Mount Merbabu National Park

Mount Merbabu National Park is a conservation area of 57.25 square kilometers covering a forest area on Mount Merbabu (3,145 m) in Boyolali Regency, Magelang Regency, and Semarang Regency in Central Java Province, Indonesia. The national park was declared on May 4, 2004 which was previously a protected forest and a natural tourism park.

Mount Merbabu National Park is very important as a source of water in the three Regencies and the flora and fauna habitat is protected and preserved. The area consists of mountain forest zones as stated by van Steenis. Lower mountain forest zone at 1,000 - 1,500 m has changed and overgrown by Tusam (Pinus merkusii), Puspa (Schima wallichii ssp. Noronhae) and Bintuni.

The upper mountain forest zone at 1,500 - 2,400 m is overgrown with acacia (Acacia decurrens and Acacia virgata), Puspa, Sengon gunung (Albizia lophanta), Sowo (Engelhardtia serrata), mountain cypress (Casuarina junghuhniana), Pasang (Quercus sp), and Tanganan. The sub-alpine forest zone at 2,400 - 3,142 m is overgrown with grass and Javanese edelweiss (Anaphalis javanica).

Some animal species in this region include Javan Hawk (Nisaetus bartelsi), Black eagle (Ictinaetus malayensis), Spotted kestrel (Falco moluccensis), Crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela), Green junglefowl (Gallus varius), Spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis).

Wren stones, deer (Muntiacus muntjak), Javan hedgehogs (Hystrix javanica), Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), Crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis), Leopards (Panthera pardus melas), and others.

Green vestment mantis (Phyllothelys qingjinum) from Malipo, Yunnan, with cross collar on pronotum

NEWS - Green vestment mantis ( Phyllothelys qingjinum ) from Malipo, Yunnan, China, is described based on geometric morphometric, genetic distance and molecular phylogenetic analyses. The discovery of this new species fills a significant distribution gap for the P. werneri group in southern Yunnan and highlights the need for further exploration in this region. Phyllothelys Wood-Mason, 1876 (Mantodea, Hymenopodidae) includes 22 species with China being the hotspot containing 15 species in four groups, especially P. werneri which includes 6 species. This suggests a wide distribution across the mountainous region south of the Yangtze River extending from Medog in the west to Taiwan Island in the east. P. qingjinum has dimensions (mm) with head to abdomen: 52.75-54.95, head to wing: 58.60-62.14, pronotum: 15.30-17.76, prozone: 3.46-3.95, metazone: 11.84-13.88, anterior coxa: 8.39-10.64, anterior femur: 9.36-11.46, anterior tibia: 5.55-7.02, posterior femur: 7.82-9.35, posterior tibia: 6....

Bengal trumpet (Thunbergia grandiflora)

Bengal trumpet ( Thunbergia grandiflora ) is a species of plant in the Acanthaceae, herbaceous, climbing, up to 20 meters long, long root system with deep taproot. The leaves are opposite, petiolate, rough surface and variable size. The leaves are triangular or oval or 7-cornered and the margins are serrated or wavy or plain. The length and width of the leaves are up to 20 cm. The flowers are blue and mauve in color, up to 9 cm wide and the tube is 4 cm long. The pods contain seeds that scatter up to several meters when ripe. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Acanthaceae Subfamily: Thunbergioideae Tribe: Thunbergieae Genus: Thunbergia Species: Thunbergia grandiflora

Mossman mahogany (Goniocheton arborescens)

Mossman mahogany ( Goniocheton arborescens ) is a species of plant in the Meliaceae, a small to large tree, up to 20-30 meters tall, flowering and fruiting when only 1 meter high, the trunk has a diameter of up to 45 cm, the bark is gray-brown, smooth or with light cracks. The leaves are opposite, 5 pairs or 10 pieces and petioles 0.5-1 cm long. The leaves are up to 18 cm long, up to 9 cm wide, a main vein in the middle with many small pinnate veins, a pointed tip, dark green upper side, lighter and glabrous underside. The inflorescence is an axillary thyrse measuring up to 8 cm covered with small yellow-brown hairs. Flowers about 10 mm long, creamy green to white, usually 5 petals 10 mm long and 2.2 mm wide. Stamen tubes arise from the base of the petals, 10 anthers 1 mm long at the distal end. The capsule fruit is round and slightly flat, up to 3 cm in diameter, bald, bright red and contains 5 seeds. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida...

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