Shoebutton ardisia (Ardisia elliptica)

Lempeni or duck's eye or coralberry or shoebutton ardisia (Ardisia elliptica) are shrub species in Primulaceae, grow in tropical climates, survive under the shade of large trees in dense forests, strong single roots and produce sweet fruit.

A. elliptica can grow up to 5 meters high, a single stem and stands upright with many short branches, has oval shaped leaves, elongated, rather thick, smooth texture, shiny, pink when young and will turn dark green when old.

Flowers appear on leaf axils, umbrella-shaped with reddish purple crowns and white petals to pink. Lempeni produces round and clustered fruits, which are green when young and turn red, purple and black when old.

Ripe fruit emits purple ink when broken, about 5-6 mm. Seeds are round and 5 mm in diameter. Ripe fruit is preferred for consumption for sweetness. The leaves are antiplatelet, are antibacterial and contain many antioxidants.

Ardisia solanacea and Ardisia humilis are considered the same species as Ardisia elliptica by some experts. Individuals reach reproductive maturity in 2-4 years in the wild and 1-2 years in cultivation. Mature plants in the forest with lots of sun can produce 400 fruits.

Seeds do not require dormancy. Seedlings and shoots can live in very shady places for years. With a little sunlight, young plants quickly develop into adults and reproduce. The fruit is favored by birds and mammals so it is very quickly spread throughout the landscape.

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Primulaceae
Genus: Ardisia
Species: A. elliptica

Laniger bat tick (Ixodes lanigeri), new hard tick species (Ixodidae) from mouse-eared bats (Myotis) in Vietnam

NEWS - Researchers have identified Ixodes ticks from Vietnam based on morphological and molecular characteristics of females, nymphs and larvae as a new species, laniger bat tick ( Ixodes lanigeri ), which like other members of the Ixodes ariadnae complex appears to show a preference for vesper bats as a typical host. Historically, for more than a century and a half, only one species has been called the “long-legged bat tick”: Ixodes vespertilionis Koch. However, over the past decade, it has been molecularly recognized that long-legged ixodid ticks associated with bats may represent at least six species. Host associations and geographic separation may explain the evolutionary divergence of the new species from its closest living relative Murina hilgendorfi Peters in East Asia, Japan, as no Myotis or Murina spp. have overlapping distributions between Vietnam and the Japanese mainland. On the other hand, assuming that I. lanigeri may be present in other myotine bats and knowing that s...

Tekijem (Cyperus cyperoides)

Tekijem ( Cyperus cyperoides ) is a plant species in Cyperaceae, annual grasses that grow in seasonal wetlands, open or shaded fields, swamps, ponds, rice fields, roadsides, open forests, secondary forests and shrubs at altitudes up to 1,800 m in the tropics. C. cyperoides has an upright, triangular shape, 20-75 cm tall from a very short rhizome and has no stolon. The lanceolate-shaped leaves are narrow and long, the tips are pointed, slippery, shiny, green and grow at the bottom and at the top of the stem. The terminal flower appears on the tip of the stem, cylindrical spiklet shaped and green. Each stem has two to seven flowers, each of which has a short or long stem that grows at the end of the stem together with the leaves. Tekijem grows solitary or in small groups at a distance. Propagating using vegetative and generative methods using seeds. At least three sub-species are Cyperus cyperoides cyperoides , Cyperus cyperoides flavus and Cyperus cyperoides pseudoflavus . Th...

Large pro rotifer (Proales amplus), new monogonont with large epipharynx from Korea (Rotifera, Proalidae)

NEWS - Large pro rotifer ( Proales amplus ) is the 42nd species in the genus Proales that exhibits unique morphological characteristics on the trophy, especially the unmatched epipharynx that prevents misidentification with other species. The epithet amplus is derived from the Latin word meaning large or wide, referring to the size and shape of the epipharynx. Proalidae Harring & Myers 1924 includes 4 genera and 53 species that are distributed throughout the biogeography and inhabit a variety of environments, including freshwater, saltwater and terrestrial environments. The genus Proales includes 41 species that are characterized by various morphological features. In Korea, the presence of Proalidae has been documented with 5 species: Bryceella perpusilla (Wilts, Martínez Arbizu & Ahlrichs, 2010), B. stylata (Milne, 1886), B. tenella (Bryce, 1897), Proales fallaciosa (Wulfert, 1937) and Proalinopsis caudatus (Collins, 1872). The habitus of P. amplus has some similarities w...

Dlium