Word: genus
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...looking at an animal unknown to science. Subsequent analysis of the specimens' dna by Peter Arctander at the University of Copenhagen showed that the 220-lb. animal, variously called the Vu Quang ox, the pseudoryx and the Sao-la, was not just a new species but a new genus, probably separated from its closest cattle-like relatives for the past 5 million to 10 million years...
Finding an undiscovered genus of large land mammal was a stunning event in itself -- only three other new genuses have been documented in this century. But MacKinnon's beast was just the first of the wonders to emerge from Vu Quang and adjoining forests in Vietnam and Laos. In the past two years scientists have also found evidence of what appears to be two new species of deerlike creatures -- the giant muntjac and the quang khem -- and a novel species of fish resembling carp. Since exploration is still in its early stages, hopes are high that many more discoveries will...
...muntjac, also known as a barking deer, but the head and antlers were much larger and configured differently. After measuring many varieties of muntjac skulls, MacKinnon decided the new specimen must have come from a distinct species, and Arctander concurred after studying its DNA. It is probably a new genus as well, though taxonomists will have to ponder that issue for a while. MacKinnon dubbed it the giant muntjac, figuring that it weighs about 100 lbs., or 50% more than the common muntjac...
Scientists already have evidence that even the earliest hominids, the australopithecines, could survive in a variety of habitats and climates. Yale paleontologist Elisabeth Vrba believes that their evolutionary success -- and the subsequent thriving of the genus Homo as well -- was tied to climate changes taking place. About 2.5 million to 2.7 million years ago, an ice age sent global temperatures plummeting as much as 20F, prompting the conversion of moist African woodland into much drier, open savanna...
...course, some people are naturally conservative; they avoid taking a position whenever possible. They just don't believe in going out on a limb when the don't know the genus of the tree. For these people, the vague generality must be partially junked and replaced by the artful equivocation, or the art of talking around the point...