The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat".  In the United States, they are the most fished catfish species with around 8 million anglers targeting them per year.  The popularity of channel catfish for food has contributed to the rapid expansion of aquaculture of this species in the United States. It has also been widely introduced in Europe, Asia and South America, and it is legally considered an invasive species in many countries.


The yellow oriole is also called the plantain and small corn bird, and in Venezuela it is known as gonzalito. It breeds in northern South America in Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, the Guianas, and parts of northern Brazil, (northern Roraima state, and eastern Amapá). The yellow oriole is a bird of open woodland, scrub, and gardens.


The spot-breasted oriole (Icterus pectoralis) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae.
It is a mid-sized songbird and generally typical oriole. It is bright orange overall with a black bib and black spotting on the sides of the breast. The sexes are similar looking generally but females and juveniles are olive-green on the back and tail, dusky wings, and little or no black on face, throat, or breast. Adults measure 21–24 cm (8.3–9.4 in) in length. Males weigh around 50 g (1.8 oz) on average, while females weigh 45 g (1.6 oz). The wing bone measures 8.8–11.4 cm (3.5–4.5 in), the tail measures 8.5–11.2 cm (3.3–4.4 in), the culmen measures 1.9–2.4 cm (0.75–0.94 in) and the tarsus measures 2.6–3 cm (1.0–1.2 in).
It is native to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and heavily degraded former forest.
The spot-breasted oriole ranges only on the Pacific side of Central America. An introduced breeding population also exists on the Atlantic coast of southern Florida. The population is considered to be established enough to be "countable" for birdwatchers by the ABA.


The streak-backed oriole (Icterus pustulatus) is a medium-sized species of passerine bird from the icterid family (the same family as many blackbirds, meadowlarks, cowbirds, grackles, and others, including the New World orioles). It is native to Central America and Mexico and is an occasional visitor to the United States.


The variable oriole (Icterus pyrrhopterus) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the epaulet oriole.
It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.


The plumbeous kite (Ictinia plumbea) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The plumbeous kite breeds in the Neotropical realm, from eastern Mexico to Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. It also breeds on Trinidad. Birds in the north and south of the breeding range, including the populations in Central America, Trinidad, Venezuela and Colombia, and southern Argentina and Brazil, are migratory, moving into tropical South America in the northern winter.
This is a bird of lowland forest and savannah, which builds a stick nest in a tree and lays 1-2 blue-white eggs. It is typically 33–38 cm (13–15 in) long and weighs 190–280 g (6.7–9.9 oz). It is not particularly gregarious, although it is often seen in flocks during migration.
The plumbeous kite has long, pointed wings. Adults are mainly slate-grey, with a paler head and underparts. The short black tail has 2-3 white bands. The eyes are red and the legs are orange. In flight, this kite shows a rufous primary patch.
Sexes are similar, but immature birds have white-streaked grey upperparts and dark-streaked whitish underparts. They lack the rufous wing patch. The call of plumbeous kite is a whistled si-see-oo.
Their flight is slow, with frequent glides, and the prey is almost exclusively insects taken in the air. It will also prey on bats, birds, snakes, lizards and frogs. This kite often perches conspicuously on dead branches, with its long wings projecting well beyond the tail.


It is an abundant species in Europe, the Near East and North Africa and across the Palearctic. Records are few in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkan Peninsula. The north border is northern Sweden and northern Finland. The northernmost parts of Russia and a few areas of Russia, northwest of the Caspian Sea are excluded. In North Africa (eastern Algeria and Tunisia), there is a smaller presence belonging to a separate subspecies (Idaea aversata indeviata Prout, 1935). Outside Europe, the distribution area extends from northern Turkey up to the Caucasus, from there via Central Asia, Siberia and north-east China to Japan. The occurrence in Japan is regarded as subspecies (Idaea aversata japonica Inoue, 1955). A small, isolated occurrence in southern Turkey is remarkable.


The native range of the green iguana extends from southern Mexico to central Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia and the Caribbean; specifically Grenada, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Montserrat, Saba and Útila. They have been introduced to Grand Cayman, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (in the Dominican Republic), Saint Martin (island), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Furthermore, green iguanas colonised the island of Anguilla in 1995 after being washed ashore following a hurricane. Though the species is not native to Martinique, a small wild colony of released or escaped green iguanas endures at historic Fort Saint Louis.
In South and Central America, where the green iguana is native, it is an endangered species in some countries because people have been hunting and eating this gallino de palo ("bamboo chicken" or "chicken of the trees") for a long time.
Green iguanas are diurnal, arboreal, and are often found near water. Agile climbers, Iguana iguana can fall up to 50 feet (15 m) and land unhurt (iguanas use their hind leg claws to clasp leaves and branches to break a fall). During cold, wet weather, green iguanas prefer to stay on the ground for greater warmth. When swimming, iguanas remain submerged, letting their legs hang limply against their sides. They propel through the water with powerful tail strokes.
While they may often be found in trees, these animals are well-known burrowers. The size of their burrow can range from 0.3 to 2.4 metres (1 ft 0 in to 7 ft 10 in) deep, with a diameter of 10 to 20 centimetres (4 to 7+3⁄4 in). They have been observed burrowing in canals, levees, and dikes and along seawalls in southern Florida. If individuals do not dig their own, they may even use gopher tortoise burrows or usurp those of the Florida burrowing owl.


The green iguana is a large lizard and is probably the largest species in the iguana family, though a few in the genus Cyclura may match or exceed it in weight. Adults typically grow to 1.2 to 1.7 m (3.9 to 5.6 ft) in length from head to tail. As in all iguanas, the tail comprises much of this length, and the snout-to-vent length of most green iguanas is 30 to 42 cm (12 to 17 in). A typical adult male weighs around 4 kg (8.8 lb) while the smaller adult female typically weighs 1.2 to 3 kg (2.6 to 6.6 lb). A few large males can reach or exceed 8 kg (18 lb) in weight and 2 m (6.6 ft) long. Some specimens have even reportedly been measured at a body weight of greater than 9.1 kg (20 lb).
Despite their name, green iguanas occur in different colours and types. In southern countries of their range, such as Peru, green iguanas appear bluish in colour, with bold blue markings. On islands such as Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, and Grenada, a green iguana's colour may vary from green to lavender, black, and even reddish brown. Green iguanas from the western region of Costa Rica are red, and animals of the northern ranges, such as Mexico, appear orange. Juvenile green iguanas from El Salvador are often bright blue, but  lose this color as they get older.
Adult iguanas found on most of St. Lucia, mainly on the northeastern coast, Louvette, and Grand Anse, have many differences from other green iguana populations. They are light green with predominant black stripes. Instead of the typical orange dewlap, the iguanas of St. Lucia have a black dewlap. When compared to the common green iguana, females lay about half the number of eggs, 25 instead of 50. Scales to the back of their head, near the jawbone, are smaller. Their irises are white or cream, whereas other green iguanas have yellow irises.
Green iguanas possess a row of spines along their backs and tails, which helps to protect them from predators. Their whip-like tails can be used to deliver painful strikes, and like many other lizards, when grabbed by the tail,  iguanas can allow it to break, so they can escape and eventually regenerate a new one. In addition, iguanas have a well-developed dewlap, which helps regulate their body temperature. This dewlap is used in courtships and territorial displays.
Green iguanas have excellent vision, enabling them to detect shapes and motions at long distances. As green iguanas have only a few rod cells, they have poor vision in low-light conditions. At the same time, they have cells called double-cone cells that give them sharp color vision and enable them to see ultraviolet wavelengths. This ability is highly useful when basking so they can ensure they absorb enough sunlight to produce vitamin D.
Green iguanas have a white photosensory organ on the top of their heads called the parietal eye (also called the third eye, pineal eye, or pineal gland), in contrast to most other lizards that have lost this primitive feature. This "eye" has only a rudimentary retina and lens and cannot form images, but is sensitive to changes in light and dark and can detect movement. This helps the iguana detect predators stalking it from above.
Green iguanas have very sharp teeth that are capable of shredding leaves and even human skin. These teeth are shaped like a leaf, broad and flat, with serrations on the edge. The similarity of these teeth to those of one of the first dinosaurs discovered led to the dinosaur being named Iguanodon, meaning "iguana tooth", and the incorrect assumption that it had resembled a gigantic iguana. The teeth are situated on the inner sides of the jawbones, which is why they are hard to see in smaller specimens.
Primarily herbivorous, green iguanas are presented with a special problem for osmoregulation; plant matter contains more potassium and as it has less dense nutritional content, more must be eaten to meet metabolic needs. As green iguanas are not capable of creating liquid urine more concentrated than their bodily fluids, like birds they excrete nitrogenous wastes as urate salts through a salt gland. As a result, green iguanas have developed a lateral nasal gland to supplement renal salt secretion by expelling excess potassium and sodium chlorides.
Green iguanas from Guatemala and southern Mexico (which may belong to the distinct species I. rhinolopha) predominantly have small horns on their snouts between their eyes and their nostrils, whereas others do not.


Green iguanas are by far the most globally traded reptiles, representing 46% of the total reptile trade in the US from 1996 and 2012, with annual imports reaching 1 million in 1996. The American pet trade has put a great demand on the green iguana; 800,000 iguanas were imported into the U.S. in 1995 alone, primarily originating from captive farming operations based in their native countries (Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, and Panama). However, these animals are demanding to care for properly over their lifetimes, and many die within a few years of acquisition.
Recently, an increase in illegal trading has been flagged, and a trade ban from the Lesser Antilles was recently suggested.
Green iguanas  thrive only in temperatures of 79 °F (26 °C) to 95 °F (35 °C) and must have appropriate sources of UVB and UVA lighting, or else their bodies cannot produce vitamin D that promotes calcium absorption, which can result in a metabolic bone disease that can be fatal.
In some locales (such as New York City and Hawaii), iguanas are considered exotic pets, and ownership is prohibited. Due to the potential impact of an introduced species on Hawaii's ecosystem, the state has strict regulations regarding the import and possession of green iguanas; violators can spend three years in jail and be fined up to $200,000.


The green iguana is present as an invasive species on some of the islands of Fiji, where it is known as the American iguana. It poses a threat to the native iguanas through the potential spread of disease and to humans by spreading Salmonella. They were initially brought to Qamea in 2000 by an American who wanted them to eat the numerous insects on the island, although they are primarily herbivorous. They are now on the islands of Laucala, Matagi and Taveuni.


The green iguana is listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning that international trade is regulated through the CITES permit system. In addition, the green iguana is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, with a mention of habitat depletion from development being a possible concern for green iguana populations in the future. Historically, green iguana meat and eggs have been eaten as a source of protein throughout their native range, and are prized for their alleged medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. Efforts to raise green iguanas in the past have been made to raise green iguanas in captivity as a food source in an attempt to encourage more sustainable land use in Panama and Costa Rica.
In 2020, iguana researchers collaborated to create an extended and 'live' database on genetic variation within the Green Iguana. The intent of the database is primarily to guide population management, hybrid identification, and monitoring of invasions and illegal trade.


Ilex cornuta is native to the central and southeastern parts of China, Hainan, and Korea. Ilex cornuta was introduced to the United States and is currently considered invasive. It has been observed naturalized in the eastern United States, found most prominently in North Carolina, Alabama, and Kentucky.
Ilex cornuta is tolerant of most soils except those that are poorly drained. It can be grown in partial and full sun and is tolerant of the heat and humidity. The shrub can be found between 150 and 600 meters elevation and along mountain ridges that have full sun.


I. vomitoria occurs in the United States from the Eastern Shore of Virginia south to Florida and west to Oklahoma and Texas. A disjunct population occurs in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It generally occurs in coastal areas in well-drained sandy soils, and can be found on the upper edges of brackish and salt marshes, sandy hammocks, coastal sand dunes, inner-dune depressions, sandhills, maritime forests, nontidal forested wetlands, well-drained forests and pine flatwoods.


I. cenchoa is found in Mexico, most of Central America, and parts of South America south to northernmost Argentina. Specifically, it has been recorded in eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, French Guiana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina.


Himalayan balsam is sometimes cultivated for its flowers. It is now widely established in other parts of the world (such as the British Isles and North America), in some cases becoming a weed. Its aggressive seed dispersal, coupled with high nectar production which attracts pollinators, often allows it to out-compete native plants. Himalayan balsam also promotes river bank erosion due to the plant dying back over winter, leaving the bank unprotected from flooding. Invasive Himalayan balsam can also adversely affect indigenous species by attracting pollinators (e.g. insects) at the expense of indigenous species. It is considered a "prohibited noxious weed" under the Alberta Weed Control Act 2010.
In the UK, the plant was first introduced in 1839, at the same time as giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed. These plants were all promoted at the time as having the virtues of "herculean proportions" and "splendid invasiveness" which meant that ordinary people could buy them for the cost of a packet of seeds to rival the expensive orchids grown in the greenhouses of the rich. Within ten years, however, Himalayan balsam had escaped from the confines of cultivation and begun to spread along the river systems of England.
It has now spread across most of the UK, and some local wildlife trusts organise "balsam bashing" events to help control the plant. However, a study by Hejda & Pyšek (2006) concluded that, in some circumstances, such efforts may cause more harm than good. Destroying riparian stands of Himalayan balsam can open up the habitat for more aggressive invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and aid in seed dispersal by dropped seeds sticking to shoes. Riparian habitat is suboptimal for I. glandulifera, and spring or autumn flooding destroys seeds and plants. The research suggests that the best way to control the spread of riparian Himalayan balsam is to decrease eutrophication, thereby permitting the better-adapted local vegetation, that gets outgrown by the balsam on watercourses with high nutrient load, to rebound naturally. The researchers caution that their conclusions probably do not hold true for stands of the plant at forest edges and meadow habitats, where manual destruction is still the best approach.
The Bionic Control of Invasive Weeds project, in Wiesbaden, Germany, is trying to establish a self-sufficient means of conserving their local biodiversity by developing several food products made from the Himalayan balsam flowers. If all goes well, the project will have it financing its own eradication.
In August 2014, CABI released a rust fungus in Berkshire, Cornwall and Middlesex in the United Kingdom as part of field trials into the biological control of Himalayan balsam.
Some research also suggests that I. glandulifera may exhibit allelopathy, which means that it excretes toxins that negatively affect neighboring plants, thus increasing its competitive advantage.
The Royal Horticultural Society and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology recommend that pulling and cutting is the main method of non-chemical control, and usually the most appropriate.Natural Resources Wales has used manual methods, such as pulling plants and using strimmers, to largely eradicate Himalayan balsam from reaches of the River Ystwyth.


Imperata cylindrica (commonly known as cogongrass /koʊˈɡoʊn/ or kunai grass /ˈkuːnaɪ/) is a species of perennial rhizomatous grass native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and southern Europe. It has also been introduced to Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southeastern United States. It is a highly flammable pyrophyte, and can spread rapidly by colonizing disturbed areas and encouraging more frequent wildfires.


The plant has become naturalized in the Americas, Northern Asia, Europe and Africa in addition to many islands and is listed as an invasive weed in some areas. In the U.S. it survives best in the Southeast (and, according to a 2003 survey, has overtaken more acreage in that region than the notorious kudzu), but has been reported to exist as far north as West Virginia and Oregon. Worldwide it has been observed from 45°N to 45°S. It grows on wet lands, dry lands, areas of high salinity, organic soils, clay soils, and sandy soils of pH from 4.0 to 7.5. It prefers full sun but will tolerate some shade. In Florida, I. cylindrica is found in areas where the soil has been disturbed, such as roadsides, building sites, timber harvesting areas, and borrow pits. It is able to invade both moist and dry upland pine forests. Once established it often forms dense monocultures.
In addition to outcompeting species for resources, the grass also exhibits allelopathic tendencies. The chemicals it releases as well as the dense mat of vegetation that usually accompanies a cogongrass invasion gives it an advantage over indigenous plants.
It spreads both through small seeds, which are easily carried by the wind, and rhizomes which can be transported by tilling equipment and in soil transport.
In the Southeastern United States, state governments have various eradication efforts in place, and deliberate propagation is prohibited by some authorities. Cogongrass came to the Southeastern United States in the early 1900s as shipping material in crates. Before it was named an invasive species in the area, it was cultivated for fodder for livestock and erosion control. It failed to prevent erosion because of how weedy it was, and animals would not eat it as fodder. It is now listed as a Federal Noxious Weed in some Southeastern States and Arkansas. In Mississippi it is mostly concentrated in the south of the state.
Control is typically by the use of herbicides. Currently, the most effective herbicides used to control growth are glyphosate and imazapyr. Burnoff is seldom successful since the grass burns at a high temperature, causing heat damage to trees which would ordinarily be undamaged by a controlled burn; it also recovers from a burn quickly. Quarantine and extermination of this plant is especially difficult because cogongrass establishes root systems as deep as four feet, and regrowth can be triggered by rhizome segments as small as one inch.
Cogongrass is difficult to contain mainly because it is highly adaptive to harsher environments, establishing itself on soils low in fertility. The grass can also grow on sand and clay. It is not eaten by many species of animal, further contributing to containment difficulties. The grass tends to be averse to dense shade, but reports indicate more shade-tolerant strains are developing.
The legume vine Mucuna pruriens is used in the countries of Benin and Vietnam as a biological control for Imperata cylindrica.


In Africa, it has been reported in Uganda, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa (an isolated colony in Cape Town and Natal Midlands, also about eight have been found in Lephalale, Limpopo Province at the Medupi Power Station during construction), Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, Mauritius, the Mascarene Islands and the Seychelles. It has also been found in Libya  and Nossi Be (= Nosy Bé).
In Asia, it occurs on Arabian Peninsula, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, mainland India, the Maldives, the Lakshadweep Islands, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, the Andaman Islands, the Nicobar Islands, Myanmar, Singapore, the Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Hainan, southern China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawashima and Miyakoshima.
In Maritime Southeast Asia, it occurs on Sumatra and nearby islands (the Riau Archipelago, Bangka, Belitung and Nias), Borneo, Sulawesi, the Philippines, Butung, Salajar, Ternate, Halmahera, Buru, Ceram, Ambon, Saparua, Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Madura, Flores, Lomblen, Sumba, Timor, East Timor, Kai Island, the Aru Islands, New Guinea (Western Papua and Papua New Guinea), New Britain, and Bougainville Island.
It occurs in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and on Christmas Island.


They have been introduced mainly to control the spreading of termites in the following countries.
In Australia, it occurs in the Northern Territory near Darwin, and at the northern tip of Queensland and other parts of queensland like sunshine coast.
In Oceania, it occurs on Palau, Guam, Fiji, Saipan, Hawaiian Islands and Tahiti in French Polynesia.
In the Americas, it occurs in the United States (California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Arizona, Hawaii and Texas), western and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Colombia, Barbados and on the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands.
It has been found in the Canary Islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, probably being introduced in soil imported with potted plants.
It has also been found in Malta, with two specimens found on the main island. The snake has been labeled as potentially invasive to the native fauna.


Despite the name "scarce swallowtail", this species is quite common. The scarcity of United Kingdom migrants is responsible for the English vernacular name. This species is widespread in the East Palearctic realm and in most of Europe with the exception of the northern parts. Its range extends northwards to Lower Lusatia and central Poland and eastwards across Asia Minor and Transcaucasia as far as the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, India and western China. A few specimens of the scarce swallowtail have been reported from central Sweden and the United Kingdom but they were probably only strays and not migrants.


In some years the scarce swallowtail is quite abundant. The scarce swallowtail is getting rarer as blackthorn bushes are being cleared. The butterfly is now protected by law in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Russia, Ukraine and Poland. It is considered rare and endangered and protected in some provinces of Austria and of indeterminate status throughout Europe. In Armenia the species demonstrates stable population trend and is evaluated as Least Concern. Though referred by some authorities to be of status "vulnerable", it is however unlisted in the IUCN Red List.


The origin and domestication of sweet potato occurred in either Central or South America. In Central America, domesticated sweet potatoes were present at least 5,000 years ago, with the origin of I. batatas possibly between the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and the mouth of the Orinoco River in Venezuela. The cultigen was most likely spread by local people to the Caribbean and South America by 2500 BCE.
Ipomoea trifida, diploid, is the closest wild relative of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), which originated with an initial cross between a tetraploid and another diploid parent, followed by a second complete genome duplication event. The oldest radiocarbon dating remains of the sweet potato as we know it were discovered in caves from the Chilca Canyon, in the south-central zone of Peru, and yield an age of 8080 ± 170 BC.


The sweet potato was grown in Polynesia before Western exploration, generally spread by vine cuttings rather than by seeds. Sweet potato has been radiocarbon-dated in the Cook Islands to 1210–1400 CE. A common hypothesis is that a vine cutting was brought to central Polynesia by Polynesians who had traveled to South America and back, and spread from there across Polynesia to Easter Island, Hawaii and New Zealand. Genetic similarities have been found between Polynesian peoples and indigenous Americans including the Zenú, a people inhabiting the Pacific coast of present-day Colombia, indicating that Polynesians could have visited South America and taken sweet potatoes prior to European contact.
Some researchers, citing divergence time estimates, suggest that sweet potatoes might have been present in Polynesia thousands of years before humans arrived there. However, the present scholarly consensus favours the pre-Columbian contact model.
Sweet potatoes were first introduced to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period (1521-1598) via the Manila galleons, along with other New World crops. It was introduced to the Fujian province of China in about 1594 from Luzon, in response to a major crop failure. The growing of sweet potatoes was encouraged by the Governor Chin Hsüeh-tseng (Jin Xuezeng).
Sweet potatoes were also introduced to the Ryukyu Kingdom, present-day Okinawa, Japan, in the early 1600s by the Portuguese. Sweet potatoes became a staple in Japan because they were important in preventing famine when rice harvests were poor. Aoki Konyō helped popularize the cultivation of the sweet potato in Japan, and the Tokugawa bakufu sponsored, published, and disseminated a vernacular Japanese translation of his research monograph on sweet potatoes to encourage their growth more broadly. Sweet potatoes were planted in Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune's private garden. It was first introduced to Korea in 1764. Kang P'il-ri and Yi Kwang-ryŏ embarked on a project to grow sweet potatoes in Seoul in 1766, using the knowledge of Japanese cultivators they learned in Tongnae starting in 1764. The project succeeded for a year but ultimately failed in the winter of 1767 after Kang's unexpected death.
The sweet potato arrived in Europe with the Columbian exchange. It is recorded, for example, in Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book, compiled in England in 1604.


In 2020, global production of sweet potatoes was 89 million tonnes, led by China with 55% of the world total (table). Secondary producers were Malawi, Tanzania, and Nigeria.


In East Asia, roasted sweet potatoes are popular street food. In China, sweet potatoes, typically yellow cultivars, are baked in a large iron drum and sold as street food during winter. In Korea, sweet potatoes, known as goguma, are roasted in a drum can, baked in foil or on an open fire, typically during winter. In Japan, a dish similar to the Korean preparation is called yaki-imo (roasted sweet potato), which typically uses either the yellow-fleshed "Japanese sweet potato" or the purple-fleshed "Okinawan sweet potato", which is known as beni-imo.
Sweet potato soup, served during winter, consists of boiling sweet potato in water with rock sugar and ginger. In Fujian cuisine and Taiwanese cuisine, sweet potato is often cooked with rice to make congee. Steamed and dried sweet potato is a delicacy from Liancheng County. Sweet potato greens are a common side dish in Taiwanese cuisine, often boiled or sautéed and served with a garlic and soy sauce mixture, or simply salted before serving. They, as well as dishes featuring the sweet potato root, are commonly found at bento (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: piān-tong) restaurants. In northeastern Chinese cuisine, sweet potatoes are often cut into chunks and fried, before being drenched into a pan of boiling syrup.
In some regions of India, sweet potato is roasted slowly over kitchen coals at night and eaten with some dressing, while the easier way in the south is simply boiling or pressure cooking before peeling, cubing and seasoning for a vegetable dish as part of the meal. In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, it is known as sakkara valli kilangu. It is boiled and consumed as evening snack. In some parts of India, fresh sweet potato is chipped, dried and then ground into flour; this is then mixed with wheat flour and baked into chapattis (bread). Between 15 and 20 percent of the sweet potato harvest is converted by some Indian communities into pickles and snack chips. A part of the tuber harvest is used in India as cattle fodder.
In Pakistan, sweet potato is known as shakarqandi and is cooked as a vegetable dish and also with meat dishes (chicken, mutton or beef). The ash-roasted sweet potatoes are sold as a snack and street food in Pakistani bazaars especially during the winter months.
In Sri Lanka, it is called bathala, and tubers are used mainly for breakfast (boiled sweet potato is commonly served with sambal or grated coconut) or as an supplementary curry dish for rice.
The tubers of this plant, known as kattala in Dhivehi, have been used in the traditional diet of the Maldives. The leaves were finely chopped and used in dishes such as mas huni.
In Japan, both sweet potatoes (called "satsuma-imo") and true purple yams (called "daijo" or "beni-imo") are grown. Boiling, roasting and steaming are the most common cooking methods. Also, the use in vegetable tempura is common. Daigaku-imo (ja:大学芋) is a baked and caramel-syruped sweet potato dessert. Because it is sweet and starchy, it is used in imo-kinton and some other traditional sweets, such as ofukuimo. What is commonly called "sweet potato" (ja:スイートポテト) in Japan is a cake made by baking mashed sweet potatoes.
Shōchū, a Japanese spirit normally made from the fermentation of rice, can also be made from sweet potato, in which case it is called imo-jōchū. Imo-gohan, sweet potato cooked with rice, is popular in Guangdong, Taiwan and Japan. It is also served in nimono or nitsuke, boiled and typically flavored with soy sauce, mirin and dashi.
In Korean cuisine, sweet potato starch is used to produce dangmyeon (cellophane noodles). Sweet potatoes are also boiled, steamed, or roasted, and young stems are eaten as namul. Pizza restaurants such as Pizza Hut and Domino's in Korea are using sweet potatoes as a popular topping. Sweet potatoes are also used in the distillation of a variety of Soju. A popular Korean side dish or snack, goguma-mattang, also known as Korean candied sweet potato, is made by deep-frying sweet potatoes that were cut into big chunks and coating them with caramelized sugar.
In Malaysia and Singapore, sweet potato is often cut into small cubes and cooked with taro and coconut milk (santan) to make a sweet dessert called "bubur cha cha". A favorite way of cooking sweet potato is deep-frying slices of sweet potato in batter, served as a tea-time snack. In homes, sweet potatoes are usually boiled. The leaves of sweet potatoes are usually stir-fried with only garlic or with sambal belacan and dried shrimp by Malaysians.
In the Philippines, sweet potatoes (locally known as camote or kamote) are an important food crop in rural areas. They are often a staple among impoverished families in provinces, as they are easier to cultivate and cost less than rice. The tubers are boiled or baked in coals and may be dipped in sugar or syrup. Young leaves and shoots (locally known as talbos ng kamote or camote tops) are eaten fresh in salads with shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) or fish sauce. They can be cooked in vinegar and soy sauce and served with fried fish (a dish known as adobong talbos ng kamote), or with recipes such as sinigang. The stew obtained from boiling camote tops is purple-colored, and is often mixed with lemon as juice. Sweet potatoes are also sold as street food in suburban and rural areas. Fried sweet potatoes coated with caramelized sugar and served in skewers (camote cue) or as French fries are popular afternoon snacks. Sweet potatoes are also used in a variant of halo-halo called ginatan, where they are cooked in coconut milk and sugar and mixed with a variety of rootcrops, sago, jackfruit, and bilu-bilo (glutinous rice balls). Bread made from sweet potato flour is also gaining popularity. Sweet potato is relatively easy to propagate, and in rural areas can be seen abundantly at canals and dikes. The uncultivated plant is usually fed to pigs.
In Indonesia, sweet potatoes are locally known as ubi jalar (lit: spreading tuber) or simply ubi and are frequently fried with batter and served as snacks with spicy condiments, along with other kinds of fritters such as fried bananas, tempeh, tahu, breadfruit, or cassava. In the mountainous regions of West Papua, sweet potatoes are the staple food among the natives there. Using the bakar batu method of cooking, rocks that have been burned in a nearby bonfire are thrown into a pit lined with leaves. Layers of sweet potatoes, an assortment of vegetables, and pork are piled on top of the rocks. The top of the pile then is insulated with more leaves, creating a pressure of heat and steam inside which cooks all food within the pile after several hours.
In Vietnamese cuisine sweet potatoes are known as khoai lang and they are commonly cooked with a sweetener such as corn syrup, honey, sugar, or molasses.
Young sweet potato leaves are also used as baby food, particularly in Southeast Asia and East Asia. Mashed sweet potato tubers are used similarly throughout the world.


Candied sweet potatoes are a side dish consisting mainly of sweet potatoes prepared with brown sugar, marshmallows, maple syrup, molasses, orange juice, marron glacé, or other sweet ingredients. It is often served in the US on Thanksgiving. Sweet potato casserole is a side dish of mashed sweet potatoes in a casserole dish, topped with a brown sugar and pecan topping.
The sweet potato became a favorite food item of the French and Spanish settlers and thus continued a long history of cultivation in Louisiana. Sweet potatoes are recognized as the state vegetable of Alabama, Louisiana, and North Carolina. Sweet potato pie is also a traditional favorite dish in Southern U.S. cuisine. Another variation on the typical sweet potato pie is the Okinawan sweet potato haupia pie, which is made with purple sweet potatoes, believed to have been cultivated in Hawaii as early as 500 CE.
The fried sweet potatoes tradition dates to the early nineteenth century in the United States. Sweet potato fries or chips are a common preparation, and are made by julienning and deep-frying sweet potatoes, in the fashion of French fried potatoes. Roasting sliced or chopped sweet potatoes lightly coated in animal or vegetable oil at high heat became common in the United States at the start of the 21st century, a dish called "sweet potato fries". Sweet potato mash is served as a side dish, often at Thanksgiving dinner or with barbecue.
John Buttencourt Avila is called the "father of the sweet potato industry" in North America.


Because of human dispersal, it occurs today on most continents as an introduced species and is sometimes a noxious weed and an invasive species, such as along the coast of New South Wales. As well as in the United States, where it occurs in Hawaii, California, all the gulf coast states, as well as Arkansas and Missouri. It also occurs in Brazil, where it is used in traditional medicine.


Anacamptodes defectaria, the brown-shaded gray moth, is a moth of the  family Geometridae. It is found from Pennsylvania, west to Iowa and Kansas, south to Texas, and south and east to Florida.
The wingspan is about 30 mm. Adults are on wing from February to November depending on the location.
The larvae feed on oak, poplar, sweet cherry and willow.


Within Europe, it is found in west France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslavia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine and northern Turkey.
It is found in the Caucasus regions of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Siberia (of the Russia Federation). East to Lake Baikal (in Siberia).
It is listed with Iris bloudowii, Iris glaucescens, Iris humilis, Iris ruthenica, Iris tenuifolia and Iris tigridia as being found in the Altai-Sayan region (where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together).
It has been also naturalized in various states of North America. Including Ontario (in Canada), Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and California.


According to IUCN Red List criteria, it is 'Vulnerable' (VU) (in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine) and it has become 'Extinct' in the Wild (EW) in Slovakia. In 2014, it was 'Vulnerable' in the Carpathian part of Slovakia.
It is considered to be rare and endangered in Poland and not considered threatened in Romania.
The UK national collection of Siberian Iris is kept by Alun and Jill Whitehead at Aulden Farm, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Leominster in Herefordshire.


A dark rufous morph, I. e. neoxenus, termed "Cory's bittern" or "Cory's least bittern" was originally described by Charles Cory as a separate species in 1885 from a specimen collected on or near the Caloosahatchee River, near Lake Okeechobee, in southwest Florida. Cory stated that the specimen was "without doubt perfectly distinct from any other known species". Further specimens followed over the next decades from Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Ontario.
Initially, Cory's least bittern was accepted as a valid species, with Elliott Coues and Richard Bowdler Sharpe both including it in published species lists. As early as 1892, however, doubts were raised about the validity of Cory's least bittern as a separate species. Nonetheless, in 1896 Frank Chapman wrote a detailed paper supporting its retention as a valid species. Outram Bangs later argued, in 1915, that this view was wrong and proposed that Cory's should become a junior synonym of least bittern. This view eventually prevailed, with the American Ornithologists' Union removing the species from their list of North American birds in 1923, although others held dissenting views until at least 1928.
Cory's least bittern was once fairly common, but it is now exceptionally rare, with only five sightings since 1950. More than 50% of the historical records are from the Toronto region of Ontario. Initially known only from the North American subspecies exilis, it was first recorded in the South America subspecies erthyromelas in 1967.


Little Bitterns were once widespread in Central Europe. In the meantime it is a poorly distributed breeding bird of the lowlands, sporadically up to low mountain ranges. It occurs from Europe (without regular breeding in Great Britain, Ireland or Scandinavia) to West Siberia up to 56° N. It also occurs in North Africa and southern Iran and south of the Sahara to southern Africa. Isolated populations also exist in Madagascar and Australia. The total population of Europe is about 60,000-120,000 breeding pairs, with occurrences of> 5000 breeding pairs in Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Turkey. In Central Europe (around 2000) about 5300-7800 pairs are breeding, most of it in Hungary. The formerly large population in Germany has decreased to just over 100 breeding pairs. However, inventory information is particularly unreliable for this very secret species.
The little bittern is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies.


The yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) is a small bittern. It is of Old World origins, breeding in the northern Indian Subcontinent, east to the Russian Far East, Japan and Indonesia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances. It has been recorded as a vagrant in Alaska and there is a single sighting in Great Britain, from Radipole Lake, Dorset on November 23, 1962 – however, the British Ornithologists' Union has always considered this occurrence to be of uncertain provenance and currently it is not accepted onto the official British List.
This is a small species at 36 to 38 cm (14 to 15 in) in length, with a short neck and longish bill. The male is uniformly dull yellow above and buff below. The head and neck are chestnut, with a black crown. The female's crown, neck and breast are streaked brown, and the juvenile is like the female but heavily streaked brown below, and mottled with buff above. Yellow bitterns feed on insects, fish and amphibians.


The varied thrush breeds in western North America from Alaska to northern California. It is migratory, with northern breeders moving south within or somewhat beyond the breeding range. Other populations may only move altitudinally. This species is an improbable transatlantic vagrant, but there are now two accepted western European records, both in Great Britain, in 1982 and on Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands in October 2021.
Nests in Alaska, Yukon Territory, and mountains in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Prefers moist conifer forest. Most common in dense, older conifer forests in high elevations. Moves to lower elevations during the winter where it is often seen in towns and orchards and thickets, or migrates to California. Seen in flocks during winter of up to 20 birds. It is well known for individual birds to fly eastward in winter, showing up in just about any state, then returning to the west coast for breeding.


The northern jacana or northern jaçana (Jacana spinosa) is a wader which is known as a resident breeder from coastal Mexico to western Panama, and on Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It sometimes known to breed in Texas, United States, and has also been recorded on several occasions as a vagrant in Arizona. The jacanas are a group of wetland birds, which are identifiable by their huge feet and claws, which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. In Jamaica, this bird is also known as the 'Jesus bird', as it appears to walk on water. Jacana is Linnæus' scientific Latin spelling of the Brazilian Portuguese jaçanã, pronounced [ʒasaˈnɐ̃], from the Tupi name of the bird.  See jacana for pronunciations.


Jeffersonia, also known as twinleaf or rheumatism root, is a small genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Berberidaceae. They are uncommon spring wildflowers and grow in limestone soils of rich deciduous forests. Jeffersonia was named for United States President Thomas Jefferson by his contemporary Benjamin Smith Barton. This genus was formerly grouped in genus Podophyllum.  Twinleaf is protected by state laws as a threatened or endangered plant in Georgia, Iowa, New York, and New Jersey.


Jeffersonia diphylla has leaves and flowers that are smooth and emerge directly from the rhizome. The leaves are divided into two leaflets which are half-ovate in shape with entire or shallowly toothed margins. It has showy white flowers with four sepals, eight petals, eight stamens, and a singly pistil; the flower resembles bloodroot flowers. The short-lived flower appears in April or May before the forest canopy appears  (see spring ephemeral). The fruit is a green pear-shaped capsule with a hinged top. The characteristic leaves are large and nearly divided in half, giving rise to its common name, twinleaf. It rarely grows taller than 12 inches (30 cm).  As with other deciduous forest plants, the seeds are dispersed by ants, a process known as myrmecochory.


white-winged dark-eyed junco (J. h. aikeni)
The white-winged dark-eyed junco has a medium-gray head, breast, and upperparts with white wing bars. Females are washed brownish. It has more white in the tail than the other subspecies. It is a common endemic breeder in the Black Hills area of South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Montana, and winters south to northeastern New Mexico.


gray-headed dark-eyed junco (J. h. caniceps)
This subspecies is essentially rather light gray on top with a rusty back. It breeds in the southern Rocky Mountains from Colorado to central Arizona and New Mexico, and winters into northern Mexico.


red-backed dark-eyed junco (J. h. dorsalis)
Often included with J. h. caniceps as part of the "gray-headed group", this subspecies differs from the gray-headed junco proper in having a more silvery bill with a dark-colored upper and light-colored lower mandible, a variable amount of rust on the wings, and pale underparts. This makes it similar to the yellow-eyed junco (Junco phaeonotus), except for the dark eyes. It is found in the southern mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. It does not overlap with the yellow-eyed junco in its breeding range.


The yellow-eyed junco (Junco phaeonotus) is a species of junco, a group of small New World sparrows.
Its range is primarily in Mexico, extending into some of the mountains of the southern tips of the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico. It is not generally migratory, but sometimes moves to nearby lower elevations during winter. The female lays three to five pale gray or bluish-white eggs in an open nest of dried grass two to three times a year. Incubation takes 15 days, and when hatched, the chicks are ready to leave the nest two weeks later. This bird's diet consists mainly of seeds, berries and insects.


Juncus acutus,  the spiny rush, sharp rush or sharp-pointed rush, is a flowering plant in the monocot family Juncaceae found throughout the Americas, Northern and Southern Africa, Western and Southern Europe and West Asia.
It grows in salt marshes and on dunes and is reliable for reducing erosion rates.
In some countries like Australia it is considered to be an invasive weed and the spines harmful to young children.


As the name implies, it is mainly in numerous California habitats, although its range also extends through most of Baja California, a short distance into the Great Basin in southern Nevada, and into northwestern Arizona. In California it is found in: the Peninsular Ranges, Transverse Ranges, California Coast Ranges, Sacramento Valley foothills, Sierra Nevada, and at higher elevation sky islands in the Mojave Desert ranges. It is also found off of the North American continental shelf, on Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean, where there are less than 10 individuals.
It grows at moderate altitudes of 750–1,600 m (2,460–5,250 ft). Habitats include: pinyon–juniper woodland with single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla); Joshua tree woodland; and foothill woodlands, in the montane chaparral and woodlands and interior chaparral and woodlands sub-ecoregions.


Juniperus monosperma is a species of juniper native to western North America, in the United States in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado, western Oklahoma (Panhandle), and western Texas, and in Mexico in the extreme north of Chihuahua. It grows at 970–2300 m altitude.
It is an evergreen coniferous shrub or small tree growing to 2–7 metres (6+1⁄2–23 feet) (rarely to 12 m) tall, usually multistemmed, and with a dense, rounded crown. The bark is gray-brown, exfoliating in thin longitudinal strips, exposing bright orange brown underneath. The ultimate shoots are 1.2–1.9 millimetres thick. The leaves are scale-like, 1–2 mm long and 0.6–1.5 mm broad on small shoots, up to 10 mm long on vigorous shoots; they are arranged in alternating whorls of three or opposite pairs. The juvenile leaves, produced on young seedlings only, are needle-like. The cones are berry-like, with soft resinous flesh, subglobose to ovoid, 5–7 mm long, dark blue with a pale blue-white waxy bloom, and contain a single seed (rarely two or three); they mature in about 6–8 months from pollination, and are eaten by birds and mammals. The male cones are 2–4 mm long, and shed their pollen in late winter. It is usually dioecious, with male and female cones on separate plants, but occasional monoecious plants can be found. Its roots have been found to extend to as far as 61m below the surface, making it the plant with the second deepest roots, after Boscia albitrunca.
Frequently, cones can be found with the seed apex exposed; these were formerly sometimes considered a separate species as Juniperus gymnocarpa, but this is now known to be due to insect damage to the developing cones (and can affect many different species of juniper); the seeds from such cones are sterile.
It is very rare or even extinct in Mexico, with only a single herbarium collection from 1880 verified; more recent searches have failed to find the species there. A closely related species Juniperus angosturana was however formerly considered a variety, as J. monosperma var. gracilis Martínez; it differs from J. monosperma in its slenderer shoots 1.0–1.3 mm diameter.
Other vernacular names occasionally used include single-seed juniper and cherrystone juniper.


The Eurasian wryneck or northern wryneck (Jynx torquilla) is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family. This species mainly breeds in temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, wintering in tropical Africa and in southern Asia from Iran to the Indian subcontinent, but some are resident in northwestern Africa. It is a bird of open countryside, woodland and orchards.
Eurasian wrynecks measure about 16.5 cm (6.5 in) in length and have bills shorter and less dagger-like than those of other woodpeckers. Their upperparts are barred and mottled in shades of pale brown with rufous and blackish bars and wider black streaks. Their underparts are cream speckled and spotted with brown. Their chief prey is ants and other insects, which they find in decaying wood or on the ground. The eggs are white as is the case with many birds that nest in holes and a clutch of seven to ten eggs is laid during May and June.
These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads through almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. This odd behaviour led to their use in witchcraft, hence to put a "jinx" on someone.


Females and males aggregate seasonally for mating. Fertilization is internal. Kellet's whelks reproduce annually, with egg-laying restricted to late spring and summer (in March, April and May). The snails form aggregations, with the average spawning cluster being about 15 to 20 snails. However, a few spawning aggregations contain between 200 and 300 individuals.
Oval-shaped egg capsules are deposited in clusters on hard substrates, including rock reef, discarded mollusk shells, and other Kellet's whelks, with egg laying speculated to be favored on substrate already containing Kellet's whelk egg capsules. Egg deposition may occur over several days at several locations, or all within one day. Egg capsules generally contain between 400 and 1200 eggs, with the height of the capsule, and number of eggs directly correlating to the size of the spawning female. Egg capsule height generally ranges between 0.2 and 0.4 inches (6 and 9 millimeters) and capsules may occasionally contain up to 2200 eggs.
Embryos begin development within the capsule for about 30–34 days. They emerge into the water column as free swimming veliger larvae that are (planktonic and pelagic). Veliger size is inversely related to egg capsule size, with smaller capsules containing larger veligers. The protoconch of Kelletia kelletii has 0.5-1.5 whorls and a bulbous apex.
Laboratory culturing studies resulted in successful metamorphosis of 33% of larvae (n=10) from weeks 5.5 through 9 in the presence of live rock dominated by Petaloconchus montereyensis (a prey species of Kelletia kelletii), as well as 100% of larvae exposed to high concentrations of KCl in weeks 8 and 9; these pilot results suggest a planktonic duration of at least 5.5–9.0 weeks. Larvae are becoming more demersal as they are approaching competency.
Kelletia kelletii is slow-growing, and slow to mature. Studies have suggested a growth rate of 0.3 to 0.4 inches (7 to 10 millimeters) per year until sexual maturity. Rosenthal (1970) reported onset of sexual maturity at c. 60 mm in shell length (defined as maximum shell length from the tip of the spire to the tip of the siphonal canal). Once sexual maturity is reached, growth slows considerably and it has been suggested that it takes at least 20 years to reach 3.5 inches (9.0 centimeters). In a year-long tagging study in southern California the majority of the 188 animals recaptured showed no growth at the end of the year.


Mexican mud turtle (Kinosternon integrum), is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. Endemic to Mexico, it is found in Aguascalientes, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, México, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas, where they inhabit moist environments, such as shallow ponds, lakes, rivers or intermediate temp. tropical forest areas.


Mud turtles (genus Kinosternon) are fresh water turtles that are found in the Southeastern and Northeastern United States. They live in rivers, lakes and swamps. Mud turtles prefer ponds that have a lot of vegetation. These animals can generally be found in spring-fed streams, and they prefer clean, oxygenated water. The Eastern mud turtle rarely basks, but in the instance they do, they will bask on rocks or debris floating on the surface of the water. In the wild, they also prefer sandy and muddy areas, as they will hibernate by burrowing into the mud. The Eastern Mud Turtle prefers hibernacula sites about 70 meters from wetlands and that have a large amount of leaf and pine litter and not too much tree cover. They will burrow at the wetland edges at a minimum depth of 1.3 cm below the soil surface to a maximum depth of 3 cm. The leaf litter helps to keep the soil moisture and the temperature consistent, while a more open canopy exposes turtles to higher temperatures before emergence.
Mud turtles can tolerate brackish water so they may be found near salt marshes and on coastal islands.


The eastern mud turtle is found in the US states of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
In Indiana, the eastern mud turtle is listed as an endangered species.


On the basis of coat colour, 37 subspecies of the waterbucks had been initially recognised. They were classified into two groups: the ellipsiprymnus waterbuck group and the defassa waterbuck group. Owing to the large number of variations in the coat colour in the defassa waterbuck group, as many as 29 subspecies were included in it; the ellipsiprymnus waterbuck group consisted of eight subspecies. In 1971, however, the number of subspecies was reduced to 13 (4 for the ellipsenprymnus waterbuck group and 9 for the defassa waterbuck group). The subspecies are listed below, along with notes about the former subspecies which were recombined into a single subspecies:
K. e. ellipsiprymnus (ellipsen waterbuck, common or ringed waterbuck) group: Found in the Webi Shebeli river valley in southeastern Ethiopia; the Juba and Webi Shebeli river valleys in Somalia; essentially east of the Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania; east of the Rift Valley in the middle Zambezi and Luangwa valleys in Zambia; Malawi; Mozambique; east of the Kwando River in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia; eastern and northern Botswana; Zimbabwe; and eastern and northern Transvaal in South Africa. Its distribution slightly overlaps that of the typical defassa along the Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania, and that of the Crawshay defassa in the Rift Valley in Zambia.
Includes the following four subspecies:
K. e. ellipsiprymnus Ogilby, 1833 (southern Africa)
K. e. kondensis Matschie, 1911 (including K. e. lipuwa, K. e. kulu) (southern Tanzania)
K. e. pallidus Matschie, 1911 (Webi Shebeli drainage in Ethiopia, and Juba and Webi Shebeli drainages in Somalia)
K. e. thikae Matschie, 1910 (including K. e. kuru and K. e. canescens) (southern and eastern Kenya and northeastern Tanzania)
K. e. defassa (defassa waterbuck) group: Found west of the Gregory Rift, ranging from Ethiopia west to Senegal and south to Zambia.
Includes the following subspecies:
Angolan defassa waterbuck (K. e. penricei) W. Rothschild, 1895 Can be found in Southern Gabon, southern Congo (Brazzaville), Angola, southwestern Congo (Kinshasa), and marginally in Namibia along the Okavango River.
Crawshay defassa waterbuck or Rhodesian defassa waterbuck (K. e. crawshayi) P. L. Sclater, 1894 (including K. e. uwendensis, K. e. frommiand K. e. münzneri) Can be found in Zambia, from the upper Zambezi River eastward to the Muchinga escarpment (which is a southern extension of the Great Rift Valley). Also in adjoining parts of Katanga Province in Congo (Kinshasa).
East African defassa waterbuck
K. e. adolfi-friderici Matschie, 1906 (including K. e. fulvifrons, K. e. nzoiae and K. e. raineyi) (northeastern Tanzania west of the Rift Wall, and north into Kenya)
K. e. defassa Rüppell, 1835 (including K. e. matschiei and K. e. hawashensis) (central and southern Ethiopia)
K. e. harnieri Murie, 1867 (including K. e. avellanifrons, K. e. ugandae, K. e. dianae, K. e. ladoensis, K. e. cottoni, K. e. breviceps, K. e. albertensis and K. e. griseotinctus) (northeastern Congo [Kinshasa], Sudan, western Ethiopia, Uganda, western Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and northwestern Tanzania)
K. e. tjäderi Lönnberg, 1907 (including K. e. angusticeps and K. e. powelli) (Laikipia Plateau in Kenya)
Sing-sing waterbuck
K. e. annectens Schwarz, 1913 (including K. e. schubotzi) (C.A.R.)
K. e. tschadensis Schwarz, 1913  (Chad)
K. e. unctuosus Laurillard, 1842 (including K. e. togoensis) (Cameroon west to Senegal)


The waterbuck exhibits great dependence on water. It can not tolerate dehydration in hot weather, and thus inhabits areas close to sources of water. However, it has been observed that unlike the other members of its genus (such as the kob and puku), the waterbuck ranges farther into the woodlands while maintaining its proximity to water. With grasses constituting a substantial 70 to 95 percent of the diet, the waterbuck is predominantly a grazer frequenting grasslands. Reeds and rushes like Typha and Phragmites may also be preferred. A study found regular consumption of three grass species round the year: Panicum anabaptistum, Echinochloa stagnina and Andropogon gayanus. Hyparrhenia involucrata, Acroceras amplectens and Oryza barthii along with annual species were the main preference in the early rainy season, while long life grasses and forage from trees constituted three-fourths of the diet in the dry season.
Though the defassa waterbuck was found to have a much greater requirement for protein than the African buffalo and the Beisa oryx, the waterbuck was found to spend much less time on browsing (eating leaves, small shoots, and fruits) in comparison to the other grazers. In the dry season, about 32% of the 24-hour day was spent in browsing, whereas no time was spent on it during the wet season. The choice of grasses varies with location rather than availability; for instance, in western Uganda, while Sporobolus pyramidalis was favoured in some places, Themeda triandra was the main choice elsewhere. The common waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck in the same area may differ in their choices;  while the former preferred Heteropogon contortus and Cynodon dactylon, the latter showed less preference for these grasses.


The kob (Kobus kob) is an antelope found across Central Africa and parts of West Africa and East Africa. Together with the closely related reedbucks, waterbucks, lechwe, Nile lechwe, and puku, it forms the Reduncinae tribe. Found along the northern savanna, it is often seen in Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda; Garamba and Virunga National Park, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as grassy floodplains of South Sudan.
Kob are found in wet areas (such as floodplains), where they eat grasses. Kob are diurnal, but inactive during the heat of the day. They live in groups of either females and calves or just males. These groups generally range from five to 40 animals.
Among the kobs of eastern Africa, the Ugandan kob (Kobus kob thomasi) appears on the coat of arms of Uganda, and white-eared kobs (Kobus kob leucotis), found in South Sudan, southwest Ethiopia, and extreme northeast Uganda, participate in large-scale migrations.


The kob is currently found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. It was formerly also found in Gambia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Morocco  and Tanzania, but is now extinct in those areas.


The kob's distribution from western Africa to central East Africa is patchy. It inhabits flat areas and open country close to permanent water, with consistent climate. It drinks daily and requires fresh grazing. During the rains, kob frequent short grasses and keep them short. Since it is dependent on water, the kob does not wander far into arid areas. Kob gather on and move from one pasture to another, coinciding with seasonal changes. In flooded areas, they may travel hundreds of kilometers, and dry-season walks to water may take 10 km or more.  Grasses preferred by kobs are Hyparrhenia species, Brachiaria brizantha, Setaria gayanus, Chloris gayana, and Echinochloa and Digitaria spp.


Kob populations have been reduced by hunting and human development. The Uganda kob (Kobus kob thomasi) became extinct in southwestern Kenya and northwestern Tanzania due to the expansion of human settlements and agriculture. However, there are sizeable populations of this subspecies in Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda and Garamba and Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Buffon's kob (Kobus kob kob) is protected in several parks, including Niokolo-Koba in Senegal, Comoé in Côte d'Ivoire, Arly-Singou in Burkina Faso, Mole and Bui in Ghana, Pendjari in Benin, Waza, Bénoué and Faro National Parks of the North Province of Cameroon, Zakouma in Chad, and Manovo-Gounda-St. Floris and Dzanga Sangha Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic.
Once feared almost extinct because of the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), surveys in 2007 and later confirmed that several hundred thousand white-eared kobs (Kobus kob leucotis) survived. Together with tiang and Mongalla gazelles, they participate in one of the largest mammal migrations on Earth, numbering about 1.2 million individuals in total. The white-eared kob is protected in Boma National Park and Bandingilo National Park in South Sudan, and Gambella National Park in Ethiopia.


Winterfat grows in a great variety of habitats at 100–2,700 metres (330–8,860 ft) in elevation—from grassland plains and xeric scrublands to rain shadow faces of montane locations.
Winterfat is a halophyte that thrives in salty soils such as those on alkali flats, including those of the Great Basin, Central Valley, Great Plains, and Mojave Desert.


Kricogonia lyside, the  lyside sulphur or guayacan sulphur, is a North American, Caribbean, and South American butterfly in the family Pieridae.
In seasons with heavy monsoons, this butterfly is seen in massive migrations which are frequent in Texas but more rare in the southwest.  It is also an occasional resident in southern Florida.


The southern house spider is a species of large spider in the family Filistatidae. Currently given the scientific name Kukulcania hibernalis, it was formerly known as Filistata hibernalis. Found in the Americas, it exhibits strong sexual dimorphism. It is occurs in the southern states of the USA, throughout Central America and some of the Caribbean, to southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. The males may be mistaken for brown recluses because the two have similar coloration and body structure. However, compared to the brown recluse, male southern house spiders are typically larger in size, lack the distinctive violin shape on their cephalothorax, and have unusually long slender pedipalps. The females are dark brown or black and more compact. Both sexes may grow to be roughly 2 inches (5.1 cm) across (legs extended), with the males typically having longer legs, and the females often having larger, bulbous bodies. The abdomen of the southern house spider is covered with fine velvety light gray hair.
Female southern house spiders are rarely seen, as they build radial webs around crevices, for which reason their family (Filistatidae) is called crevice weavers. Females seldom move except to capture prey caught in their webs.  Males, on the other hand, typically wander in search of insects and females to mate with, having no particular territory.
The southern house spider is a cribellate spider. That is, its spinnerets do not produce adhesive webbing.  Instead, to capture prey the spider uses its legs to comb webbing across its cribellum, a spiked plate near the spinnerets. This combing action frays and tangles the strands, producing a fine, velcro-like netting that ensnares insect legs.
Male southern house spiders sometimes appear aggressive, but they do not bite unless trapped, and their mouthparts are too small to easily penetrate human skin. They do, however, have an unnerving tendency to crawl across anything in their path regardless of whether it is alive. This is not aggression; these spiders are simply nearly blind and cannot see larger animals. Indeed, these spiders instinctively play dead if they feel threatened (a tactic which is effective against their common predators).
Southern house spiders are capable of crawling through crevices as narrow as 1/4 in (0.66 cm) due to their elongated bodies and compact legs.


The sand lizard is a sexually dimorphic legged lizard. In northwest Europe, both sexes are characterised by lateral and dorsal strips of ocellated (eye-shaped) markings, dark patches with pale centres. Colouration varies across their European and Russian range. Males have finer markings than females, and their flanks turn bright green during the spring mating season, fading again in the late summer. Male adults may reach a total body length of 19.3 cm, where female adults may reach 18.5 cm.
It has several subspecies, the westernmost of which is L. a. agilis. In this and the other main western subspecies (L. a. argus), the dorsal stripe is thin and interrupted, or not present at all.  This applies particularly to the latter subspecies, which also includes a plain red or brown-backed phase without any dorsal markings. In these two subspecies, only the flanks of the males turn green in the mating season, but in the eastern subspecies (predominantly L. a. exigua), males can be wholly green, even outside the breeding season.
Most of these lizards live in Eastern Europe. They are mostly common in Poland, Czech Republic, and countries around that area.
They bask on rocks in the day and at night they go into their holes under ground. To protect themselves, they pop off their tails and bite the predators.
Male sand lizards are known for their nuptial areas showing very green coloration, this coloration has been shown to be brighter depending on body mass and fighting ability. Males with brighter colors were more likely to initiate aggressive behaviors and win fights, which generally leads to them having a higher mating success.
Sand lizards can live for over ten years, with their average lifespan lasting between 5–6 years.


Lactophrys triqueter also known as the smooth trunkfish, is a species of boxfish found on and near reefs in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and subtropical parts of the western Atlantic Ocean.


The smooth trunkfish is found down to a depth of about 50 m (164 ft) on coral reefs and over sandy seabeds in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean. The range extends from Canada and the Gulf of Maine southwards to Brazil.


The blue corporal is common and widespread throughout the eastern United States. Its range extends from Oklahoma to New Hampshire in the north, south to Texas and Florida. It favors the still, infertile waters of sandy-bottomed ponds, lakes and pits, and breeds less frequently in streams than its close relatives do.


The willow ptarmigan (/ˈtɑːrmɪɡən/) (Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain, where the subspecies L. l. scotica was previously considered to be a separate species, as the red grouse. It breeds in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. It is the state bird of Alaska. In the summer the birds are largely brown, with dappled plumage, but in the winter they are white with some black feathers in their tails (British populations do not adopt a winter plumage). The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the Pleistocene. Nesting takes place in the spring when clutches of four to ten eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground. The chicks are precocial and soon leave the nest. While they are young, both parents play a part in caring for them. The chicks eat insects and young plant growth while the adults are completely herbivorous, eating leaves, flowers, buds, seeds and berries during the summer and largely subsisting on the buds and twigs of willow and other dwarf shrubs and trees during the winter.


Native to the Mediterranean and introduced into Britain, it is now thriving on sandy stretches in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, occasionally found in Ireland and South Wales. It has become naturalized in County Wexford, Ireland, South Devon and West Sussex.
This plant is known or likely to be susceptible to barley mild mosaic bymovirus.


Lamarckia is a Eurasian and African plant in the grass family.
Species
The only known species is Lamarckia aurea, the golden dog's-tail or goldentop grass It is an annual plant, typically 30-45 centimetres in height, with clusters of golden flowers in a panicle 5–8 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The species is native to the Mediterranean Basin and neighboring regions from Portugal to the Canary Islands east to Ethiopia and northern India. It is also naturalized in parts of Australia and the Americas, considered an invasive weed in some areas.
Formerly included
see Aegopogon
Lamarckia tenella - Aegopogon tenellus


The California kingsnake is widespread along the West Coast of North America to elevations of approximately 6,100 ft (1,900 m) in the Tehachapi Mountains and to over 7,000 ft (2,100 m) in the southeastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. This species lives in a wide variety of habitats, including woodland chaparral, grassland, deserts, marshes, and even suburban areas. These snakes live in Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. In Arizona, they intergrade with the desert kingsnake (Lampropeltis splendida) and the Mexican black kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula nigrita). The species has also become invasive on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria.


The California kingsnake is an oviparous internal fertilization animal, meaning it lays eggs, as opposed to giving live birth like some other snakes.  Courtship for this kingsnake begins in the spring usually sometime after their hibernation or first shedding and involves the males competing for available females. In order to assert dominance when fighting another male, the California Kingsnake will get onto the other male and proceed biting the other snake. Their mating ritual begins by the male snake vibrating uncontrollably. Eggs are laid between May and August, which is generally 42–63 days after mating; in preparation the female will have chosen a suitable location. The typical clutch size is five to 12 eggs with an average of nine, though clutches of 20 or more eggs are known. The hatchlings usually emerge another 40–65 days later and are approximately eight to 13 inches in length. Adult California kingsnakes are most commonly 2.5–3.5 feet in length, and rarely exceed four feet.


L. getula is found in the United States in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, portions of Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, south and southwest Illinois, southern Indiana, southern Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, southern and western Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, southern Ohio, Oklahoma, southern Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, southern Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is also found in northern Mexico, including all of Baja California. It has been introduced to Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, where in 2014,  the population had reached an estimated 20,000 individuals.


The desert kingsnake (Lampropeltis splendida) is a species of kingsnake native to Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, United States. It is not venomous, colored yellow and black. The desert kingsnake's diet consists of rodents, lizards, and smaller snakes, including rattlesnakes. They normally grow 3–4 ft long, but have been known to grow up to 6.8 ft.  They are docile creatures when confronted by humans.  If they do not try to escape, often they "play dead" by flipping over onto their backs and lying motionless. Some who domesticate kingsnakes, such as ranchers, do so in the hopes that the kingsnakes will feed on other snakes, which might present more of a threat. It was previously considered a subspecies of the common kingsnake. The Desert Kingsnake belongs to the Colubridae family, which is the largest family of snakes in the world.


The delicate skink is more common in suburban gardens than in adjacent native bushland. It has a moderate body with a medium length, slender tail. Its scales are smooth. The back and sides are greyish-brown to rich brown, often with darker and paler flecks. A narrow yellowish-brown stripe is usually present on the outer edge of the back. The species can also have two distinct forms: a prominent white stripe and a less prominent white stripe. This dimorphism is not strictly distinguished by gender.
Lampropholis delicata were accidentally introduced into Lord Howe Island, a remote oceanic island between Australia and New Zealand, in the 1980s and subsequently introduced into the Hawaiian islands. Upon introduction, these lizards have rapidly spread themselves across the islands. On Lord Howe Island specifically, they reside in low-elevation vegetation communities. They are a diurnal species whose activity varies seasonally, in which activity peaks during the months of November and December. Sexual dimorphism is present in L. delicata, in which males have broader, longer heads and females have larger abdomen and body sizes. Female reproduction takes place in the spring season and more commonly in the late summer, ranging between the months of September and February. A positive correlation exists between the clutch size and body size of the female, and although it is common for clutch sizes to vary between 1 to 7 eggs, the average clutch size is between 2 to 4. Communal egg nests are also common, with anywhere between 11 and over 200 eggs. Tail loss and subsequent regeneration occurs frequently with these lizards but is observed most commonly in females and adults.


Although the biological mechanisms of reproductive cycles between male and female L. delicata lizards differ, they align seasonally such that mating can occur in the late summer. Typically, these lizards produce a single clutch per year of about two to four eggs. In a study analyzing the reproductive cycles in male and female L. delicata over a two year period, it has been found that, in males, the testes contain very few mature sperm during the late autumn and winter months, and during this period, spermatogonia are predominantly present as germ cells while the seminiferous tubules are at their smallest in diameter. However, spermatogenesis begins during the early spring months, allowing for the development of primary and secondary spermatocytes. Nearing the end of September, mature sperm will pack the now expanded seminiferous tubules, and the sperm will deplete during the months of October and November. In the summer, a second wave of spermatogenesis persists to produce more mature sperm during February, which depletes from the seminiferous tubules in spring and then again during autumn presumably for mating reasons, although only mating during the late summer has been observed.
In females, the autumn and winter months between February and July are defined by quiescent ovaries, and only during the late winter and spring months between August and October, follicles begin growing into notable sizes. In October or November, one or two follicles per ovary become vitellogenic and ovulated. After ovulation, the corpora lutea forms and maintains until oviposition occurs about a month later. Following ovulation, many other growing follicles become vitellogenic, although they may not ovulate and may regress after the mating period during the late summer. In females, many of these ovarian events parallel ovarian weights.
Although growing oocytes are not commonly found in young adult females, young adult males of all ages undergo spermatogenesis. Observation of L. delicata suggests that they produce no more than one clutch per season; however, some evidence suggests that young female lizards may produce a clutch in the season following their birth, which aligns with male lizards’ ability to mate during both the spring and late summer. Though temperature and photoperiod are hypothesized to induce reproductive activity in lizards, more evidence suggests the influence of rain patterns on lizard reproduction cycles. With lower annual rainfall, annual vegetation productivity, and arthropod availability, food becomes relatively scarce for these lizards. As a result, it may influence the follicular development in female lizards, in particular the vitellogenesis cycle, although decreased rainfall may be insufficient to influence male testicular patterns.
Female Lampropholis delicata lizards tend to reproduce in the spring and summer seasons (September–February). It was found that there is a positive relationship between body size and clutch size. Clutch size typically ranges between 1 to 7 (mean 3.4). Communal egg nests (11–200+ eggs) are common.


Langloisia setosissima, the bristly langloisia, bristly-calico, Great Basin langloisia or lilac sunbonnets, is a flowering plant, the sole species in the genus Langloisia in the family Polemoniaceae. It is native to the western United States and  north western Mexico, where it is found in desert washes and on rocky slopes and plains from eastern Oregon and Idaho,  south via Nevada and Utah to eastern California and Arizona.
The genus name of Langloisia is in honour of Auguste Berthélemy Langlois (1832–1900), who was a French-born American clergyman and botanist.
It is an annual plant, growing to 4–20 cm tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, linear, 2–3 cm long, densely bristly and with a toothed margin. The flowers are white to light blue or pale purple in color, 1.5–2 cm diameter, with a deeply five-lobed corolla.
There are two subspecies:
Langloisia setosissima subsp. setosissima. Flowers with a uniformly colored corolla, possibly showing faint patterns of dots and stripes.
Langloisia setosissima subsp. punctata (syn. Langloisia lanata, Langloisia punctata). Flowers with a corolla spotted with darker purple and yellow.
The genus Loeseliastrum was previously included in Langloisia, formed from two former Langloisia species:
Loeseliastrum matthewsii, formerly Langloisia matthewsii
Loeseliastrum schottii, formerly Langloisia schottii


East Eurasian group
Lanius borealis sibiricus – eastern Siberia to northern Mongolia
Browner above than excubitor, distinct but delicate banding below. Some white on primary bases only.
Lanius borealis bianchii – Sakhalin and possibly southern Kuril Islands
Smaller and paler than sibiricus, banding below pale and indistinct. Some white on primary bases only.
Lanius borealis mollis – Russian Altai Mountains, north western Mongolia
Browner than sibiricus above, banding below well-developed. Little white on primary bases.
Lanius borealis funereus – Tian Shan and western China
Large; quite dark and brownish, below bluish-grey with almost black banding. Little white on primary bases.
North American group
Lanius borealis borealis – Hudson Bay region of Ontario and Quebec
Similar to excubitor, but darker with faint barring below. John James Audubon called this subspecies the great American shrike in his book Birds of America.
Lanius borealis invictus – northern Alberta west to northern Alaska, perhaps also Chukchi Peninsula region in extreme north east Siberia
Larger and paler than borealis, paralleling homeyeri compared to excubitor.


In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the southern fiscal in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name La pie-griesche du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Lanius capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the southern fiscal. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the current binomial name Lanius collaris and cited Brisson's work. The specific name collaris is Latin for "of the neck".
Five subspecies are recognised.
L. c. aridicolus Clancey, 1955 – south western Angola and north western Namibia (dune-fog zone of the Namib Desert)
L. c. collaris Linnaeus, 1766 – extreme southern Namibia, southern, central and eastern South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and extreme southern Mozambique (Maputo)(except the south), Zambia, northern Botswana, and possibly also extreme south western Tanzania and extreme north eastern Namibia
L. c. marwitzi Reichenow, 1901 Uhehe fiscal – north eastern, central and south eastern Tanzania, northern Malawi
L. c. pyrrhostictus Holub & Pelzeln, 1882 – extreme north eastern Botswana (around Basuto), southern Zimbabwe (south of Harare), north eastern and eastern South Africa (Limpopo and Mpumalanga), and south western Mozambique (almost restricted to Gaza province)
L. c. subcoronatus A. Smith, 1841 – extreme south east Angola, Namibia (excluding the coastal north west and extreme south), Botswana, south western Zimbabwe, and northern South Africa (south to north western Northern Cape and central Free State)


The nominate form breeds in northern Asia from Mongolia to Siberia and winters in South Asia, Myanmar and the Malay Peninsula. The race confusus described from the same region is not well marked but is said to have a wider white brow and paler upperparts and is sometimes included within the nominate population. Subspecies superciliosus (sometimes called the Japanese shrike) breeds on the islands of Sakhalin, Kuril and Japan and winters in Hainan, Sumatra, Java, and the Sundas. Subspecies lucionensis, sometimes known as the Philippine shrike (local names: tarat or pakis-kis), breeds in Korea and eastern China wintering mainly in Taiwan and the Philippines but also on the Andaman Islands and in peninsular India. Stuart Baker suggested that the species may breed in the Cachar Hills of Assam but the idea was questioned by Claud Buchanan Ticehurst.
This species is rare in Europe and vagrants have been recorded in the United States and Canada.


The brown shrike is a migratory species and ringing studies show that they have high fidelity to their wintering sites, often returning to the same locations each winter. They begin establishing wintering territories shortly after arrival and their loud chattering or rattling calls are distinctive. Birds that arrive early and establish territories appear to have an advantage over those that arrive later in the winter areas. The timing of their migration is very regular with their arrival in winter to India in August and September and departure in April. During their winter period, they go through a premigratory moult. Their song in the winter quarters is faint and somewhat resembles the call of the rosy starling and often includes mimicry of other birds. The beak remains closed when singing and only throat pulsations are visible although the bird moves its tail up and down while singing.
The breeding season is late May or June and the breeding habitat includes the taiga, forest to semi-desert where they build a nest in a tree or bush, laying two to six eggs.
They feed mainly on insects, especially Lepidoptera. Like other shrikes, they impale prey on thorns. Small birds and lizards are also sometimes preyed upon. A white-eye (Zosterops) has been recorded in its larder. They typically look out for prey from a perch and fly down towards the ground to capture them.


Ulisse Aldrovandi, Conrad Gessner, John Ray and Francis Willughby also reported old folk names, mainly from Germanic languages: Wereangel or Wierangel from the Pennines of England (where the bird was noted as a vagrant) as well as Warkangel, Werkengel or Wurchangel in various German dialects (e.g. around Frankfurt/Main and Strasbourg) probably mean "choking angel" (cf. Standard German Würgeengel). These names are unlikely to significantly pre-date the times of Saint Boniface (c. 700 AD) because of their Christian connotation; the related Werkenvogel ("choking bird") might, however, do so. The English version, having become wariangle or weirangle, was eventually transferred to the native red-backed shrike (L. collurio) and lingered on into modern times in Yorkshire. Along the Upper Rhine, between Strasbourg and Heidelberg for example, Linkenom is attested; its origin is unclear. Low German Neghen-doer and Middle German Nünmörder were also used; this has today evolved into Neuntöter and specifically means the red-backed shrike, but could in earlier times refer to any native Lanius. It literally means "killer of nine [prey animals]" and refers to the food caches.
A falconer's name for the great grey shrike was mattages(s)(e), which is related to mat'agasse from the western Alps. These terms may mean "magpie killer", due to their use for luring carnivorous birds to hunters – but perhaps more likely "killer magpie", considering that the bird was believed to be a peculiar sort of magpie by Johann Leonhard Frisch and others, and that another vernacular English name was "murdering pie". Shrike, meanwhile, is of Germanic origin also and dates back at least to Middle or Early Modern English schricum. This is related to such words as Norwegian and Swedish skrika ("shriek, skrike"), German Schrei ("scream") or Icelandic shrikja ("shrieker"). But it seems to have become the dominant term only in rather recent times, for as late as the 18th century, the species was still widely known as "greater butcher-bird" in English, just like it was known as the boucher ("butcher") in the French Jura. In Norway a vernacular name for the bird is varsler. A whimsical name – presumably from Scotland or nearby England – was "white wisky John" in reference to its wavy and somewhat unelegant flight, during which its large areas of light plumage are conspicuous.
The "grey shrike" is also sometimes named "gray shrike."


Great grey shrikes breed during the summer, typically once per year. In exceptionally good conditions, they raise two broods a year, and if the first clutch is destroyed before hatching they are usually able to produce a second one. Their monogamous pair bond is strong during the breeding season and loosens over winter; birds often choose a different mate than the year before. To seek out potential mates, males will venture outside their breeding territories. If a female thus encountered finds a male to her liking, she will visit to see whether they get along well and inspect the nesting sites he can offer. The courtship period is generally longer than in the Iberian grey shrike (L. meridionalis), usually starting about March and lasting to April/May. At first, the female rebuffs the male, only allowing him to feed her. Males give increasingly vocal displays and show off the white markings of the wings in flight and of the tail by fanning it and turning away from the female. He also occasionally turns to sit at a right angle to her. Eventually, the female will join in the male's displays, and the songs will become duets. To feed females and to show off their hunting prowess, males will make their food caches in conspicuous places during this time. When presenting nesting sites, males give the variety of calls described above and jerk their head and fanned tail.
Copulation is typically initiated by the male bringing an attractive prey item to the female. With both giving begging calls, they approach until they are side by side. The male then raises and swings his body left and right a few times, and passes the prey to the female, followed by the actual copulation. The gatherings of neighbour groups (see above) cease when nesting is underway, and when the eggs are nearly ready to lay, the male guards his partner closely, perching higher than her to watch for threats and frequently feeding her. This apparently ensures her physical well-being rather than preventing extra-pair copulations, as neighbouring males will stray through each other's territory to snatch a quick fling with the resident females. In this, they have almost a one-in-three chance of success, and consequently the average grey shrike nest is very likely to contain offspring of more than one male. Females may deposit their eggs in neighbours' nests, but this seems to occur more rarely; in general, mated females are fairly reclusive after their eggs have started developing. A full clutch of eggs can be produced by a female in about 10–15 days.
Nests are built in April or May more than 1 m (3.3 ft) above ground in trees. This height varies according to habitat, but while nests have been found almost 40 m (44 yd) up, most are 2–16 m above ground. Presence of mistletoes or vines like common ivy (Hedera helix) on side branches near the trunk (where nests are preferentially built) will make a tree markedly more attractive. Fieldfares (Turdus pilaris) nesting in the vicinity will also increase the desirability of nest sites to great grey shrikes, which moreover often refuse to prey upon these thrushes' nestlings though the opportunity is there. Apparently, the two species are more efficient in spotting potential nest predators – in particular corvids – early on and mobbing them off cooperatively than either is on its own. Otherwise, there is no clear preference for particular taxa of nesting trees, provided they are sufficiently dense. Conifers seem to have become more popular with European L. excubitor in recent decades, but a diversity of deciduous trees is used just as well. Far more rarely, large and especially thorny shrubs are used for nesting. The actual nesting site is chosen by the male; the courtship visits of the female are mainly to form and strengthen the pair bond. Also, though the partners build the nest together, the male collects most of the nesting material. The cup nest is quite sizable, measuring 20–28 cm (7.9–11.0 in) in outer diameter. Its body is constructed of coarse vegetable material – mainly large twigs and chunks of moss, though bits of fabric and rubbish may be added. The interior cup is 8–12 cm (3.1–4.7 in) in diameter and 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) deep; it is lined with fine twigs and roots, lichen, hair and feathers. Building a nest from scratch takes a pair one to two weeks, but if nests of the previous year in good locations remain usable, they are repaired rather than discarded.
Laying usually takes place in May. The clutch numbers three to nine eggs, typically around seven, with North American clutches tending to be larger on average than European ones. If a second clutch is produced in one breeding season, it is smaller than the first one. The eggs have a white background colour, usually with a grey hue and sometimes with a blue one; they are patterned with blotches of yellowish- to reddish-brown and purplish-grey, often denser around the blunt end. They measure around 26 mm (1.0 in) in length and 19.5 mm (0.77 in) in width. Incubation takes around 16 days but may be closer to three weeks for large clutches; it is generally done only by the female. While the male may briefly take over incubating, his task during this time is to provide food. The altricial nestlings hatch naked, blind and pink-skinned, weighing c. 4 g (0.14 oz); their skin turns darker after a few days. The inside of their beak is pink and they probably lack spots or other prominent marks; the wattles at the corners of the mouth are yellow as in many passerines. As the nestlings grow, the female broods them, and later on assists in providing food. The young fledge after 2–3 weeks, typically in late June or early July; they become independent of their parents about 3–6 weeks later. Sometimes, a parent will single out particular fledglings (possibly the weakest ones) and focus their care and feeding on these during this time. Other adults have occasionally been recorded assisting in feeding a pair's offspring; it is not clear whether these helpers at the nest are offspring of previous years, or unrelated non-breeding "floaters" or breeding neighbours.
Common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) have been noted as regular brood parasites of L. e. excubitor in the past; for reasons unknown this has ceased since the late 1970s or so. It may well be that the cuckoo's gens laying eggs similar to those of the great grey shrike has become extinct. Among predators of eggs and nestlings, corvids (Corvidae) – extremely close relatives of the shrikes (Laniidae) as it happens – are most significant.
Usually more than half of all nests manage to hatch at least one young, and around three-quarters of all eggs laid hatch, suggesting that if eggs are lost before hatching, it usually is the entire clutch. Half to three-quarters of the hatched young successfully fledge under most circumstances. They will become sexually mature in their first spring and often attempt to breed right away. On average, great grey shrikes get a chance at four breeding attempts during their life, with most birds in the wild getting eaten by a bird of prey or carnivorous mammal or dying of other causes before the end of their fifth winter. Raptorial birds are the main threat to shrikes after fledging, with regular predators including species as small as little owls (which are close to the same size as the shrike). The maximum documented lifespan, however, is 12 years.


The loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) is a passerine bird in the family Laniidae. It is the only member of the shrike family endemic to North America; the related northern shrike (L. borealis) occurs north of its range, however it is also found in Siberia. It is nicknamed the butcherbird after its carnivorous tendencies, as it consumes prey such as amphibians, insects, lizards, small mammals and small birds, and some prey end up displayed and stored at a site, for example in a tree. Due to its small size and weak talons, this predatory bird relies on impaling its prey upon thorns or barbed wire for facilitated consumption. The numbers of loggerhead shrike have significantly decreased in recent years, especially in Midwestern, New England and Mid-Atlantic areas.