Dog's tongue (Pseudelephantopus spicatus)

Sandung or dog's-tongue (Pseudelephantopus spicatus) is a plant species in Asteraceae, perennial herbs, stems erect, 10-40 cm tall, inconspicuously ribbed, puberulous, grows wild on roadsides, open land and disturbed sites, often used to make brooms, animal feed and medicines.

P. spicatus has simple leaves, rosulate or alternate at base, 5-15 by 1.5-5 cm, obovate or oblanceolate, margin slightly serrate to entire, apex obtuse or rounded, base cuneate or attenuate and subcoriaceous. Upper surface puberulous without glands, lower surface puberulous with filiform hairs and capitate glands.

Lateral veins 9-15-paired. Petioles up to 2 cm long. Capitulescences terminal and axillary, capitula 1-4 aggregated in clusters supported by foliaceous bracts, clusters arranged in a spike. Capitula tubular, 14-17 mm long. Receptacle flat, 1-1.5 mm in diameters and glabrous.

Florets bisexual and fertile. Involucres oblong, in 2 series, 10-11 mm long. Phyllaries 8, decussate, light green, margin entire or piliferous and outer surface pilose without glands. The outer lanceolate and apicies acute. The inner ones obovate-lanceolate or oblong and apices acute.

Corollas salverform, white, zygomorphic and glabrous. Corolla tubes 5-9 mm long and corolla lobes 2.5-2.8 mm long. Anthers 1.5-2 mm long, apical appendage acute, base acute. Styles white, 5-9 mm long, branches ca. 2 mm long, inner surface covered with stigmatic papillae.

Achenes clavate, 4-5 mm long, pubescent with densely twin hairs, without glands, 10-ribbed. Pappus in 1 series, often of 2 sizes and bent at the tip, bristles 6-9, 2-6 mm long.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Cichorioideae
Tribe: Vernonieae
Subtribe: Elephantopinae
Genus: Pseudelephantopus
Species: Pseudelephantopus spicatus

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...

Giant golden spider (Nephila pilipes)

Kemlanding or giant golden orbweaver ( Nephila pilipes ) is an animal species in the Araneidae, a web spider with a vertical and asymmetrical mesh, sexually dimorphic with elongated females up to 20 cm in size and has a large investment in egg production and web construction, whereas males only a few millimeters. N. pilipes displays female gigantism and male dwarfism. Females usually have a body size of 30-50 mm, the cephalothorax is 15 mm long and 10 mm wide. The stomach is 30 mm long, 15 mm wide and is mostly tawny with yellow stripes. The female has black or brown, covered in thick hairs. The two rows of eyes stick out towards the back. Plastron is mostly black and brown. The legs are very long, stick-shaped with several joints, black and yellow, lacking of hairs. Males are 5-6.5 mm in size, cephalothorax is 2.5 mm long and 2 mm wide. The stomach is 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide. The front eye is bigger than the back eye. The legs are light brown with some hair. Yellow carapace with ...

Kemadih (Schultesianthus coriaceus)

Kemadih ( Schultesianthus coriaceus ) is a species of plant in the Solanaceae family. It grows as a climber and covers host trees. It is a perennial, multi-branched, hardwood plant with hard, brown bark and dark green young bark. S. coriaceus has thick leaves, 15 cm long and 8 cm wide. A central vein is linear, with a pointed tip and base. The upper surface is dark green and the lower surface is bright green. The petiole is 3 cm long. The flowers are fan-shaped with 5 inflorescences. The base is narrow, whitish-yellow or bright green, and 8 cm wide. Four inflorescences with brownish-white tips and one inflorescence with a green tip grow in the center. The fruit is green, 3.5 cm long, and the stalk is 2 cm long. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Solanales Family: Solanaceae Subfamily: Solanoideae Tribe: Solandreae Genus: Schultesianthus Species: Schultesianthus coriaceus

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