Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) praeclara praeclara Mannerheim, 1837 - Cyprus

Family: Buprestidae

Ελληνικά:
Τα ενήλικα άτομα του γένους Anthaxia, τρέφονται κατά την διάρκεια της μέρας με πέταλα ή γύρη λουλουδιών. Τα ενήλικα έχουν επίμηκες σχήμα και συνήθως με έντονα χρωματισμένο κέλυφος με μεταλλικές αντανακλάσεις. Τα ενήλικα αποθέτουν τα αυγά τούς σε νεκρά κλαδιά ή κορμούς ξυλωδών φυτών. Οι προνύμφες τρέφονται με το νεκρό ξύλο. Όταν οι προνύμφες φτάσουν στο τελικό στάδιο ανάπτυξης, μεταμορφώνονται σε νύμφες μέσα στο ξύλο. Όταν ενηλικιωθούν βγαίνουν από το ξύλο αφήνοντας μια μικρή τρύπα (οπή) στην επιφάνεια του κλαδιού.

Το είδος Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) praeclara έχει μέγεθος 4,5 - 6 mm. Τα γνωστά είδη ξενιστές του είναι: Pinus sp., Cedrus sp. & Juniperus sp.


English: 
The adults of Anthaxia genus fed during the day with petals or flower pollen. Adults have an elongated shape and usually brightly colored carapace with metallic reflections. They lay there eggs in dead branches or trunks of woody plants. The larvae feed from the dead wood. When the larvae reach the final stage of development, transformed into nymphs within the wood. When adults emerge from the timber, a small hole remains on the branch surface.

Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) praeclara is a species with the size of 4,5 - 6 mm. It can be found flying around and sitting on yellow flowers. It hosts on dead branches of Pinus sp., Cedrus sp. & Juniperus sp.
Info from www.anthaxia.eu and wikipedia, edited. 

Photos at Asia (Famagusta) 15/04/2016, by Michael Hadjiconstantis

Anthaxia (Anthaxia) togataeformis Novak 2001 - Endemic to Cyprus.

Family: Buprestidae
Subfamily: Buprestinae
Tribe: Anthaxiini

Endemic to Cyprus.

Ελληνικά:
Τα ενήλικα άτομα του γένους Anthaxia, τρέφονται κατά την διάρκεια της μέρας με πέταλα ή γύρη λουλουδιών. Τα ενήλικα έχουν επίμηκες σχήμα και συνήθως με έντονα χρωματισμένο κέλυφος με μεταλλικές αντανακλάσεις. Τα ενήλικα αποθέτουν τα αυγά τούς σε νεκρά κλαδιά ή κορμούς ξυλωδών φυτών. Οι προνύμφες τρέφονται με το νεκρό ξύλο. Όταν οι προνύμφες φτάσουν στο τελικό στάδιο ανάπτυξης, μεταμορφώνονται σε νύμφες μέσα στο ξύλο. Όταν ενηλικιωθούν βγαίνουν από το ξύλο αφήνοντας μια μικρή τρύπα (οπή) στην επιφάνεια του κλαδιού.

Το είδος Anthaxia togataeformis έχει μέγεθος 4,4 - 6,3 mm. 


English: 
The adults of Anthaxia genus fed during the day with petals or flower pollen. Adults have an elongated shape and usually brightly colored carapace with metallic reflections. They lay there eggs in dead branches or trunks of woody plants. The larvae feed from the dead wood. When the larvae reach the final stage of development, transformed into nymphs within the wood. When adults emerge from the timber, a small hole remains on the branch surface.

Anthaxia togataeformis is a species with the size of 4,4 - 6,3 mm. It can be found flying around and sitting on yellow flowers.
Info from www.anthaxia.eu and wikipedia, edited. 

Photos at Larnaca 16/04/2016, by Michael Hadjiconstantis

Ulmus glabra Huds. - Wych elm - Scots elm - Πτελέα η γυμνή - Φτελιά - Cyprus

Family: Ulmaceae

Ulmus glabra, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran. A large, deciduous tree, it is essentially a montane species, growing at elevations of up to 1500 m, preferring sites with moist soils and high humidity. The tree can form pure forests in Scandinavia and occurs as far north as latitude
67°N at Beiarn in Norway. Wych elm has also been successfully introduced to Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland (61°N).

The tree was by far the most common elm in the north and west of the British Isles and is now acknowledged as the only indisputably British native elm species. Owing to its former abundance in Scotland, the tree is occasionally known as the Scotch or Scots elm; Loch Lomond said to be a corruption of the Gaelic Lac Leaman interpreted by some as 'Lake of the Elms', 'leaman' being the plural form of leam or lem, 'elm'. However, this is contested, the correct Gaelic name considered Loch Laomainn, its origin obscure.


Closely related species, such as Bergmann's elm U. bergmanniana and Manchurian elm U. laciniata, native to northeast Asia, were once sometimes included in Ulmus glabra, another close relative is the Himalayan or Kashmir elm U. wallichiana.


Description

The wych elm sometimes reaches heights of 40 m, typically with a broad crown where open-grown, supported by a short bole < 2 m. d.b.h. There are not normally root suckers; natural reproduction is by seed alone. The tree is notable for its very tough, supple young shoots, which are always without the corky ridges or 'wings' characteristic of many elms. The alternate leaves are deciduous, 6–17 cm long by 3–12 cm broad, usually obovate with an asymmetric base, the lobe often completely covering the short (<5 mm) petiole; the upper surface is rough. Leaves on juvenile shoots sometimes have three or more lobes near the apex. The perfect hermaphrodite flowers appear before the leaves in early spring, produced in clusters of 10–20; they are 4 mm across on 10 mm long stems and, being wind-pollinated, are apetalous. The fruit is a winged samara 20 mm long and 15 mm broad, with a single, round, 6 mm seed in the centre, maturing in late spring. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ulmus canescens Melville - Grey Elm - Grey-leafed Elm - Πτελέα η τεφρή - Φτελιά - Cyprus

Family: Ulmaceae
Ulmus canescens is a small deciduous tree occasionally known by the common names Grey Elm, Grey-leafed Elm, and Hoary Elm. Its natural range extends through the lands of the central and eastern Mediterranean, from southern Italy, the islands of Sicily, Malta, Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus, to Turkey, and as far south as Israel, where it is now considered rare and endangered. The tree is typically found amidst the comparatively humid coastal woodlands and scrublands. The taxonomy of the tree remains a matter of contention, some authorities treating it as a subspecies of Ulmus minor.

Description
The tree is comparatively small, < 20 m high; the slender trunk, its bark coarsely fissured, supporting a rounded crown. The leaves are elliptic to ovate, bluntly toothed, and densely downy on the underside when mature, imbuing them with a distinctive greyish hue. The young shoots also have a whitish-grey down. The tree flowers in February and March, the round samarae, < 15 mm diameter, deeply notched at the outer end, ripen in April.

Ελληνικά: 
Η Φτελιά ή κοινώς και Φτελιάς, Φτιλιάς, Φτελιός και στα αρχαία ελληνικά γνωστή ως Πτελέα ή Πτελέη, είναι αυτοφυές φυλλοβόλο δέντρο που ανήκει στο γένος Ulmus. Η φτελιά χαρακτηρίζεται από φύλλωμα πυκνό βαθυπράσινο με παρυφή διπλή οδοντωτή και με βάση έντονα ασύμμετρη.

Στα περισσότερα είδη τα μικρά άνθη εμφανίζονται πριν από την έκπτυξη των φύλλων, νωρίς την άνοιξη. Tα άνθη δεν έχουν ούτε κάλυκα (σέπαλα) ούτε στεφάνη (πέταλα), και δεν παράγουν νέκταρ: επικoνιάζoνται από τον άνεμo. Tα άνθη είναι ερμαφρόδητα, μα εκτός αν είναι παρούσα η γύρη από μιαν άλλη φτελιά, οι σπόροι δεν γίνoνται βιώσιμοι. O καρπός της φτελιάς είναι ένας επίπεδος μεμβρανώδης ημιδιάφανoς δίσκος, μεγέθους μικρού κέρματος, που ονομάζεται «σαμάρα», περικλείoντας στη μέση του το μονό σπόρο.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Η Λίμνη του Αγίου Λουκά στην Αμμόχωστο - Agios Loukas Lake at Ammochostos - Cyprus

See also

List of dams and lakes of Cyprus

Photos 15/4/2016 by George Konstantinou

See also

Αμμόχωστος - Συγκλονιστικές εικόνες της περίκλειστης πόλης της Αμμοχώστου - Pictures of the occupied enclosed city of Famagusta - Cyprus

Η Νεκρόπολη της Σαλαμίνας - Cemetery (Necropolis) of Salamis - Cyprus

Η Πόλη της Αρχαίας Σαλαμίνας - Salamis - Cyprus

Η Αμμοχώστος εντός των ενετικών τειχών - Cyprus

Η εξωτερική πλευρά των ενετικών τειχών της Αμμοχώστου

Εικόνες από την περίκλειστη πόλη της Αμμοχώστου - City Free press - Sigmalive - 09.09.2016

Η σκουριασμένη Βασιλεύουσα - Τομές στα Γεγονότα - SIGMA TV ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΕΙΔΗΣΕΩΝ - NEWS 10/9/2016 - VIDEO

Η εκκλησία του Αγίου Μέμνονα στην περίκλειστη πόλη της Αμμόχωστου

Η εκκλησία της Αγίας Αικατερίνης στην περίκλειστη πόλη της Αμμόχωστου

Η εκκλησία της Αγίας Ζώνης στην περίκλειστη πόλη της Αμμόχωστου

Εκκλησία στην περίκλειστη πόλη της Αμμόχωστου

Pyrrhocoris apterus (Linnaeus, 1758) - The Firebug - Cyprus

Family: Pyrrhocoridae

The firebug, Pyrrhocoris apterus, is a common insect of the family Pyrrhocoridae. Easily recognizable due to its striking red and black coloration, but may be confused with the similarly coloured but unrelated Corizus hyoscyami (cinnamon bug, squash bug) (see comparison). Pyrrhocoris apterus is distributed throughout the Palaearctic from the Atlantic coast of Europe to northwest China. It has also been reported from the USA, Central America and India. It has been reported as recently expanding its distribution northwards into mainland UK. They are frequently observed to form aggregations, especially as immature forms, with from tens to perhaps a hundred individuals.

Reproduction
Firebugs generally mate in April and May. Their diet consists primarily of seeds from lime trees and mallows (see below). They can often be found in groups near the base of lime tree trunks, on the sunny side. They can be seen in tandem formation when mating which can take from 12 hours up to 7 days. The long period of copulating is probably used by the males as a form of ejaculate-guarding under high competition with other males.

Development
P. apterus was the subject of an unexpected discovery in the 1960s when researchers who had for ten years been rearing the bugs in Prague, Czechoslovakia attempted to do the same at Harvard University in the United States. After the 5th larval instar, instead of developing into adults, the bugs either entered a 6th instar stage, or became adults with larval characteristics; some of the 6th instars went on to a 7th instar. All specimens died without reaching maturity.

A specimen with wings

The source of the problem was eventually proven to be the paper towels used in the rearing process; the effect only happened if the paper towels were made in America. The researchers could replicate these results with American newspapers such as the New York Times, but not European newspapers such as The Times. The cause was found to be hormones found in the native balsam fir tree (Abies balsamea) used to manufacture paper and related products in America, and in some other North American conifers. This hormone happened to have a profound effect on P. apterus, but not on other insect species, showing the diversification of hormone receptors in the insects. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 
Photos at Lakatamia 10/04/2016, by Michael Hadjiconstantis.