Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery.
The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantisflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera is grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera (snakeflies) in the unranked taxon Neuropterida.
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a common way for amateur and professional photographers to host high-resolution photos. It has changed ownership several times and has been owned by SmugMug since April 20, 2018.
Green lacewings are insects in the large family Chrysopidae of the order Neuroptera. There are about 85 genera and 1,300–2,000 species in this widespread group. Members of the genera Chrysopa and Chrysoperla are very common in North America and Europe; they are very similar and many of their species have been moved from one genus to the other time and again, and in the nonscientific literature assignment to Chrysopa and Chrysoperla can rarely be relied upon. Since they are the most familiar neuropterans to many people, they are often simply called "lacewings". Since most of the diversity of Neuroptera are properly referred to as some sort of "lacewing", common lacewings is preferable.
Nepenthes campanulata, the bell-shaped pitcher-plant, is a tropical pitcher plant native to Borneo. It has also been reported from Palawan, the Philippines, though further field work is needed to confirm this identification.
Elmer Drew Merrill was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through the course of his career he authored nearly 500 publications, described approximately 3,000 new plant species, and amassed over one million herbarium specimens. In addition to his scientific work he was an accomplished administrator, college dean, university professor and editor of scientific journals.
Hemerobiidae is a family of Neuropteran insects commonly known as brown lacewings, comprising about 500 species in 28 genera. Most are yellow to dark brown, but some species are green. They are small; most have forewings 4–10 mm long. These insects differ from the somewhat similar Chrysopidae not only by the usual coloring but also by the wing venation: hemerobiids differ from chrysopids in having numerous long veins and forked costal cross veins. Some genera are widespread, but most are restricted to a single biogeographical realm. Some species have reduced wings to the degree that they are flightless. Imagines (adults) of subfamily Drepanepteryginae mimic dead leaves. Hemerobiid larvae are usually less hairy than chrysopid larvae.
Ichthyophis singaporensis, the Singapore caecilian, is a species of amphibian in the family Ichthyophiidae endemic to Singapore. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rivers, intermittent rivers and former plantations. Currently, it is now restricted to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. It has not been sighted for almost fifty years, and is possibly extinct. It might have existed in south Peninsula Malaysia in historic times. William Montgomerie was the island’s first surgeon as well as Raffles’s physician. The specimen was first identified as a species already known to science and sat amongst the unimaginable multitude of other specimens at what is today the Natural History Museum in London. Over a century after it was first collected, Edward Harrison Taylor studied this and other specimens of caecilians, which are legless amphibians that resemble snakes. Taylor concluded that this was a new species and named it Ichthyophis singaporensis from whence the specimen originated. It is commonly known as the Singapore caecilian. Remarkably, despite being Singapore’s rarest amphibian, being known only from the type-specimen, I. singaporensis was also the first amphibian recorded from Singapore. Ichthyophis singaporensis was first described as ‘ I. glutinosus Var? ’ by Cantor who received the specimen from Montgomerie in 1843 when it was dug up from his garden. Hanitsch incorrectly listed the collection date as 1863. Cantor found the specimen to differ from I. paucisulcus, but did not find conclusive data to designate it as a new species. Ichthyophis singaporensis was later described as a new species by Taylor. He included three specimens collected from Peninsular Malaysia as part of I. singaporensis. The specimens are from “ Selangor ”, Batu Gajah, and Kuala Kangsi. As of today, I. singaporensis is only known from these four specimens. No live photographs exist of I. singaporensis, but Taylor provides a radiographic image of the specimen. It is only known from a type-specimen predating 1847.
Tan Sri Augustine Ong Soon Hock is a Malaysian scientist, academic, and board member. He is internationally recognized in the field of lipid chemistry.
Phobaeticus chani, the Chan's megastick, is a species of stick insect in the tribe Pharnaciini, native to the southeast Asian island of Borneo. It is one of the longest insects in the world and was once considered the record-holder. One specimen held in the Natural History Museum in London measures 56.7 cm (22.3 in). This measurement is, however, with the front legs fully extended. The body alone still measures an impressive 35.7 cm (14.1 in).
Teoh Beng Hock was a Chinese Malaysian journalist and political aide to Ean Yong Hian Wah, a member of the Selangor state legislative assembly and state executive council. On 15 July 2009, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) took Teoh into custody for questioning about allegations of corruption. Teoh was found dead the next morning on the rooftop of a building adjacent to the MACC offices. Pakatan Rakyat leaders and a number of federal government officials called for a Royal Commission of inquiry into Teoh's death.
Chrysopinae is the nominate subfamily of green lacewings in the insect family Chrysopidae in the order Neuroptera. This subfamily is also the largest within the family and comprises about 60 genera.
Chrysoperla carnea, one of the species of common green lacewing, is an insect in the Chrysopidae family. Although the adults feed on nectar, pollen and aphid honeydew, the larvae are active predators and feed on aphids and other small insects. It has been used in the biological control of insect pests on crops.
The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) was a research institute located in Syracuse, New York. Its mission was to improve taxonomical exploration and the cataloging of new species of flora and fauna. Between 2008 and 2018, IISE published a yearly "Top 10" of the most unusual or unique biota newly identified in the previous year, with the aim of drawing attention to the work done in taxonomy across the world over the previous year.
Semachrysa is a genus of green lacewing found from Japan to Australia along the Western part of the Pacific Ocean. 20 Semachrysa species have been described between 1914 and 2012. 15 of them - one of which was new - have been included in a recent taxonomic study:
Ptyas fusca, commonly known as the white-bellied rat snake or brown rat snake, is a species of colubrid snake. It is found in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
Xenophidion schaeferi, also known commonly as the Malayan spinejaw snake or Schäfer's spiny-jawed snake, is a species of snake in the monotypic family Xenophidiidae. The species is endemic to Malaysia.
Palaeopsychops is an extinct genus of lacewing in the moth lacewings family Ithonidae. The genus is known from Early Eocene fossils found in Europe, and North America and is composed of ten species. The ten species can be informally separated into two species groups based on veination of the forewings, the "European" and "North American" groups. When first described, the genus was placed in the family Psychopsidae, but later was moved to Polystoechotidae, which itself is now considered a subgroup of the moth lacewings.
Nepenthes malayensis, or the striped Malayan montane pitcher plant, is a large species of carnivorous tropical pitcher plant native and endemic to eastern mountains of Peninsular Malaysia. The peristomes on both upper and lower pitchers are profusely adorned by reddish bands, or stripes, making the species rather attractive. It grows close to mountain summits around 800–1000 m above sea level in partially shaded areas, though some individuals have been seen growing in open areas. The species was first observed in 2018 and initially thought to be conspecific with N. sanguinea. Nepenthes malayensis formal description was published in late 2020 in Kew Bulletin and it is one of the three Malayan species described in the same year.
Hebetica sylviae is a member of the treehopper family Membracidae. It is found in the eastern United States, first discovered in Murray, Kentucky, with a second sighting in Atlanta, Georgia.
