comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many species superficially resemble mosquitoes, but they lack the wing scales and elongated mouthparts of the Culicidae.
Belgica antarctica, the Antarctic midge, is a species of flightless midge, endemic to the continent of Antarctica. At 2–6 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long, it is the largest purely terrestrial animal native to the continent. It also has the smallest known insect genome as of 2014, with only 99 million base pairs of nucleotides and about 13500 genes. It is the only insect that can survive year-round in Antarctica.
Macropathus is a genus of cave wētā in the family Rhaphidophoridae, endemic to New Zealand.
Jean-Charles Jacobs was a Belgian doctor and entomologist, a pupil of Constantin Wesmael. He graduated in medicine from the University of Brussels, but never abandoned the study of insects, and was one of the founders of the Société entomologique de Belgique. He concentrated on the Hymenoptera, often in collaboration with Jules Tosquinet, turning to Diptera later in life. Among his later studies was a report on the insects collected by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, including that continent's largest fully terrestrial animal, the fly Belgica antarctica .
Gymnometriocnemus is a genus of non-biting midges in the subfamily Orthocladiinae of the bloodworm family (Chironomidae). The genus is divided into two subgenera, Raphidocladius Sæther 1983 and Gymnometriocnemus Goetghebuer, 1932. Males of the former subgenus are characterized by possessing an extremely long virga with needle-like sclerotization, species of the later characterized by a short virga and a weakly developed crista dorsalis in the adult male hypopygium.
Georges Lecointe was a Belgian naval officer and scientist. He was captain of the Belgica and second-in-command of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, the first to overwinter in Antarctica. After his return to Belgium he was the founder of the International Polar Organization and deeply involved in the foundation of the International Research Council and the International Astronomical Union.
The wildlife of Antarctica are extremophiles, having adapted to the dryness, low temperatures, and high exposure common in Antarctica. The extreme weather of the interior contrasts to the relatively mild conditions on the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic islands, which have warmer temperatures and more liquid water. Much of the ocean around the mainland is covered by sea ice. The oceans themselves are a more stable environment for life, both in the water column and on the seabed.
Belgica albipes is a species of non-flying lake fly first described by Eugène Séguy in 1965. Belgica albipes is part of the genus Belgica and the family Chironomidae. The insect lives in the Crozet Islands.
Dolichopoda is a genus of cave crickets in the tribe Dolichopodaini, subfamily Dolichopodainae. They are distributed in the Mediterranean basin in southern Europe and western Asia.
Faune de France is a 99 volume synthesis of Zoology of France published between 1921 and 1999. The books are written in the French language. They contain identification keys.
Pachyrhamma edwardsii is a species of wētā, in the family Rhaphidophoridae, endemic to New Zealand. This species is found in caves, or large cavities where there is high humidity and little plant or animal life.
Parvotettix is an extant genus of cave cricket from the order Orthoptera in the family Rhaphidophoridae, endemic to Tasmania, Australia. The genus was established in 1968 by Aola Richards and contains six species she described. Parvotettix is a sister group to the subfamily Macropathinae, forming a paraphyletic Australian grouping.
