| Polyphemus pediculus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Branchiopoda |
| Order: | Onychopoda |
| Family: | Polyphemidae |
| Genus: | Polyphemus |
| Species: | P. pediculus |
| Binomial name | |
| Polyphemus pediculus (Linnaeus, 1761) | |
Polyphemus pediculus is a species of onychopod in the family Polyphemidae. It is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere in freshwater systems. [1] [2] [3]
Polyphemus is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends". Polyphemus first appeared as a savage man-eating giant in the ninth book of the Odyssey. The satyr play of Euripides is dependent on this episode apart from one detail; for comic effect, Polyphemus is made a pederast in the play. Later Classical writers presented him in their poems as heterosexual and linked his name with the nymph Galatea. Often he was portrayed as unsuccessful in these, and as unaware of his disproportionate size and musical failings. In the work of even later authors, however, he is presented as both a successful lover and skilled musician. From the Renaissance on, art and literature reflect all of these interpretations of the giant.
Louse is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insect. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result of developments in phylogenetic research.
Sucking lice have around 500 species and represent the smaller of the two traditional superfamilies of lice. As opposed to the paraphyletic chewing lice, which are now divided among three suborders, the sucking lice are monophyletic.
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described. Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species.
Pediculosis is an infestation of lice from the sub-order Anoplura, family Pediculidae. Accordingly, the infestation with head lice is named pediculosis capitis, while this with body lice, pediculosis corporis. Although pediculosis in humans may properly refer to lice infestation of any part of the body, the term is sometimes used loosely to refer to pediculosis capitis, the infestation of the human head with the specific head louse.
The head louse is an obligate ectoparasite of humans. Head lice are wingless insects that spend their entire lives on the human scalp and feeding exclusively on human blood. Humans are the only known hosts of this specific parasite, while chimpanzees host a closely related species, Pediculus schaeffi. Other species of lice infest most orders of mammals and all orders of birds.
Pediculus humanus is a species of louse that infects humans. It comprises two subspecies:
The Atlantic horseshoe crab, also known as the American horseshoe crab, is a species of marine and brackish chelicerate arthropod. Despite their name, horseshoe crabs are more closely related to spiders, ticks, and scorpions than to crabs. It is found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast of North America. The main area of annual migration is Delaware Bay along the South Jersey Delaware Bayshore.
Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans; they are chelicerates, most closely related to arachnids, such as spiders and scorpions.
Antheraea polyphemus, the Polyphemus moth, is a North American member of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. It is a tan-colored moth, with an average wingspan of 15 cm (6 in). The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hindwings. The eyespots give it its name – from the Greek myth of the cyclops Polyphemus. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1776. The species is widespread in continental North America, with local populations found throughout subarctic Canada and the United States. The caterpillar can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months.
Gopherus is a genus of fossorial tortoises commonly referred to as gopher tortoises. The gopher tortoise is grouped with land tortoises that originated 60 million years ago, in North America. A genetic study has shown that their closest relatives are in the Asian genus Manouria. The gopher tortoises live in the southern United States from California's Mojave Desert across to Florida, and in parts of northern Mexico. Gopher tortoises are so named because of some species' habit of digging large, deep burrows. Most notably, Gopherus polyphemus digs burrows which can be up to 40 feet (12 m) in length and 10 feet (3.0 m) in depth. These burrows are used by a variety of other species, including mammals, other reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Gopher tortoises are 20–50 cm (7.9–19.7 in) in length, depending on the species. All six species are found in xeric habitats. Numerous extinct species are known, the oldest dating to the Priabonian stage of the Late Eocene of the United States.
The gopher tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for at least 360 other animal species. G. polyphemus is threatened by predation and habitat destruction.
The body louse is a hematophagic ectoparasite louse that infests humans. It is one of three lice which infest humans, the other two being the head louse, and the crab louse or pubic louse.
Acis and Galatea are characters from Greek mythology later associated together in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The episode tells of the love between the mortal Acis and the Nereid (sea-nymph) Galatea; when the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus kills Acis, Galatea transforms her lover into an immortal river spirit. The episode was made the subject of poems, operas, paintings, and statues in the Renaissance and after.
Pusula pediculus, common name the "coffee bean trivia", is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Triviidae, the false cowries or trivias. This species was previously known as Trivia pediculus.
Pusula is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Triviidae, the false cowries or trivias.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus classified the arthropods, including insects, arachnids and crustaceans, among his class "Insecta". Wingless arthropods were brought together under the name Aptera.
Polyphemus is a genus of water fleas, and the only genus in the family Polyphemidae. There are two species, P. exiguus and P. pediculus, although allopatric speciation has resulted in a number of cryptic species of P. pediculus. Polyphemus exiguus inhabits open zones in the Caspian Sea, while Polyphemus pediculus exists throughout the Holarctic. It lives in diverse conditions, from small ponds to lakes and estuaries such as the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Gulf of Finland. It can be found quite far offshore.
Pediculus is a genus of sucking lice, the sole genus in the family Pediculidae. Pediculus species are ectoparasites of primates.
Quedius is a genus of large rove beetles in the family Staphylinidae. There are about 800 described species in Quedius.
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