Beetle — Beetles are a group of insects which have the largest number of species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera, means “sheathed wing”, and contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom and constitute about twenty-five percent of all known life-forms. Forty percent of all described insect species are beetles (about 350,000 species), …

Bees — Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila. There are slightly fewer than 20,000 known species of bee, in 9 recognized families, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher. They are found on every continent …

Bedbug — Bedbugs (or bed bugs) are small nocturnal insects of the family Cimicidae that live by hematophagy, that is by feeding on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded hosts. The common bedbug (Cimex lectularius) is the best adapted to human environments. It is found in temperate climates throughout the world and has been known since ancient times. Other …

Bark Beetle — A bark beetle is one of approximately 220 genera with 6,000 species of beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae in the weevil family Curculionidae (traditionally the bark beetles were placed in their own family Scolytidae). The best known European species (since they transmit Dutch Elm Disease are in the type genus Scolytus. Bark beetles are so-named because the …

Ants — Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related families of wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. They are a diverse group of more than 12,000 species, with a higher diversity in the tropics. They are known for their highly organized colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals. Individuals …

Struthiomimus — Struthiomimus was a long-legged, ostrich-like dinosaur of the family Ornithomimidae, which lived in the area that is now Alberta, Canada, during the late Cretaceous Period, approximately 75 million years ago. Its generic name is derived from the Greek strouthion meaning ’ostrich’ and mimos meaning ’mimic’ or ’imitator’. The specific name altus is from Latin, meaning ’lofty’ or ’noble’. …

Mastodon — Mastodons or Mastodonts are members of the extinct genus Mammut of the order Proboscidea and form the family Mammutidae; they resembled, but were distinct from, the woolly mammoth which belongs to the family Elephantidae. Mastodons were browsers while mammoths were grazers. Mastodons are thought to have first appeared almost four million years ago. They were native to both …

Diplodocus — Diplodocus is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones located in the underside of the tail. These bones were initially believed to be unique …

Gotha G.V — The German World War I Gotha G.V., with a range of more than 800 km (500 mi) and speed less than 160 km/h (100 mph), carried six 50-kg (100-lb) bombs. The Gotha G series was a family of heavy bombers used by the Luftstreitkrafte (Imperial German Air Service) during the First World War. There were five basic …

Boeing 707 — Non-military use of jet power attained a new plateau of achievement with the advent of the commercial jet airliner. The highly successful Boeing 707 entered service in 1958. The 707, which was 46. 6 m (153 ft) long and flew at a speed of nearly Mach 1, could carry 200 passengers over transcontinental distances. The Boeing 707 …