Friday, 5 May 2017
Monday, 1 May 2017
Sunday, 30 April 2017
Pleurobranchus testudinarius Cantraine, 1835 - Cyprus
Pleurobranchus testudinarius,with eggs,
19mts deep,30.04.2017,Protaras
Pleurobranchus is a genus of sea slugs, specifically side-gill slugs, marine gastropod mollusc in the family Pleurobranchidae
Underwater photos by Costas Constantinou
Saturday, 29 April 2017
Pilgrim hervia - Cratena peregrina (Gmelin, 1791) - Cyprus
Cratena peregrina, with eggs,20mts deep,Protaras,29.04.2017
Cratena peregrina, commonly called the "pilgrim hervia", is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.The pilgrim hervia is small aeolid sea slug, its average size is between 3 and 5 cm. The body is thin and slender, with a long sharply pointed tail. Its body coloration is milky white with 8 to 10 clusters of dorsal cerata which can be bright red, purple, brown or blue, with the tips coloured in luminescent blue. Those cerata act like gills, and each one contains a terminal outgrowth of the digestive gland, a diverticulum.
The head, which is the same colour as the body, has a pair of bright orange rhinophores, and with two whitish long buccal tentacles, which look like horns.
This species occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Channel south to Senegal.[3] This sea slug prefers to live on rocky bottoms and slopes in clear and well-oxygenated water, between 5 and 50 m in depth
The pilgrim hervia feeds on hydroids in the genus Eudendrium.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cratena_peregrina
Underwater photos by Costas Constantinou
Saturday, 22 April 2017
Berried Anemone - Alicia mirabilis - Cyprus
Lessepsian migrant from Red Sea
Alicia mirabilis (commonly known as Berried Anemone) is a sea anemone species in the genus Alicia which changes shape as night falls expanding its column and tentacles to catch its food. It can be found in such countries as Azores, Portugal, Spain and such seas as Mediterranean and Red Seas
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_mirabilis
Underwater photos by Costas Constantinou
Alicia mirabilis (commonly known as Berried Anemone) is a sea anemone species in the genus Alicia which changes shape as night falls expanding its column and tentacles to catch its food. It can be found in such countries as Azores, Portugal, Spain and such seas as Mediterranean and Red SeasFrom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_mirabilis
Underwater photos by Costas Constantinou
Friday, 14 April 2017
Ehrenbergi's Jewel Beetle - Julodis ehrenbergii Laporte, 1835 - Cyprus
This jewel beetle, with more than 20mm length, is green-golden, with yellow hair. Elytrae are spotted with 4 longitudinal rows of yellow and hairy spots. Legs are spotted, copperish, and hairy. Antennae are black.Biology: The host plants are roots of various plants.
Distribution: South East Europe (Balkans), Turkey, Cyprus, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel/Palestine, Egypt.
Julodis is a genus of beetles in the family Buprestidae.
From http://naturewonders.org/picture?/1282
Photos Cape Greco 14/4/2017 by George Konstantinou
Ortolan bunting - Emberiza hortulana Linnaeus, 1758 - Βλάχος - Βλαχοτσίχλονο, Τσακροπιτίλλα - Cyprus
The ortolan, or ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana) is a bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a passerine family now separated by most modern scholars from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific hortulana is from the Italian name, hortulane, for this bird.[2] The English Ortolan is derived from Middle French hortolan, "gardener".
In September 2007, the French government announced its intent to enforce long ignored laws protecting the bird.The ortolan is 16 cm in length and weighs 20–25 grams (0.71–0.88 oz). In appearance and habits it much resembles its relative the yellowhammer, but lacks the bright colouring of that species; the ortolan's head, for instance, is greenish-grey, instead of a bright yellow. The song of the male ortolan resembles that of the yellowhammer.
Ortolan nests are placed on or near the ground.
Seeds are the natural diet, but beetles and other insects are taken when feeding their young.A native of most European countries and western Asia, its distribution throughout its breeding range seems to be very local, and for this no obvious reason can be assigned. It reaches as far north as Scandinavia and beyond the Arctic Circle, frequenting cornfields and their neighbourhoods. It is an uncommon vagrant in spring, and particularly autumn, to the British Isles.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortolan_bunting
Photos Cape Greco 14/4/2017 by George Konstantinou
Collared flycatcher - Ficedula albicollis (Temminck, 1815) - Κρικομυγοχάφτης - Κολλαρομαντού - Cyprus
The collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family, one of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers. It breeds in southeast Europe (isolated populations in the islands of Gotland and Oland in the Baltic Sea, Sweden) and southwest Asia and is migratory, wintering in sub Sahara Africa. It is a rare vagrant in western Europe.
This is a 12-13.5 cm long bird. The breeding male is mainly black above and white below, with a white collar, large white wing patch, black tail (although some males have white tail sides) and a large white forehead patch. It has a pale rump. The bill is black and has the broad but pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores. As well as taking insects in flight, this species hunts caterpillars amongst the oak foliage, and will take berries.
Non-breeding males, females and juveniles have the black replaced by a pale brown, and may be very difficult to distinguish from other Fidecula flycatchers, particularly the European pied flycatcher and the semicollared flycatcher, with which this species hybridizes to a limited extent.They are birds of deciduous woodlands, parks and gardens, with a preference for old trees with cavities in which it nests. They build an open nest in a tree hole, or man-made nest-boxes. Normally 5-7 eggs are laid. The song is slow strained whistles, quite unlike the pied flycatcher. Pied flycatchers can mimic the song of the collared flycatcher in sympatric populations.
The genus name is from Latin and refers to a small fig-eating bird (ficus, "fig") supposed to change into the blackcap in winter. The specific albicollis is from Latin albus, white, and collum, "neck"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collared_flycatcher
Photos Cape Greco 14/4/2017 by George Konstantinou
Photos Achna dam 27/3/2024 by George Konstantinou
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Bar-tailed lark - Ammomanes cinctura (Gould, 1839) - Μικρή αμμογαλιάντρα - Αμμοτράσιηλος - Cyprus
The bar-tailed lark, or bar-tailed desert lark, (Ammomanes cinctura) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. Two other species, the rufous-tailed lark and the Cape clapper lark are both also sometimes referred to using the name bar-tailed lark. It is found from Morocco to Pakistan. Its natural habitat is hot deserts. This is in many places a common species, but elsewhere rather less common. It has a very wide distribution and faces no obvious threats, but surveys have shown that it is slowly decreasing in numbers. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern"
The bar-tailed lark was originally placed in the genus Melanocorypha. Alternate names for the bar-tailed lark include: bar-tailed finch-lark, black-tailed desert lark, black-tailed lark, and black-tailed sand lark.
The bar-tailed lark is similar to the desert lark in appearance, but at 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in), is slightly smaller, with a smaller, more domed head, a smaller beak, thinner legs and a shorter tail. The upper parts are sandy-buff washed with grey, while the underparts are whitish with little if any streaking, and the breast and flanks washed with buff. The rufous wings have dark trailing edges and the rufous tail has a terminal black bandThe bar-tailed lark has a large distribution across North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East and western Asia. Its range includes Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Cape Verde, Chad, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara and Yemen. Its typical habitat is sandy or stony desert or semi desert, with low scrubby vegetation. It is generally shier than the desert lark and has a preference for level ground whereas the desert lark tends to frequent rocky slopes and hillsides.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar-tailed_lark
Photos and video Cape Greco 14/4/2017 by George Konstantinou
Thursday, 6 April 2017
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