The grey butcherbird has three subspecies:
C. t. torquatus in south-east Australia
C. t. cinereus is restricted to the island of Tasmania.
C. t. leucopterus is widespread; its distribution stretches from the west to the east coast of Australia.


The grey butcherbird is a small grey, black and white bird with a weight of 90 grams (3.2 oz), a body length between 27–30 cm (10.6-11.8 in) and a wing span expanding 37–43 cm (14.6-16.9 in). The grey butcherbird is smaller than the Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis).
The adult grey butcherbird has a black head, top and sides; and a white chin and throat through to the lower hindneck. The upperbody is mostly dark grey with streaks of narrow white bands that extends across the uppertail-coverts at the base of the tail. The uppertail is black with narrow white tips. The wings are grey with large areas of white and the underside of the wing is also white. The tip of the beak has a slight downwards hook.
Both the male and female grey butcherbirds are similar in appearance, but the female is slightly smaller in size.
The juvenile is slightly different from the adult, as the juvenile does not have a black head, instead the head is a dark brown with fine streaks on the forehead and ear-covers and white loral spots that meet the eyes and bill, as well as having an off-white chin and throat. The upperbody is dark brown with streaks, and the uppertail-coverts are also a dark brown and have a brownish colour at the base of the uppertail. Juvenile's beaks are completely dark grey and often the hook at the tip of the beak is not obvious. The juvenile grey butcherbird is commonly mistaken for a small kingfisher.


The grey butcherbird usually breed in single territorial pairs from July to January. Both sexes defend their territories and nest throughout the year. The female incubates the eggs while the nestlings and fledglings are fed by both parents. The nest is a shallow, bowl-shaped made from sticks and twigs. The nest is lined with grasses and other soft fibres. Nests are normally located within 10 m (32.8 ft) off the ground.
The grey butcherbird is found in a range of habitats, from eucalypt forests and woodlands, mallee and acacia shrublands, rainforests and riparian vegetation to urban areas and residential townships. The denser forests tend to be the favour for inland areas.


Grey butcherbirds feed on invertebrates, mainly insects; small vertebrates, including other small birds and their nestlings and lizards; and occasionally fruit and small seeds. Uneaten food can be stored in the fork of a branch to be consumed later. Uneaten food and food that is too large to be eaten whole can also be impaled or stored for later.
Grey butcherbirds sit in branches and wait for prey. Prey is captured by the grey butcherbird sally-pouncing the prey on the ground. Small birds and insects can be captured in flight by using sally-striking. The grey butcherbird ambushes the foraging birds while they are on the ground, usually approaching and attacking them from behind. The grey butcherbird either feeds alone, in pairs or in small family groups.


Crambe maritima, common name sea kale, seakale or crambe, is a species of halophytic (salt-tolerant) flowering plant in the genus Crambe of the family Brassicaceae. It grows wild along the coasts of mainland Europe and the British Isles.
The plant is related to the cabbage and was first cultivated as a vegetable in Britain around the turn of the 18th century. Blanched stems are eaten as a vegetable, and became popular in the mid-19th century.


Growing to 75 cm (30 in) tall by 60 cm (24 in) wide, it is a mound-forming, spreading perennial. It has large fleshy glaucous collard-like leaves and abundant white flowers. The globular pods contain a single seed.


This species appears to be a European endemic, with a distribution generally confined to two discontinuous coastal regions of Europe; the species is absent from North Africa and the Middle East. It occurs in the Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine including the Crimea, but is absent from most of the Mediterranean, recurring again from northern France and the British Isles to the Baltic Sea. In the Iberian Peninsula, Greece and Italy it is replaced by the species Crambe hispanica, with which its distribution has been confused with until quite recently; the species is absent from Portugal, Greece, Italy and Spain, but is said to occur in Croatia.
Although it was once believed to be found growing in Israel and Jordan, or alternatively Lebanon and Syria, these populations are now classified as C. hispanica.
It is very rare in Northern Ireland, but has been recorded from Counties Down and Antrim, and in the rest of the island of Ireland from a number of seaside counties. In England it is primarily found on the south east coast, (extensively along Chesil Beach in Dorset) but it also occurs on stretches of the East Anglian and Cumbrian coasts. In Wales it is found on the northern beaches and in Scotland in the extreme south-west.
It is uncommonly found along the coast of Norway, particularly so in the Færder National Park.


Crambe maritima is a halophyte. meaning that it tolerates salt and is therefore found on coastal beaches where little else thrives. It is usually found above high tide mark on beaches in which the sand includes pebbles or rock. A typical habitat for the species in Britain is vegetated shingle beaches, where it grows in association with yellow horned poppy and curled dock. It is the dominant plant species in plant communities found in fragmentary, endangered habitats on shingle beaches and bars on the southern Baltic coasts of Sweden, Finland and Estonia, east to Mecklenburg, where it grows together with Leymus arenarius, Euphorbia palustris, Honkenya peploides, Angelica archangelica ssp. litoralis, Atriplex spp., Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima, Elymus repens, Geranium robertianum ssp. rubricaule, Glaucium flavum, Isatis tinctoria, Ligusticum scoticum, Mertensia maritima, Silene uniflora, Tripleurospermum maritimum and Valeriana salina. Trapping wind-blown sand, clumps of sea kale may initiate the formation of dunes.


There are records from the 18th century of local people along some coasts of England digging out and harvesting the emerging shoots as a vegetable from naturally occurring root crowns in the early springtime. This custom was first reported by Phillip Miller in his 1731 Gardener's Dictionary as practised among the indigenous peoples of Sussex, and it was seen once in the 18th century being sold as food, this at the Chichester market in 1753. John Martyn was the first to publish some practical notes on cultivating the plant in a late edition of Miller's work, but William Curtis was the first to publish a tract about his experiments of growing the plant as a vegetable crop in London in 1799, just before his death, with John Maher giving a reading before the Horticultural Society of London in 1805 which elaborated slightly on the work of Curtis. Both Curtis and Maher recommended growing the plant as a forced, blanched vegetable, growing the rootcrown in a ceramic cylinder which could be capped with a closed blanching pot. Over and about this pot fresh manure would be heaped a few feet deep, the heat produced when this dung rotted would be sufficient to force the plant to bolt as early as December, although later in the winter was recommended. For those without the financial means to purchase expensive blanching pots, Maher suggests covering the plants in a mat covered by a thick layer of gravel, and Curtis mentions simply hoeing a foot of soil over the crown, or piling sea sand, pebbles or coal ash over it, although both agree this will produce a much inferior crop. An area of roughly five square feet could hold a single rootcrown consisting of three plants, which after growing out from seed for three years could be forced at least twice a season to yield four to six shoots of up to twelve inches, although usually much less.
Thomas Jefferson grew sea kale at Monticello between 1820 to 1825. It was served at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, when Prince Regent George IV of the United Kingdom (1762–1830) used it as a seaside retreat. By the Victorian Era sea kale had become "in very general use" as a vegetable in Britain, according to the popular cookbook Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, in which it is called a type of asparagus, although at nine pennies for a basket of sprouts, it was one of the most expensive vegetables to be had. Its cultivation is discussed in older books on vegetable growing. Wild stocks were severely reduced in Britain by forcing in situ and collecting for food until the practice was banned in the early 20th century. Sea kale fell out of favour, but in the early 21st century, British chefs made it fashionable again. It is commercially grown by a number of farmers in Britain.
A tiny experimental plot of sea kale is cultivated on Texel, a North Sea island in the  Netherlands. It is irrigated with adulterated seawater.
Maher mentions that he personally considered blanched sea kale a delicacy. Curtis says that as a food, boiled twenty minutes and covered in melted butter, it resembled most asparagus, although with hints of cabbage. He reports most he served it to found it agreeable; although some found it no better than cabbage, others found it superior even to asparagus. Although Curtis had never tried to do so himself, he mentions someone once made a decent stew of it and also theorizes that perhaps it might be well suited to be pickled.


Crambidia pallida, the pale lichen moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It was described by Packard in 1864. It is found from Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Texas and north to North Dakota and Manitoba. The habitat consists of forests and woodlands.
The wingspan is 19–25 mm. The forewings are light to medium yellowish-brown or greyish with slightly paler veins. The hindwings are paler and unmarked. Adults are on wing from May to September. There are two generations per year.
The larvae feed on lichens, preferring lichens that grow on tree bark.


Crambus agitatellus, the double-banded grass-veneer moth,  is a moth of the family Crambidae. It is found in the eastern two-thirds of the United States and south-eastern Canada.
The wingspan is 17–22 mm. Adults are on wing from June to August.
The larvae feed on various grasses and other low-growing plants.


Crataegus marshallii is a species of hawthorn known by the common name parsley hawthorn. It is native to the southeastern United States.
The leaves of C. marshallii are finely dissected and decorative. The dainty flowers, small red fruit, and beautiful bark add to the ornamental value of this species.
In 1803, Michaux published the name Crataegus apiifolia for this American species, but that name is considered illegitimate.


Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and West Asia, but has been introduced in many other parts of the world.


This species is one of several that have been referred to as Crataegus oxyacantha, a name that has been rejected by the botanical community as too ambiguous. In 1793, Medikus published the name C. apiifolia for a European hawthorn now included in C. monogyna, but that name is illegitimate under the rules of botanical nomenclature.
Other common names include may, mayblossom, maythorn, (as the plant generally flowers in May in the English-speaking parts of Europe) quickthorn, whitethorn, motherdie, and haw.


The common hawthorn is a shrub or small tree up to about 10 metres (33 feet) tall, with a dense crown. The bark is dull brown with vertical orange cracks. The younger stems bear sharp thorns, about 12.5 millimetres (1⁄2 inch) long. The leaves are 20 to 40 mm (3⁄4 to 1+1⁄2 in) long, obovate, and deeply lobed, sometimes almost to the midrib, with the lobes spreading at a wide angle. The upper surface is dark green above and paler underneath.
The hermaphrodite flowers are produced in late spring (May to early June in its native area) in corymbs of 5–25 together; each flower is about 10 mm in diameter and has five white petals, numerous red stamens and a single style; they are moderately fragrant. The flowers are pollinated by midges, bees, and other insects, and later in the year bear numerous haws. The haw is a small, oval, dark red fruit about 10 mm long, berry-like, but structurally a pome containing a single seed. Haws are important for wildlife in winter, particularly thrushes and waxwings; these birds eat the haws and disperse the seeds in their droppings.
The common hawthorn is distinguished from the related but less widespread Midland hawthorn (C. laevigata) by its more upright growth, the leaves being deeply lobed, with spreading lobes, and in the flowers having just one style, not two or three. They are interfertile, however, so hybrids occur frequently; they are only entirely distinct in their more typical forms.


The fruit of hawthorn, called haws, are edible raw, but are commonly made into jellies, jams, syrups, or wine, or to add flavour to brandy.  Botanically, they are pomes, but they look similar to berries. A haw is small and oblong, similar in size and shape to a small olive or grape, and red when ripe. The haws develop in groups of two or three along smaller branches. They are pulpy and delicate in taste. In this species (C. monogyna), they have only one seed, but other species of hawthorn  may have up to five seeds.
The petals are also edible, as are the leaves, which if picked in spring when still young are tender enough to be used in salads. Hawthorn petals are used in the medieval English recipe for spinee, an almond milk-based pottage recorded in 'The Forme of Cury' by the Chief Master-Cook of King Richard II, c. 1390.


C. monogyna is one of the most common species used as the "hawthorn" of traditional herbalism. The plant parts used are usually sprigs with both leaves and flowers, or alternatively the fruit ("berries"). Hawthorn has been investigated by evidence-based medicine for treating cardiac insufficiency.
C. monogyna is a source of antioxidant phytochemicals, especially extracts of hawthorn leaves with flowers.


Common hawthorn is extensively planted as a hedge plant, especially for agricultural use. Its spines and close branching habit render it effectively livestock- and human-proof, with some basic maintenance. The traditional practice of hedge laying is most commonly practised with this species. It is a good fire wood, which burns with a good heat and little smoke.
Numerous hybrids exist, some of which are used as garden shrubs. The most widely used hybrid is C. × media (C. monogyna × C. laevigata), of which several cultivars are known, including the very popular 'Paul's Scarlet' with dark pink double flowers. Other garden shrubs that have sometimes been suggested as possible hybrids involving the common hawthorn, include the various-leaved hawthorn of the Caucasus, which is only very occasionally found in parks and gardens.


The great curassow (Crax rubra) is a large, pheasant-like bird from the Neotropical rainforests, its range extending from eastern Mexico, through Central America to western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Male birds are black with curly crests and yellow beaks; females come in three colour morphs, barred, rufous and black. These birds form small groups, foraging mainly on the ground for fruits and arthropods, and the occasional small vertebrate, but they roost and nest in trees. This species is monogamous, the male usually building the rather small nest of leaves in which two eggs are laid. This species is threatened by loss of habitat and hunting, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "vulnerable".


At 78–100 cm (31–39 in) in length and 3.1–4.8 kg (6.8–10.6 lb) in weight, this is a very large cracid. Females are somewhat smaller than males. It is the most massive and heavy species in the family but its length is matched by a few other cracids. Three other species of curassow (the northern helmeted, the southern helmeted, and the black are all around the same average length as the great curassow. In this species, standard measurements are as follows: the wing chord is 36 to 42.4 cm (14.2 to 16.7 in), the tail is 29 to 38 cm (11 to 15 in) and the tarsus is 9.4 to 12 cm (3.7 to 4.7 in). They have the largest mean standard measurements in the family, other than tail length.
The male is black with a curly crest, a white belly, and a yellow knob on its bill. There are three morphs of female great curassows: barred morph females with barred neck, mantle, wings and tail; rufous morph with an overall reddish brown plumage and a barred tail; and dark morph female with a blackish neck, mantle and tail (the tail often faintly vermiculated), and some barring to the wings. In most regions only one or two morphs occur, and females showing a level of intermediacy between these morphs are known (e.g. resembling rufous morph, but with black neck and faint vermiculations to the wings).
This species has a similar voice to several other curassows, its call consisting of a "peculiar" lingering whistle.


A monogamous species, the great curassow is distributed in rainforest from eastern Mexico throughout Central America, to western Colombia and northwest Ecuador. In Mexico, it is absent from drier western coastal forests but does occasionally occur in dry areas of the Yucatan, Cozumel Island and Costa Rica. The great curassow spends much of its time on the ground, but nests and roosts in trees. This species is gregarious, occurring in groupings of up to a dozen birds, though occasionally birds can be seen alone. Its diet consists mainly of fruits, figs and arthropods. Small vertebrates may supplement the diet on occasion, including small mammals (such as rodents). Unlike other cracids, such as guans, they feed largely on fallen fruit rather than pluck fruit directly from the trees. In Tamaulipas, it feeds largely on the fruit Spondias mombin. Elsewhere, it may prefer the red berries of Chione trees.
The male great curassow may build the nest and attract a female's attention to it, though in other cases both members of a pair will build the nest structure. Two eggs are typically laid in a relatively small nest (usually made largely of leaves), each egg measuring 9.1 cm × 6.7 cm (3.6 in × 2.6 in) and weighing 200 g (7.1 oz). The young curassow weighs 123 g (4.3 oz) upon hatching; 2,760 g (6.08 lb) as a half-year-old immature fledgling; and by a year of age, when fully fledged and independent of parental care, will be about three-quarters of their adult weight at 3,600 g (7.9 lb). This species has been noted for its rather aggressive temperament, which has been regularly directed at humans when the birds are held in captivity. Undoubtedly, they have this inclination in order to repel natural predators, from both themselves and their offspring. Known natural predators of this species have included ocelots and ornate hawk-eagles, though chicks and eggs likely have a broader range of predators. When a potential predator is near their offspring, curassows have been noted to engage in a distraction display, feigning injury. When attacking humans, the curassows leap in fluttering flight and scratch about the head, targeting the eyes. Their lifespan in captivity has reached at least 24 years.


The great curassow is the most northerly Crax species. It is part of a clade that inhabited the north of South America since about 9 mya (Tortonian, Late Miocene). As the Colombian Andes were uplifted around 6 mya, this species' ancestors were cut off from the population to their southeast. The latter would in time evolve into the blue-billed curassow. The ancestral great curassows then spread along the Pacific side of the Andes, and into Central America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange.


Due to ongoing habitat loss and overhunting in some areas, the great curassow is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix III of CITES in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia and Honduras. Of the smaller subspecies C. r. griscomi of Cozumel Island, only a few hundred remain. Its population seems either to have been slowly increasing since the 1980s, or to be fluctuating at a low level; it is vulnerable to hurricanes.
This species has proven to produce fertile hybrids with its closest living relative, the blue-billed curassow, and also with the much more distantly related black curassow.
In Mexico, there are Unidades de Manejo para la Conservación de la Vida Silvestre [Management Units for the Conservation of Wildlife] (UMAs) who are breeding great curassows in captivity.


Adults have white hindwings and brown forewings, each with a dark streak, and a wingspan of 4 cm. The abdomen is red or, more rarely, yellow. Males have four large eversible coremata (scent organs), which can exceed the length of the abdomen when inflated.
The eggs are yellow and round, and are laid in rows on the leaves of food plants. The caterpillars are brown hairy animals with a yellow stripe along the back, with a polyphagous diet, known as a minor pest which feeds on groundnuts, rice, ragi, sorghum, Pennisetum americanum, coffee, sweet potato, and lucerne crops.
In, The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume I, the species is described as follows:
Antennae minutely ciliated in both sexes. Head, thorax and fore wing pale pinkish ochreous. Palpi and legs smoky black, the femora yellow; a broad dorsal band on thorax; abdomen crimson above, with dorsal and lateral series of black spots. Fore wing with a broad black fascia below median nervure; two black spots at end of cell, and a broad streak beyond the lower angle. Hind wing pale or dark fuscous; some specimens with a sub-marginal series of black spots. The variety continuatus has additional black streaks on the fore wing below the costa, in cell, above inner margin, and in the marginal interspaces, but all the intergrades occur. Larva black, sparsely clothes with long hairs; head marked with white; a yellow dorsal line with a series of orange spots on it; prolegs pale.
— The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume I


Creatonotos gangis lives in South East Asia and parts of Australia. Its Asian distribution includes eastern Indonesia, India, Iran, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Thailand and New Guinea. In Australia, it is restricted to northern parts of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland, extending as far south as Mackay.


Adult males secrete the pheromone hydroxydanaidal in order to attract mates. The amount produced, and the size of the coremata which produce it, are however dependent on the diet that the moth experienced as a caterpillar. If the larval diet contained pyrrolizidine alkaloids, then the coremata become large and the male will release up to 400 micrograms (0.4 milligrams) of Hydroxydanaidal, but if it does not, then the coremata do not grow large and no scent is produced.
The larvae of C. gangis can cause extensive damage to the foliage of pomegranate trees.


C. transiens is found in China (Shanxi, Shaanxi, central China, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hong Kong, Hainan, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Fujian), Taiwan, Japan (Ryukyu), eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Indochina, Borneo, Bali and Lombok.  Records attributed to the Philippines are likely referable to Creatonotos wilemani Rothschild, 1933, as Dubalotov & Holloway noted misplaced wilemani material in  The Natural History Museum, London, collections. Records attributed to Sulawesi are referable to Creatonotos kishidai Dubalotov & Holloway, 2007


This list follows Holloway's interpretation from Moths of Borneo, part 6, as updated in Dubalotov & Holloway ([2006], 2007)
Creatonotos transiens transiens (India, northern Pakistan)
Creatonotos transiens albina (Daniel, 1971) (Afghanistan)
Creatonotos transiens koni Miyaki, 1909 (Taiwan, Japan (Ryukyu Is.)) (revived from synonymy with vacillans by Dubalotov & Holloway ([2006], 2007))
Creatonotos transiens vacillans (Walker, 1855) (=Creatonotos transiens orientalis Nakamura, 1976) (mainland China, Hong Kong, mainland South East Asia, Sumatra, Borneo))
Creatonotos transiens sundana Nakamura, 1976 (Siberut, Java, Bali east to Lombok)


Adults of C. transiens can be found in various secondary habitats. Males of several Creatonotos species, including C. transiens possess inflatable  coremata for dispersing pheromones prior to courtship of females; pheromone release and courtship take place within a couple of hours after sunset.
The larvae feed on a wide range of plants, including Beta, Dioscorea, Paspalum, Zea, Pithecellobium, Vigna, Wisteria, Toona, Musa, Salix, Cayratia and Cissus species. The larvae are dark brown, with a very pale yellow dorsal stripe.


Crematogaster peringueyi is a southern African arboreal species of ant. They are commonly known as the black cocktail ant or swartwipgatmier (Afrikaans) for their colour and habit of arching their abdomens when alarmed.


They make their nests in old Protea flowers, dead, hollow branches, and under tree bark, also making nests constructed of well-chewed vegetable matter with the consistency of papier-mâché. The outer walls of these nests are blackened by the salivary secretions, and are thin, with the interior divided into irregular, connected cells, like a coarse sponge. These more or less spherical nests, ranging in diameter from 10–30 cm, are built in a fork or among the branches, some of the branches passing through the nest. Workers are glossy black and 3–5 mm long, and the larger queen is about 8 mm long, both having heart-shaped abdomens.


Pheromone alarms are common among the social Hymenoptera. Some of these have been chemically identified, but the number is still small compared with the large number of species making use of them. The ketone octan-3-one is seen as the major component of the pheromone complex secreted from the heads of C. peringueyi.
The sting or venom gland of other ant species has evolved in C. peringueyi into a gland secreting a smelly and irritant fluid, which, together with the ant's painful bite, is a strong deterrent to predation or attack.


C. peringueyi – and other ants with a similar location and lifestyle, Linepithema humile and Formica perpilosa – are indirect pests of South African viticulture. Addison &  Samways 2000 and Mgocheki & Addison 2009 find that these ants interfere with the natural biological control of Planococcus ficus provided by various natural enemies. The ants and the mealybug have a pre-existing mutualistic (honeydew) relationship and so provide them with a refuge. In their next work Mgocheki & Addison 2010 find that managing the ants did indeed lead to increased parasitism on the mealybug and decreased crop injury.


The genus of Crematogaster, created by Peter Wilhelm Lund in 1831 (Lettre sur les habitudes de quelques fourmis du Brésil, adressée a M. Audouin. Annales des Sciences Naturelles 23: 113-138) is diverse, widespread and abundant, distributed over tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate regions throughout the world. Greek: 'kremastos' + 'gaster' = 'suspended stomach', which would make the literal generic spelling 'Cremastogaster', but Lund set it as 'Crematogaster', which is preserved by priority.
The whistling thorn of East Africa is fiercely protected by at least three species of Crematogaster which occupy the swollen thorns and, in exchange for nectar from the tree, vigorously attack browsers.
Trail-laying amongst cocktail ants involves shuffling their hind legs without touching of the soil with their abdomens, as is common with other ant species. This results in a setting of footprints for other foragers to follow. The hind leg's tendon to the claw is swollen where it passes through the tibia into a spindle-shaped reservoir containing the pheromone, an oil-like, relatively nonvolatile substance.


Emery, C. 1895i. Voyage de M. E. Simon dans l'Afrique australe (janvier-avril 1893). 3e mémoire. Formicides. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 64: 15-56 (page 27, figs. 16, 17 worker, queen, male described)
Emery, C. 1922c. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Myrmicinae. [part]. Genera Insectorum 174B: 95-206 (page 148, Combination in C. (Acrocoelia))
Crewe, R.M., Brand, J.M., and Fletcher, D.J.C. 1969. Identification of an alarm pheromone in the ant Crematogaster peringueyi. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 62:1212.


Crepis capillaris, the smooth hawksbeard, is a species of flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae, and is native to Europe. It has become naturalized in other lands and is regarded as a weed in some places.
Crepis capillaris is a low, annual plant common in disturbed ground and open habitats, such as thin grassland, lawns, spoil heaps, rocky banks and on roadsides, the stems often trailing along the ground but sometimes erect, the leaves sometimes forming a rosette. It flowers from June to December in the Northern Hemisphere, producing an array of numerous small flower heads. Each head has as many as 60 yellow ray florets but no disc florets.


Crinum asiaticum, commonly known as poison bulb, giant crinum lily, grand crinum lily, or spider lily, is a plant species widely planted in many warmer regions as an ornamental. It is a bulb-forming perennial producing an umbel of large, showy flowers that are prized by gardeners. However, all parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested. Some reports indicate exposure to the sap may cause skin irritation.
C. asiaticum is native to Indian Ocean islands, East Asia, tropical Asia, Australia and Pacific islands. It is regarded as naturalized in Mexico, the West Indies, Florida, Louisiana, numerous Pacific islands, Madagascar and the Chagos Archipelago.


C. asiaticum is a perennial herb that typically grows  up to 1.2 m (3.9 ft) tall. It has a leaf base. Its pseudobulb is spherical. The upper part of the bulb is cylindrical. The base is laterally branched, with a diameter of about 6–15 cm. Its leaves are lanceolate, margin undulate, apically acuminate. They feature 1 sharp point and are dark green, growing up to 1 m long. Their width is 7–12 cm or wider and they number 20-30. The inflorescence is an umbel with 10-24 flowers, six petaloid tepals, and aromatic. The flower stem is erect, as long as the leaf, and solid. The spathe is lanceolate, membranous, and 6–10 cm. The bractlet liner is 3–7 cm. Its perianth tube is slender and straight, green white, 7–10 cm, diameter 1.5–2 mm. The corolla is spider-like shaped, white, linear, revolute, attenuate, 4.5–9 cm long, and 6–9 mm wide. The corolla is 6-lobed. The pedicel is ca 0.5-2.5 cm long. It has 6 reddish stamens. The filaments are 4–5 cm long. The anthers are liner, attenuate, ca. 1.5 cm long or more. The ovary is fusiform, and up to 2 cm long. The fruit is an oblate capsule, green, and 3–5 cm in diameter. The seeds are large, and the exotesta is spongy.


The entire plant is toxic, especially the bulb. It contains a variety of alkaloids such as lycorine and tazettine. When eaten, it can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, constipation, irregular breathing, rapid pulse, fever, etc.; sufficient misuse can cause nervous system paralysis and death.


Crithmum is a monospecific  genus of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, with the sole species Crithmum maritimum, known as  rock samphire, sea fennel or samphire. The name "samphire" is also used for several other unrelated succulent halophyte species of coastal plant.
Sea fennel, or Rock samphire, is an edible wild plant. It is found on coastlines throughout much of Europe (north to the British Isles), Macaronesia, parts of West Asia and North Africa in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts.


In the 17th century, Shakespeare in King Lear referred to the dangerous practice of collecting rock samphire from cliffs. "Half-way down, Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!" In the 19th century, samphire was being shipped in casks of seawater from the Isle of Wight to market in London at the end of May each year. Rock samphire used to be cried in London streets as "Crest Marine".
In England, rock samphire is cultivated in gardens, where it grows readily in a light, rich soil. In the United Kingdom the uprooting of wild plants is illegal under the
The reclaimed piece of land adjoining Dover, called Samphire Hoe, is named after rock samphire. The land was created from spoil from the Channel Tunnel, and rock samphire used to be harvested from the neighbouring cliffs.


Rock samphire or sea fennel has fleshy, divided aromatic leaves that Culpeper described as having a "pleasant, hot and spicy taste"
The stems, leaves and seed pods may be pickled in hot, salted, spiced vinegar, or the leaves used fresh in salads.
Sea fennel pickle in olive oil or vinegar is a traditional food of Italy (Marche region), Croatia (Dalmatia), Greece, and Montenegro (Bay of Kotor). It is known as Paccasassi del Conero and used as an antipasto, to accompany fish and meat dishes and to garnish pizza and sandwiches.
Richard Mabey gives several recipes for rock samphire, although it is possible that at least one of these may refer to marsh samphire or glasswort (Salicornia europaea), a very common confusion.


The scalloped oak (Crocallis elinguaria) is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.


This species inhabits a wide range of habitats, including mixed and deciduous forests, bushes, heaths, scrub, hedgerows, bogs, parks and gardens.


Crocanthemum scoparium is a species of rockrose which is endemic to California. Its common names include peak rockrose and peak rushrose. One variety is known as Bisbee Peak rushrose.
It is found in dry, sandy areas in hills and low mountains.


Crocanthemum scoparium is a small perennial shrub bearing long, smooth stems and small flowers each with five bright yellow petals.


The scarlet dragonfly (Crocothemis erythraea) is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. Its common names include broad scarlet, common scarlet-darter, and scarlet darter.


A wide range of both running and standing waters, except those that are shaded. Adults may be found some distance from water in habitats ranging from desert to open woodland; absent from dense forest.


Crocothemis erythraea can reach a length of 33–44 millimetres (1.3–1.7 in). These dragonflies haves a flattened and rather broad abdomen. The adult male scarlet dragonfly has a bright scarlet red, widened abdomen, with small amber patches at the bases of the hindwings. Also the veins on the leading edges of the wings are red. Females and immatures are yellow-brown and have a conspicuous pale stripe along the top of the thorax.


Croton californicus is a species of croton known by the common name California croton. This plant is native to California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Baja California, where it grows in the deserts and along the coastline.
This plant is a perennial or small shrub not exceeding a meter in height. The plant produces long oval-shaped leaves a few centimeters long and covered in a light-colored coat of hairs.
This species is dioecious, with individual plants bearing either male (staminate) or female (pistillate) flowers, both only a few millimeters across. The staminate flowers are tiny cups filled with thready yellowish stamens and the pistillate flowers are the rounded, lobed immature fruits surrounded by tiny pointed sepals.


Croton monanthogynus, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family. The undersides are gray. It is a summer annual that produces small, inconspicuous flowers, having male and female reproductive organs in the same plant. The plant is monoecious and has both male and female reproductive organs in separate clusters on the same plant. Its leaves are alternate. It is native to the southeastern United States and the southern Great Plains. It is considered adventive in more northern states. AL, AR, AZ, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV.
The plant in is found in sunny, dry habitats, of both disturbed and high-quality areas. Its common names include prairie tea, one-seed croton, dove weed, and prairie goatweed. Other plant characteristics include alternate leaf arrangement, (or phyllotaxis) and a tap root. It is an annual and it has entire leaf margins, The type of fruit is a capsule, sepals exist on the flowers. The flowers are small and white. It possess glands that emit an unpleasant odor. The plant may grow 6 inches to 3 feet and blooms April through September. The seeds are black.
The plant prefers full sun, dry conditions, and poor soil.
The plant can have a bushy appearance with a flattened top. Dwarf plants may instead, grow to than 6" tall. Croton monanthogynus provides food for wildlife. These species will feed on seeds: sparrows, mourning dove , wild turkey, prairie chicken, bobwhite, and cowbird.


Croton punctatus, commonly called beach-tea or gulf croton, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). It is native to the Western Hemisphere, where it is found in coastal areas from the Southeastern United States south to Colombia, as well as in Bermuda and the Caribbean. Its natural habitat is on beaches and sand dunes.
Croton punctatus is a dense, suffrutescent herbaceous plant. Its broad leaves have a notably silvery appearance. It produces small, inconspicuous flowers throughout the year.
Croton punctatus is a self-incompatible plant because its flowers are unisexual.


Croton setigerus is used as an ornamental plant, its low and rounded form fills a pot.
The foliage is toxic to animals, and the crushed plants were used by Native Americans to stupefy fish and make them easy to catch. When crushed, the leaves have a sweet odor that some find unpleasant.
Despite the plant's toxicity to some species, the seeds are eaten by birds. The common names of the plant come from the affinity of doves and wild turkeys for the seeds.


The greater ani (Crotophaga major) is a bird in the cuckoo family. It is sometimes referred to as the black cuckoo. It is found through tropical South America south to northern Argentina.


In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the greater ani in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. He used the French name Le grand Bout-de-Petun and the Latin name Crotophagus Major. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The greater ani was also described and illustrated in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.
When in 1788 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, he included the greater ani. He placed it with the smooth-billed ani in the genus Crotophaga, coined the binomial name Crotophaga major and cited the earlier authors. Gmelin specified the type locality as Cayenne. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek krotōn meaning "tick" with -phagos meaning "-eating". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.


The greater ani is about 46 cm (18 in) in length. Males weigh around 162 g (5.7 oz), females 145 g (5.1 oz). The adult is mainly blue-glossed black, with a long tail, massive ridged black bill, and a white iris. Immature birds have a brown iris.
The calls include croaking and turkey-like gobbling kro-koro.


This ani is a breeding species from Panama and Trinidad through tropical South America to northern Argentina. It is found in mangrove swamps, semi-open woodland near water, and the edges of forests. It is a seasonal migrant in at least some parts of its range.


This is a very gregarious species, always found in noisy groups.


The greater ani feeds on large insects and even lizards and frogs.


The nest, built and lived in communally by two to five pairs, is a deep cup lined with leaves and placed usually 2–5 m (6.6–16.4 ft) high in a tree. A number of females lay their chalky deep blue eggs in the nest and then share incubation and feeding. These breeding groups may also include non-breeding helpers. Nests have been found containing 3–10 eggs, with an incubation time of 11–12 days, with nestlings free to leave the nest after five days. They will be fed for several weeks if they choose not to leave.
In a longterm study, it was found that around 15% of females lay their eggs in the nest of another nesting group. This conspecific brood parasitism happens primarily when a female has lost her own clutch to predation. In regards to the nesting group, the first couple eggs will be rejected by other nest members when the mother of those specific egg leaves to forage. Egg rejection happens more often with larger groups, and one theory claims there is a balance within having more ani's to defend the nest from predation, and less ani's to minimize intraspecific competition. This leads to an average of two to three breeding pairs in one nest, with any greater amount being rare.


Cruentomycena viscidocruenta, commonly known as the ruby bonnet, is a species of agaric fungus in the family Mycenaceae. It is found in moist forested areas of Australia and New Zealand, often in small groups on rotting wood. Care in identification needs to be made to distinguish the ruby bonnet from red forms of Hygrocybe mushrooms.


Crypsiphona ocultaria (erroneously as: Phalaena occultaria Guenée, 1857) the red-lined looper moth or red-lined geometer, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Edward Donovan in 1805 and it is found in Australia.
It is one of the most common moths found in Australia. The "red-lined" part of the name refers to the red markings seen on the undersides of the wings. As larvae they are green and feed on eucalypt leaves. When threatened the grub stands still, pretending to be a stick.


Cryptogramma acrostichoides is a fern species in the Cryptogrammoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae.  It is known by the common names American parsley fern and American rockbrake and is native to most of western North America, where it grows in the cracks of rocks in many types of mountainous habitat.
Cryptogramma acrostichoides grows in a tuft from a rhizome. There are two leaf types. The sterile leaf has flat, oval-shaped lobed leaflets resembling parsley, and the fertile leaf is longer with narrow, thick, linear leaflets with their margins curled under to cover the sporangia on the undersides.


Étienne Mulsant described C. montrouzieri, naming the new species after a Marist brother and missionary, Abbe Montrouzier, who wrote an "Insect Fauna of Woodlark Island".


Cryptolaemus montrouzieri  is endemic to Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. It is now also present in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Greece and as far as Northern Germany), in North Africa, in the Afrotropical realm, in the Nearctic realm, and in the Neotropical realm.


Cryptolaemus montrouzieri can reach a length of about 6 millimetres (0.24 in). Adults of this species have the typical ladybird shape but, unlike many of the often brightly coloured Coccinellidae, the elytra of these small ladybirds are predominantly dark brown and have no spots. Head, antennae, pronotum, the end of the elytra and the legs are orange-brown. Larvae can reach a length of 14–15 millimetres (0.55–0.59 in). They show a waxy covering that makes them  apparently look like the mealybugs they prey on, a case of aggressive mimicry.


The adults and larvae of these insects eat scale insects, especially mealybugs. Females lay their eggs among the egg sack of mealybugs. Larvae feed on mealybug eggs, young crawlers and their honeydew.  They become adults in 24 days, after three larval stages and a pupal stage. The life span lasts two months.


This species has been used as a biological control agent against mealybugs and other scale insects. It  was introduced to Western Australia. In  California it was introduced in 1891 by Albert Koebele to control the citrus mealybug. It has also been introduced to New Zealand for biocontrol. As biological control agent outside Australia, C. montrouzieri has the common name Mealy bug destroyer. C. montrouzieri predates on mealybug and soft scale insect parasites of Araucaria cunninghamii, and can be easily handled without dying or becoming inactive, making it a good biocontrol for use in plantations. Although they are less interested in other trees - by many multiples - they do hunt the same pests in custard apple and citrus plantations.


Chako, M.K., P. Bhatt, L.V. Rao, A. Deepak Singh, M.B.E.P. Ramnarayana and K. Sreedharan, 1978. "The use of the lady bird beetle (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant) for the control of coffee mealybug". 'Journal of Coffee Research 8: 14–19
Crowe, A. Which New Zealand Insect?.  Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin Books, 2002. p. 47
Gordon, Robert D. (1985). "The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of America North of Mexico", Journal of the New York Entomological Society, vol. 93, no. 1
Korschefsky, R. / Schenkling, S., ed. (1931) Coccinellidae I, Coleopterorum Catalogus, Pars 118
Mineo, G., 1967. "Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, Observations on morphology and bionomics". Bulletin of the Institute of Entomology and Agriculture 6: 99–143.
Murthy, M.S., 1982. Studies on the biology and habits of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera). M.Sc. (Agriculture) Thesis, Andra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India.
Ramesh, T., BabuK. M. Azam. "Biology of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant [Coccinellidae: Coleoptera] in relation with temperature". Entomophaga (1987) 32: 381.
Ślipiński, A. "Australian Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Their biology and classification". Australian Biological Resources, 2007, p. 94.


Ctenucha virginica, the Virginia ctenucha, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1794.


The wingspan ranges from 40–50 millimetres (1.6–2.0 in). The wing color varies from black to olive brown. The body is a metallic blue green. The head is yellow orange, with feathery antennae. The caterpillar (about 20–25 mm) has multiple tufts of white and yellow hair. It undergoes metamorphosis in May–August.


It is endemic to eastern North America, from Newfoundland south to Virginia. According to the University of Alberta, there has been a westward expansion in the last 60 years as it has reached the Canadian Rockies and is now found in all Canadian provinces.


Larvae feed on a variety of host plants including various grasses, irises, and sedges.
Adults drink nectar from flowers including goldenrod.


Cucurbita foetidissima is a tuberous xerophytic plant found in the central and southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has numerous common names, including: buffalo gourd, calabazilla, chilicote, coyote gourd, fetid gourd, fetid wild pumpkin, Missouri gourd, prairie gourd, stinking gourd, wild gourd, and wild pumpkin. The type specimen was collected from Mexico by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland sometime before 1817.
The feral perennial buffalo gourd has evolved in the semiarid regions and is well-adapted to desert environments. It contains high amounts of protein and carbohydrates and yields abundant oil. The carbohydrates that are formed in the tap root have led to the idea of growing the plant for biofuel.
The fruit is consumed by both humans and animals. When mature, a stage marked by increasing desiccation of vine, leaves, fruit-stem, and fruit, the fruit begins its final gourd stage.
Geographic location and genetics make it highly likely that Cucurbita scabridifolia  originated as a naturally occurring hybrid of C. foetidissima and Cucurbita pedatifolia.


Cucurbita foetidissima requires little water and grows best in semiarid and arid environments. Warm weather is required during the five- to eight-month vegetation period. This perennial is well adapted to marginal agricultural lands such as sandy loam soils which have to be well-drained. Germination temperature range is between 15 °C and 37 °C with an optimum at 25 °C.
The maximum depth for a successful germination is 12 cm. The germination is possible in a pH range from 2.2 (germination rate 15%) up to pH 8 (germination rate 90%). Asexual propagation is possible from nodal roots.
The leaves of the buffalo gourd are typically entire and heart-shaped with a base of 10–13 cm (4–5 in) and length of 20–25 cm (8–10 in). The flowers are borne singly at the nodes of the vines after a certain amount of annual vegetative growth has taken place.
The fruit has a diameter of 7–10 cm (3–4 in). The fruit weighs 120 g to 150 g, with 292 to 315 seeds per fruit. The seeds, which are 12 mm (0.5 in) long and 7 mm (0.3 in) wide, weigh about 4 g per 100 seeds, with the seed coat accounting for about 30% of the seed weight. The seeds often remain viable for months or even years within an undamaged gourd. One hectare of plants can produce 2.5 tons of seed.
The plant forms a fleshy tap root which is used as a storage and overwintering structure. The central tap root can weigh up to 72 kg (159 lb). A four-year-old root grown under cultivation can reach a fresh weight of 45 kg (99 lb) and a length of 2.5 m (8.2 ft).


Cucurbita foetidissima is native to North America in the central and southwestern United States (Arizona; Arkansas; southern California; Colorado; Kansas; Missouri; southern Nebraska; southern Nevada, New Mexico; Oklahoma; Texas; and southern Utah) and Mexico (Aguascalientes; Chihuahua; Coahuila; Guanajuato; Guerrero; Hidalgo; northern Jalisco; Mexico; Nuevo León; Querétaro; San Luis Potosí; Sonora; Tamaulipas; and Zacatecas).


The buffalo gourd has the potential of being a crop adapted to arid to semiarid lands.
Fresh gourd: The fresh young gourd can be eaten like squash. The mature fruit is no longer edible, due to bitter compounds.
Seeds: Eaten after being prepared by roasting or boiling.
Oil: The extractable oil content in whole seeds reaches from 24.3% to 50%. Linoleic acid, an essential polyunsaturated fatty acid, comprises 38% to 65% of the oil. A characterization of the oils from buffalo gourd indicates that this oil is similar to other common edible oils.
Protein: Whole Buffalo gourd seeds contain approximately 31% crude protein, which is usable for human consumption and for feed.
Starch: Is mainly located in the tap root which forms after the first year of growth. The starch content in the dried root is between 47.5% and 56%.
Fodder: Fresh leaves or the whole plants can be used as animal food.
Biofuel: Biodiesel can be produced from the oil in the seeds. But the main interest to produce renewable fuels is to produce biofuel with the carbohydrates which are located in the tap root.
Other uses: In many Native American cultures, the fruit and other parts of the plant, along with buffalo gourd oil, are used for soap. Furthermore, the protein can be used for industrial purposes (water paints, paper coating, adhesives and textile sizing). The Zuni people use a poultice of powdered seeds, flowers and saliva for swellings.
C. foetidissima contains a saponin that can be obtained from the fruit and root. This can be used as a soap, shampoo, and bleach. Prolonged contact can cause skin irritation.


Cucurbita palmata is a species of flowering plant in the squash family known by the common names coyote melon and coyote gourd. It is similar to Cucurbita californica, Cucurbita cordata, Cucurbita cylindrata, and Cucurbita digitata and all these species hybridize readily. It was first identified by Sereno Watson in 1876. These species form the only restricted xerophyte species group in the genus Cucurbita. Each member of this species group is native to the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico where they are relatively uncommon. Each group member is found in hot, arid regions with low rainfall. They prefer soil that is loose, gravelly, and well-drained. C. palmata is native to northeastern Baja California, southeastern California, and southwestern Arizona to a point near the Colorado River. The juvenile leaves of C. cylindrata, C. cordata, C. digitata,  and C. palmata show a high degree of similarity, but their mature leaves are visibly different, as are their root structures. C. palmata and C. digitata are sympatric, with C. palmata separating the ranges of C. digitata at the juncture of Baja California, California, and Arizona. C. palmata fruits are diffuse green mottle that turns yellow at maturity, striped, and round.


Cucurbita palmata is a sprawling vine with rough, stiff-haired stems and leaves. The dark green, light-veined leaves are sharply palmate with usually five long triangular points.
The stiff, curling yellow flowers are 6 to 8 centimeters wide. The plant bears smooth spherical or oblate squash fruits 8 to 10 centimeters wide.
The fruits may be bright yellow to dark green and may have white stripes. The fruit is distasteful and not edible.


Cupha erymanthis, the rustic, is a species of brush-footed butterfly found in forested areas of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. The males and females are identical.


The upperside of the rustic is ochraceous light brown. Its forewing displays some loop-like, slender, dark cellular markings with a broad, somewhat curved, transverse yellow discal band from costa to vein 1. The band does not reach the termen but broadens posteriorly.
The margins of the forewing are irregularly sinuous, with the inner defined broadly with black, and produced outwards in interspaces 3 and 4. Below this, the margin is squarely indented inwards in interspace 2 and outwardly convex in interspace 1. There is a curved series of three black spots. The largest is in interspaces 1, 2 and 3. The apical area beyond the band is black, with a conspicuous yellow subapical spot in interspace 5, and a paler ill-defined similar spot above it in interspace 6. In the posterior, the black area is produced narrowly to the tornus and encircles a yellow spot near the apex of interspace 2.
The hindwing features a transverse sinuous and very slender black line. This line is followed by a slender and somewhat lunular line; a transverse discal series of five black spots in interspaces 2 to 6; a postdiscal medially disjointed series or broad black lunules; a subterminal series of similar but straighter lunges; and a narrow terminal black band. The outer subbasal transverse line broadens at the costa, and is outwardly margined by pale spots in the interspaces. These are anteriorly white and well defined, and posteriorly obscure or often absent.


The underside of the wing is much paler. The discal band on the forewing is pale, and the black lunules on the apical area are replaced by pale brownish ochre. There are some obscure markings in the cells of both the forewings and hindwings.
Markings on the forewing include a discal, transverse, slender, chestnut-brown lunular line, bent inwards above vein 5, and bordered outwardly by a series of dark spots. The large black spot in interspace 1 is the same as that on the upperside. There are inner and outer transverse subterminal series of small dentate spots.
On the hindwing are indistinct cellular markings. The outer subbasal dark transverse line is similar to that on the upperside, but is more clearly defined and very sinuous. There is a transverse discal series of uneven lunules, paler than the ground colour, followed by a series of dark spots. There is a postdiscal very obscure pale lunular band, and a subterminal series of dentate dark spots, often obscure or obsolescent.
The antennae, head, thorax and abdomen are ochraceous brown. Beneath, the palpi, thorax, and abdomen are a very pale ochraceous white.
The caterpillar is brown, with a dorsal and lateral series of darker brown markings. The head has two slender branched spines. Succeeding segments on either side feature a lateral series of semitransparent similar brown spines.
The pupa is green, studded with eight slender pink filaments and four small pink tubercles.


Cupha erymanthis erymanthis - China, Hong Kong, Taiwan
Cupha erymanthis placida Moore, [1881] - Sri Lanka
Cupha erymanthis maja, Fruhstorfer (1898) – south India
Cupha erymanthis lotis, Sulzer (1776) – northeast India, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Indochina
Cupha erymanthis andamanica, Moore (1900) – Andamans
Cupha erymanthis nicobarica, Felder (1862) – Nicobar Is.


The rustic caterpillars feed mainly on Flacourtiaceae species, for example Flacourtia montana, F. ramontchii, F. rukam, Xylosma racemosa and Scolopia species. They also eat plants such as Glochidion eriocarpum and Lepisanthes rubiginosum.
Adult butterflies occasionally visit carrion to drink the fluids. They seem to favour carcasses lying in exposed, sunny areas over those which are in the shade.


The western tailed-blue (Cupido amyntula) is a Nearctic non-migratory butterfly that commonly takes flight during the spring and summer seasons of March–July. They can be best classified as having a presence of a tail on their hindwing, an upper surface that's bluish while the under surface is chalky-white with occasional black spots, and an orange spot toward the base of their tail. Their wingspan ranges from 0.875 to 1.125 inches (2.2 to 2.9 cm). Larvae feed on various plant species including Astragalus (several species), Lathyrus (several species), Oxytropis, and Vicia (several species). Adults feed on various things such as flower nectar, horse and coyote manure, urine, and mud.


The western tailed-blue can be most abundantly found in open areas containing low shrubs extending throughout western North America from as high as south Alaska to as low as northern Baja California. These species prefer to reside more in forest densities, with equal presence in mature and young forests, compared to grassland habitats within these regions. They also have no preference for an open tree canopy cover and are equally likely to be found in mature forests adjacent to agricultural fields, young forests, and grasslands. They are found in higher densities of host plant cover and nectar plants among certain sites including meadows, prairies, and young forests. Within these locations, adult C. amynula visits white, purplish, yellow, or pinkish flowers, including Sedum lanceolatum and Astragalus flexuosus. The density of these species is highest where nectar plants and forest openings are widely available. Other habitat characteristics these species are known for include moist woodland openings under mature, open forests.


During mating, the male and female C. amyntula join tips of their abdomen and the male passes sperm to the female to fertilize its eggs in which they typically lay up to 3 eggs on a single host plant flower or young seed pods.


Females are characteristic of a brown wing with blue coloring at the base. Once fertilized, females can lay up to 80 eggs per ovariole. Eggs hatch in about 4-5 days and develop from instar to pupa in about 14-25 days. Adults then emerge from pupae in 11-14 days.


Male C. amyntula typically perches and patrols between shrubs, hillsides, and gully mouths throughout the day in search of a receptive female to mate with. Males can also be distinguished by a blue upper surface.


The caterpillars of the C. amyntula vary from brownish-yellow to green and are covered in fine white hairs marked with a red or green stripe running along the back and diagonal pinkish and reddish-purple dashes on the side. They typically grow an average length of 1/2 an inch.


Hesperocyparis macrocarpa is a coniferous tree. It is commonly known as the Monterey cypress and is one of several species of cypress trees endemic to California. In New Zealand, where it is also widespread, it is simply known as "macrocarpa".
The Monterey cypress is found naturally only on the Central Coast of California. The natural distributional range of the species during modern times is confined to two small relict populations near Carmel, California, at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and at Point Lobos.  Historically during the peak of the last ice age, Monterey cypress would have likely comprised a much larger forest that extended much further north and south.


The two native cypress forest stands are protected, within Point Lobos State Reserve and Del Monte Forest. The natural habitat is noted for its cool, moist summers, almost constantly bathed by sea fog.
This species has been widely planted outside its native range, particularly along the coasts of California and Oregon.  Its European distribution includes Great Britain (including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands), France, Ireland, Greece, Italy and Portugal. In New Zealand, plantings have naturalized, finding conditions there more favorable than in its native range. It has also been grown experimentally as a timber crop in Kenya.
Hesperocyparis macrocarpa is also grown in South Africa. For example, a copse has been planted to commemorate South African infantrymen who lost their lives in the Allied cause in Italy and North Africa during World War 2. As in California, the Cape trees are gnarled and wind-sculpted, and very beautiful.


Monterey cypress has been widely cultivated away from its native range, both elsewhere along the California coast, and in other areas with similar cool summer, mild winter oceanic climates. It is a popular private garden and public landscape tree in California. It is so widely planted in Golden Gate Park that the silhouette of the tree is sometimes printed as a symbol of the park.
When planted in areas with hot summers, for example in interior California away from the coastal fog belt, Monterey cypress has proved highly susceptible to cypress canker, caused by the fungus Seiridium cardinale, and rarely survives more than a few years. This disease is not a problem where summers are cool.
The foliage is slightly toxic to livestock and can cause miscarriages in cattle. Sawn logs are used by many craftspeople, some boat builders and small manufacturers, as a furniture structural material and a decorative wood because of its fine colours, though it must be preserved carefully to prevent the wood from splitting. It is also a fast, hot burning, albeit sparky (therefore not suited to open fires), firewood.


In Australia and New Zealand, Monterey cypress is most frequently grown as a windbreak tree on farms, usually in rows or shelter belts. It is also planted in New Zealand as an ornamental tree and, occasionally, as a timber tree. There, finding more favorable growing conditions than in its native range, and in the absence of many native pathogens, it often grows much larger, with trees recorded at over 40 m (130 ft) tall and 3 m (9.8 ft) in trunk diameter.  One specimen – with a trunk diameter of more than 4.6 m (15 ft) – is considered to be perhaps the largest in the world.  The timber of Monterey cypress was used for fence posts on New Zealand farms before electric fencing became popular.


A number of cultivars have been selected for garden use, including Goldcrest, with yellow-green, semi-juvenile foliage (with spreading scale-leaf tips) and Lutea with yellow-green foliage. Goldcrest has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017).
Monterey cypress is one of the parents of the fast-growing cultivated hybrid Leyland cypress, Cupressus × Leylandii, the other parent being Nootka cypress, Callitropsis nootkatensis.
Cupressus macrocarpa cultivars grown in New Zealand are:
'Aurea Saligna'—long cascades of weeping, golden-yellow, thread-like foliage on a pyramidal tree
'Brunniana Aurea'—pillar or conical form with soft rich-golden foliage
'Gold Rocket'—narrow erect form with golden colouring, slow-growing
'Golden Pillar'—compact conical tree with dense yellow shoots and foliage
'Greenstead Magnificent'—dwarf form with blue-green foliage
'Lambertiana Aurea'—hardy upright form tolerating poor soil and climate conditions


Isocupressic acid, a labdane diterpenoid, is an abortifacient component of H. macrocarpa. Monoterpenes (α- and γ-terpinene and terpinolene) are constituents of the foliage volatile oil. The oil exact composition is : α-pinene (20.2%), sabinene (12.0%), p-Cymene (7.0%) and terpinen-4-ol (29.6%). Unusual sesquiterpenes can be found in the foliage. Longiborneol (also known as juniperol or macrocarpol) can also be isolated from Monterey cypresses.


Callitropsis nootkatensis, formerly known as Cupressus nootkatensis (syn. Xanthocyparis nootkatensis) is a species of trees in the cypress family native to the coastal regions of northwestern North America. This species goes by many common names including: Nootka cypress, yellow cypress, Alaska cypress, Nootka cedar, yellow cedar, Alaska cedar, and Alaska yellow cedar. The specific epithet "nootkatensis" is derived from its discovery by Europeans on the lands of a First Nation of Canada, those lands of the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, who were formerly referred to as the Nootka.


Callitropsis nootkatensis is an evergreen tree growing up to 40 meters (131 ft) tall, exceptionally 60 m (200 ft), with diameters up to 3.4 to 4 m (11 to 13 ft). The bark is thin, smooth and purplish when young, turning flaky and gray. The branches are commonly pendulous, with foliage in flat sprays and dark green scale-leaves measuring 3–5 millimeters (1⁄8–3⁄16 in) long. The cones, maturing biannually, have 4 (occasionally 6) scales, and resemble the cones of Cupressus lusitanica (another species which can show foliage in flat sprays), except being somewhat smaller, typically 8–14 mm (5⁄16–9⁄16 in) in diameter; each scale has a pointed triangular bract about 1.5–2 mm long, again similar to other Cupressus and unlike the crescent-shaped, non-pointed bract on the scales of Chamaecyparis cones. The winged seeds are small, thus dispersing at a close range; additionally, only a small percentage is viable.
The Caren Range on the west coast of British Columbia is home to the oldest Nootka cypress specimens in the world, with one specimen found to be 1,834 years old; some specimens may be over 3,000 years old.
Cupressus nootkatensis is one of the parents of the hybrid Leyland cypress; the other parent, Monterey cypress, is also in the genus Cupressus, but in the North American Hesperocyparis clade, which has generally been found to be phylogenetically closer to C. nootkatensis than the Old World clade Cupressus sensu stricto.


First described in the genus Cupressus as Cupressus nootkatensis in 1824, it was transferred to Chamaecyparis in 1841 on the basis of its foliage being in flattened sprays, as in other Chamaecyparis, but unlike most (though not all) other Cupressus species.
However, this placement does not fit with the morphology and phenology of the cones, which are far more like Cupressus, maturing in two years rather than one. Genetic evidence, published by Gadek et al., strongly supported its return to Cupressus and exclusion from Chamaecyparis.
More recently, Farjon et al. (2002) transferred it to a new genus Xanthocyparis, together with the newly discovered Vietnamese golden cypress Xanthocyparis vietnamensis; this species is remarkably similar to Nootka cypress and the treatment has many arguments in its favour, as while they are not related to Chamaecyparis, neither do they fit fully in Cupressus despite the many similarities.
Little et al. confirmed this relationship with further evidence and pointed out that an earlier nomenclatural combination in the genus Callitropsis existed, as Callitropsis nootkatensis (D.Don) Oerst., published in 1864 but overlooked or ignored by other subsequent authors. Little et al. therefore synonymised Xanthocyparis with Callitropsis, the correct name for these species under the ICBN when treated in a distinct genus. The name Xanthocyparis has now been proposed for conservation, and the 2011 International Botanical Congress followed that recommendation.
In 2010, Mao et al. performed a more detailed molecular analysis and placed Nootka cypress back in Cupressus. This was disputed, as the tree would compose a monophyletic subgenus, but the Gymnosperm Database suggested that it could comprise a monotypic genus as Callitropsis nootkatensis.
In 2021, a molecular study by Stull et al. found the species to indeed belong to the distinct genus Callitropsis and recovered this as the sister genus to Hesperocyparis. The clade comprising both was found to be sister to Xanthocyparis (containing only the Vietnamese golden cypress), and the clade containing the three genera was found to be sister to a clade containing Juniperus and Cupressus sensu stricto.


The Nootka cypress is used extensively by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, along with another cypress, Thuja plicata (western redcedar). While the wood and inner bark of western redcedar was preferred for larger projects like houses and canoes, the stronger inner bark of Nootka cypress was used for smaller vessels and utensils, including canoe paddles and baskets, as well as thread for clothing and blankets.
This species has been considered to be one of the finest timber trees in the world and has been exported to China during the last century. The wood has been used for flooring, interior finish and shipbuilding.
The tree has extreme heartwood qualities that make it one of the most desired sources of firewood on the West Coast. It burns very hot and lasts a long time as embers. A tree can still be used for firewood up to 100 years after its death.


The various physical properties of the wood make it an attractive material for both general construction and boatbuilding. Due to its slow growth it is hard and, like other cypress woods, it is durable; it therefore offers good dimensional stability and is resistant to weather, insects, and contact with soil. It works easily with hand or machine tools, turning and carving quite well. It can be fastened with glues, screws, and nails. Nootka cypress's texture, uniform color, and straight grain will take a fine finish. It resists splintering and wears smoothly over time. When fresh cut it has a somewhat unpleasant bitter scent, but when seasoned it has barely any discernible odor, hence its traditional use in face masks.
Due to its expense, it is used mainly for finished carpentry. Typical uses include exterior siding, shingles, decking, exposed beams, glue-laminated beams, paneling, cabinetry, and millwork. In historic preservation it can be used as a substitute for Thuja plicata (western redcedar) and Taxodium distichum (bald cypress), due to current difficulties in obtaining quality timber of those species due to environmental concern and past over-exploitation, although this applies equally to Nootka cypress.
Other uses for Nootka cypress include saunas, and battery containers due to its resistance to acids. Traditionally, paddles, masks, dishes, and bows were made from the wood.


The drooping branchlets give the tree a graceful weeping appearance. It makes an attractive specimen tree in parks and open spaces. It can also be used as a tall hedge. It will grow in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9, but can be difficult to grow. Best growth is in light or heavy soil, preferably well drained, and in climates with cool summers. It prefers semi-shade to full sun. It can also be used in bonsai.
Under the synonym Xanthocyparis nootkatensis the cultivar C. nootkatensis 'Pendula' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


A legend amongst the Nootka peoples of the Hesquiaht First Nation tells of the origins of the Nootka cypress.  In the legend, a raven encounters three young women drying salmon on the beach.  He asks the women if they are afraid of being alone, if they are afraid of bears, wolves, and other animals.  Each women responded "no".  But when asked about owls, the women were indeed afraid of owls.  Hearing this, the trickster raven hid in the forests, and made the calls of an owl.  The terrified women ran up the mountains, but turned into Nootka cypress trees when they were out of breath.  According to the Nootka, this is why Nootka cypress grows on the sides of mountains, and also why the bark is silky like a woman's hair, and the young trunk is smooth like a woman's body.
In Tlingit culture the story of Natsilane describes how a Nootka cypress was used to carve the world's first killer whale.


Cuscuta californica is a species of dodder known by the common names chaparral dodder and California dodder. This is an annual parasitic plant that may resemble fine strands of spaghetti or twine strewn across other species in its habitat. A mature plant of this species may fulfill all of its food and water needs from the host plant, but they rarely kill their host. It is native to western United States and Baja California in Mexico.


Cuscuta californica is a parasitic vine which climbs other plants and takes nutrition directly from them via a haustorium. The dodder resembles a pile of yellow-orange straw wrapped tightly around its host plant. It is mostly stem; the leaves are reduced to scales on the stem's surface, since they are not needed for photosynthesis while the dodder is obtaining nutrients from its host.
It bears tiny white flowers which are only about 3 millimeters wide, and fruits which are even smaller. The flowers can be used as a diagnostic feature in determining the species of dodder; on C. californica, the calyx length is 3⁄4 to equaling the length of the corolla. The corolla lobes are also equaling or longer than the corolla tube, and the filaments are 0.6 to 1.1 mm long.


Although this species spends most of its life without any contact with the soil, it is borne from a normal, rooted seed. The seed contains minimal energy reserves, meaning seedlings must locate and parasitize a host within a matter of days. It accomplishes this by means of "foraging" patterns, as dodder seedlings can detect the volatile compounds emitted by host plants. Dodder seedlings are even capable of "selecting" host plants based on their compounds emitted. After it attaches itself to the host, the grounded root dies and the plant becomes completely dependent on the host for nutrition. This species flowers from March to September.


There are three recognized varieties of this species:
Cuscuta california var. apiculata – This variety has a ovoid to conic shaped ovary and fruit, with a pointed tip, and one seed.
Cuscuta californica var. californica – This variety has a spheric to spheric-depressed shaped ovary and fruit, with 2 to 4 seeds, and does not have a papillate perianth or pedicels.
Cuscuta california var. papillosa – This variety has a spheric to spheric-depressed shaped ovary and fruit, with 2 to 4 seeds, and does have a densely papillate perianth and pedicels.


This species is found throughout the western United States and parts of Mexico. In the United States, it is found in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. In Mexico, it is primarily found in the northwestern portion of the state of Baja California.  It grows on numerous herbs and shrubs from various habitats, including sandy desert areas, chaparral, coastal sage scrub, grasslands, forests of Pinus ponderosa, and can be found in weedy, partially disturbed areas like roadsides. Like most other dodders, this species is considered a noxious weed in many areas. It was also discovered in Flowood,Mississippi on August 12, 2022.


Cuscuta pacifica is a species of dodder. Its common name is goldenthread.


The plant is native to the coast of western North America from British Columbia to Baja California. It is a halophyte, living in coastal salt marsh habitats, such as the San Francisco Bay.


Cuscuta pacifica is a slender annual vine with yellowish thread-like stems that wrap tightly around other plants. The leaves are reduced to tiny scales, and it possesses no roots because it is a parasitic plant, like all Cuscuta, and taps nutrients from host plants with its haustoria.
The salt marsh dodder produces flowers with bell-shaped, white glandular corollas with five pointed triangular lobes. It tends to parasitize Salicornia, but also may be found on other species such as Jaumea carnosa and Grindelia stricta.
Recently, it has become clear that waterfowl might be involved in the dispersal of the species' seeds, as has been confirmed for C. campestris.


The species includes two varieties.
Cuscuta pacifica var. pacifica is significantly more common, occurring throughout the species range.
Cuscuta pacifica var. papillata is a very rare endemic of sand-dune habitats in Mendocino County.
Previous treatments included this species as two varieties of a more broadly defined Cuscuta salina, but they were recently recognized to be a distinct species with clear habitat and host affinities and reproductively isolated from Cuscuta salina var. salina.


Cyaniris semiargus, the Mazarine blue, is a Palearctic butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.


Subspecies include:
Cyaniris semiargus semiargus (Europe, Caucasus, Siberia, Russian Far East)
Cyaniris semiargus altaiana (Tutt, 1909) (Tian-Shan, Altai Mountains, Sayan Mountains, Transbaikalia)
Cyaniris semiargus amurensis (Tutt, 1909) (Amur river, Ussuri, Japan)
Cyaniris semiargus atra (Grum-Grshimailo, 1885) (Ghissar, Alai Mountains, Darvaz)
Cyaniris semiargus jiadengyunus (Huang & Murayama, 1992) (Altai Mountains)
Cyaniris semiargus maroccana (Lucas, 1920 (Morocco)
Cyaniris semiargus tartessus (Gil-T. & Huertas, 2007) (SW. Spain)
Cyaniris semiargus transiens Melcon, 1910 (Spain)
Cyaniris semiargus uralensis (Tutt, 1909) (Urals)


This common species inhabits meadows, pastures, grasslands and flowery grassy damp areas up to 2200m. It seems to prefer places which are not fertilized and not used for fodder production.


The wingspan of the male and female are similar, at 32–38 mm.
These butterflies present a sexual dimorphism. The male Mazarine blue's wings are a deep blue with a heavy venation and are slightly larger in diameter than the female's. The upperside of the wings shows black borders and white fringes. The female Mazarine blue is brown. The underside of the wings is greyish or ocher, with a series of black spots surrounded by white and a blue scaling in the basal area.
Both sexes lack orange markings and have a dark violet or brown body colour. The butterfly has been compared to the common blue, and the Grecian Helena subspecies which has orange markings.
This species is rather similar to Cupido minimus, but in the underside hindwings of the Mazarine blue the black spot in space 6 and the two spots next to it form an obtuse angle, while in C. minimus they create an acute angle.
The larva is yellow green with darker lines and has fine hairs and dark brown spiracles. The pupa is olive green and attached to the food plant with a silk girdle.


This species has one brood each year. It overwinters as a young larva. Adults fly from May to August. Caterpillars mainly feed on Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and other species of Trifolium (Trifolium medium, Trifolium spadiceum), on Vicia cracca, Anthyllis, Genista and Melilotus.


The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size.
Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are widespread and a common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and the western Palearctic in deciduous or mixed woodlands with a high proportion of oak. They usually nest in tree holes, although they easily adapt to nest boxes where necessary. Their main rival for nests and in the search for food is the larger and more common great tit.
The Eurasian blue tit prefers insects and spiders for its diet. Outside the breeding season, they also eat seeds and other vegetable-based foods. The birds are famed for their acrobatic skills, as they can hold on to the outermost branches of trees and shrubs and hang upside down when looking for food.


The Eurasian blue tit was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Parus caeruleus. Parus is the classical Latin for a tit and caeruleus is the Latin for dark blue or cerulean. Two centuries earlier, before the introduction of the binomial nomenclature, the same Latin name had been used by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner when he described and illustrated the blue tit in his Historiae animalium of 1555.
In 2005, analysis of the mtDNA cytochrome b sequences of the Paridae indicated that Cyanistes was an early offshoot from the lineage of other tits, and more accurately regarded as a genus rather than a subgenus of Parus. The current genus name, Cyanistes, is from the Ancient Greek kuanos, "dark blue". The African blue tit (Cyanistes teneriffae) was formerly considered conspecific.


There are currently at least nine recognised subspecies:
C. c. caeruleus – (Linnaeus, 1758): the nominate subspecies, occurring in Continental Europe to northern Spain, Sicily, northern Turkey and northern Urals
C. c. obscurus – (Pražák, 1894): found in Ireland, Britain and Channel Islands
C. c. ogliastrae – (Hartert, 1905): found in Portugal, southern Spain, Corsica and Sardinia
C. c. balearicus – (von Jordans, 1913): found on Majorca Island (Balearic Islands)
C. c. calamensis – (Parrot, 1908): found in southern Greece, Pelopónnisos, Cyclades, Crete and Rhodes
C. c. orientalis – Zarudny & Loudon, 1905: found in southern European Russia (Volga River to central and southern Urals)
C. c. satunini – Zarudny, 1908: found in the Crimean Peninsula, Caucasus, Transcaucasia and northwestern Iran to eastern Turkey
C. c. raddei – Zarudny, 1908: found in northern Iran
C. c. persicus – (Blanford, 1873): found in the Zagros Mountains


Pleske's tit (Cyanistes × pleskei) is a common interspecific hybrid between this species and the azure tit (Cyanistes cyanus), in western Russia. The cap is usually darker than the azure tit, and the tail is paler than the Eurasian blue tit.


The Eurasian blue tit is usually 12 cm (4.7 in), long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) for both sexes, and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz).
A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue and the back is yellowish green. The underparts is mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet. The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar and often indistinguishable to human eyes, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown. Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow.


There are currently around 20–44 million pairs in Europe.
The Eurasian blue tit and the related hybrids are considered native species in areas of the European continent with a mainly temperate or Mediterranean climate, and in parts of the Middle East. These areas include Ireland, the United Kingdom and most of the European Union and EFTA (except Malta, where they are considered vagrant, and Iceland, where they are absent), plus: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Vatican City and Ukraine.
In Great Britain the Eurasian blue tit can be found in a variety of environments, and is typically found in deciduous woodland, parks, gardens and even in the centre of towns.


Eurasian blue and great tits form mixed winter flocks, and the former are perhaps the better gymnasts in the slender twigs. A Eurasian blue tit will often ascend a trunk in short jerky hops, reminiscent of a treecreeper. As a rule the bird roosts in ivy or evergreens, but in harsh winters will roost wherever there is a suitable small hole, be it in a tree or nesting box. They are very agile and can hang from almost anywhere.
This is a common and popular European garden bird, due to its perky acrobatic performances when feeding on nuts or suet. It swings beneath the holder, calling "tee, tee, tee" or a scolding "churr".


The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK.
During the incubation period, female blue tits perform all of the incubation, however the male feeds the female during this time. During the nestling period both female nest attendance and male feeding rate are higher in the morning, declining throughout the day.

Eggs are 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) long and 10.7–13.5 mm (0.42–0.53 in) wide. Egg size appears to depend mostly on the size of individual females and secondarily on habitat, with smaller eggs found at higher altitudes. The clutch's total weight can be 1.5 times as heavy as the female bird.
A study found that the timing of breeding in blue tits is related to the expression of nestling carotenoid‐based coloration, which could play a role in offspring–parent communication.
The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK. When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, clutch size varies with latitude and other geographic parameters. Some bigger clutches may be laid by two or even more hens in some locations but single hen clutches of 14 have been verified in the UK. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species.
In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%, while the adult annual survival rate was 53%. From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years. Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire. The maximum recorded age overall is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic.


The Eurasian blue tit feeds on many insects, though it is fond of young buds of various trees, especially when insect prey is scarce, and may pull them to bits in the hope of finding insects. It is a well-known predator of many Lepidoptera species including the Wood Tiger moth. No species, however, destroys more coccids and aphids, the worst foes of many plants. It takes leaf miner grubs and green tortrix moths (Tortricidae). In common with all members of the family, seeds are also eaten.


Eurasian blue tits use songs and calls throughout the year. Songs are mostly used in late winter and spring to defend the territory or to attract mates. Calls are used for multiple reasons. Communication with other Eurasian blue tits is the most important motivation for the use of calls. They inform one another on their location in trees by means of contact-calls. They use alarm-calls to warn others (including birds of other species such as the great tit, the European robin or the treecreeper) about the presence of predators in the neighbourhood. Scolding, for example, is used when a ground predator (e.g. fox, cat or dog), a low flying predator or a perched owl are noticed. Sometimes this is followed by mobbing behaviour in which birds gather together in flocks to counter a predator. The alarm-whistle warns other birds about the proximity of a Eurasian sparrowhawk, a northern goshawk, a common buzzard or other flying predators that form a potential danger in the air. A series of high-pitched 'zeedling' notes are given by both partners before and during copulation. The begging-call is used by juveniles to beg for food from parents.


An interesting example of culturally transmitted learning in birds was the phenomenon dating from the 1920s of blue tits teaching one another how to open traditional British milk bottles with foil tops, to get at the cream underneath Such behaviour has been suppressed recently by the gradual change of human dietary habits (low-fat or skimmed milk instead of full-fat), and the way of getting them (from a supermarket in plastic containers with hard plastic lids, instead of the milkman). In addition, the instinct to strip bark from trees in search of insects has developed into a tendency to peel building materials such as thatch, wallpaper, stucco and window putty.


The small size of the Eurasian blue tit makes it vulnerable to prey by larger birds such as jays who catch the vulnerable fledglings when they leave the nest. The most important predator is probably the sparrowhawk, closely followed by the domestic cat. Nests may be robbed by mammals such as weasels and red squirrels, as well as introduced grey squirrels in the UK.
The successful breeding of chicks is dependent on sufficient supply of green caterpillars as well as satisfactory weather. Breeding seasons may be affected badly if the weather is cold and wet between May and July, particularly if this coincides with the emergence of the caterpillars on which the nestlings are fed.


Eurasian blue tits are known to be host to feather mites, and rarely lice and flat flies. In Europe, the only feather mite species known to live on the blue tit host is Proctophyllodes stylifer. However, this mite seems to be of no concern to the bird as, until now, it is only known to feed on dead feather tissue. P. stylifer lives all its developmental stages, i.e. egg, larva, protonymph, tritonymph and adult, within the plumage of the same host. The usual sites where P. stylifer is encountered are the remiges and the rectrices of the bird where they can be found tandemly positioned between the barbs of the rachis.


The Eurasian blue tit is classified as a least concern species on the IUCN Red List (version 3.1), and as a Green Status species, since 1996, by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom.


The Eurasian blue tit has appeared on many stamps and ornaments. Its most recent appearance on a British stamp was the 2010 Birds of Britain series.


The azure tit (Cyanistes cyanus) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout Russia and Central Asia and northwest China, Manchuria and Pakistan.
It is found in temperate and subarctic deciduous or mixed woodlands, scrub and marshes. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate. It nests in a tree hole, laying about 10 eggs. The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting when disturbed. Its food is insects, seeds, small invertebrates, larvae of bugs, and eggs.
This 12–13 cm bird is unmistakable. The head, tail corners, wing bars and underparts are white. There is a dark line through the eye, and the upperparts are blue.
This is the eastern counterpart of the common Eurasian blue tit. It will hybridise with that species, but the offspring usually show a blue crown, rather than the white of azure tit. The calls are similar to blue tit, calling dee, dee, dee or a scolding churr. The song is a tsi-tsi-tshurr-tsi-tsi-tshurr, which has been described as intermediate between blue tit and crested tit.


For many years the azure tit was known as Parus cyanus.  In 2005, analysis of the mtDNA cytochrome b sequences of the Paridae indicated that Cyanistes was an early offshoot from the lineage of other tits, and more accurately regarded as a genus rather than a subgenus of Parus.
The azure tit not infrequently hybridizes with the blue tit in western Russia; the resulting birds are called Pleske's tit (Cyanistes × pleskei) and were once considered a distinct species.
The population in central Asia, yellow-breasted tit (C. c. flavipectus or Parus flavipectus), is sometimes included as a subspecies of the azure tit.


The jay is approximately 30 cm (12 in) long. Adults are black, with cerulean blue wings, mantle, and tail. They have black bills, yellow eye rings, and yellow legs. Juvenile Yucatán jays have completely yellow bare parts and white, rather than black, body plumage. They molt out of the white plumage by September or October, but retain the yellow bill and eye ring for a few more months. They also have pale-tipped rectrices, which the adults lack.


The azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the genus Cyanopica.
It has a glossy black top to the head and a white throat. The underparts and the back are a light grey-fawn in colour with the wings and the feathers of the long (16–20 cm) tail an azure blue. It inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks and gardens in the eastern populations.


It occurs over a large region of eastern Asia in China, Korea, Japan, and north into Mongolia and southern Siberia. The Iberian magpie from southwestern and central parts of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain and Portugal was formerly thought to be conspecific, but recent genetic analysis has shown them to be distinct at species level.


Often azure-winged magpies find food as a family group or several groups making flocks of up to 70 birds. The largest groups congregate after the breeding season and throughout the winter months. Their diet consists mainly of acorns (oak seeds) and pine nuts, extensively supplemented by invertebrates and their larvae, soft fruits and berries, and also human-provided scraps in parks and towns.
This species usually nests in loose, open colonies with a single nest in each tree. There are usually 6–8 eggs that are incubated for 15 days. Azure-winged magpies that have asynchronous broods, creating a size hierarchy among nestlings, produce more eggs and fledge more nestlings than those which have synchronous broods.
The voice is a quick fired and metallic sounding kwink-kwink-kwink usually preceded by a single krarrah.


The red-crowned parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae), also known as red-fronted parakeet and by its Māori name of kākāriki, is a small parrot from New Zealand. It is characterised by its bright green plumage and the red pattern on its head. This versatile bird can feed on a variety food items and can be found in many habitat types. It used to be classified as near threatened as invasive predators had pushed it out of its historical range but it is now at least concern. This species used to occupy the entire island, but is now confined to only a few areas on the mainland and some offshore islands.


The red-crowned parakeet is a member of the order Psittaciformes, also known as the parrots. It is part of the genus Cyanoramphus, which currently includes 12 species of parakeets. C. novaezelandiae was once lumped with several other parrots from New Zealand's outlying islands, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island, but these have now been afforded full species status.


Mainland red-crowned parakeet, C. novaezelandiae novaezelandiae
Chatham red-crowned parakeet, C. novaezelandiae chathamensis
Kermadec red-crowned parakeet, C. novaezelandiae cyanurus


Since many of the Cyanoramphus species are very morphologically similar, several of them have only recently been upgraded to the species level in light of results from molecular analyse.
Reischek's parakeet, C. hochstetteri
New Caledonian parakeet, C. saisseti
Lord Howe parakeet, C. subflavescens
Norfolk parakeet, C. cooki
Forbes’ parakeet, C. forbesi : There is much debate regarding the taxonomic status of the Forbes’ parakeet. It was first described as a distinct species, but was later considered a subspecies of red-crowned parakeets or yellow-crowned parakeet. However, more recent genetic studies concluded that it should be classed as a separate species within the genus Cyanoramphus. Although it remains the closest genetic relative of the red-crowned parakeet, the Forbes’ parakeet differs slightly in voice, colour, morphology, as well as possibly ecology and behaviour. Moreover, hybrids rarely occur as individuals tend to mate with members of their own group. This species seems to have independently derived from the Chatham red-crowned parakeet. Others suggest it might be the result of hybridisation. Overall, at present, the Forbes’ parakeet is still considered a distinct species.
Macquarie parakeet, C. erythrotis †: New DNA analysis is required to determine the correct status of the Macquarie parakeets, as the specimens used in Boon, Kearvell et al. (2001) were not correctly authenticated.


Red-crowned parakeets are green parrots with large tails. They are easiest to identify by their bright yellow-green plumage, and crimson forehead, lores, eye-stripes and front of the crown. They also have red patches on either sides of the rump. While they are flying, their dark blue outerwing can be visible. Red-crowned parakeets have grey or pale brown legs and feet. Their bills are white to grey with a black tip.


Females are slightly smaller with a yellow stripe on the underwing. Their bill is also smaller and narrower.


Juvenile red-crowned parakeets look similar to adults. However, their bill has a slight pinkish tinge. Moreover, the iris of young parakeets starts off as dull black or brown, and becomes increasingly red as they age. Juvenile males also sport a stripe under the wing like the females.


We can recognise red-crowned parakeets by their soft musical chattering calls. Those vocalisations are stronger and lower-pitched than the yellow-crowned parakeet's. During flight and take off, they also emit a ki-ki-ki-ki-ki or kek-kik-kek sound.


Red-crowned parakeets can live in a wide variety of habitats including dense temperate rainforests, coastal forests, scrubland, forest edges and open areas. When their range overlaps with Yellow-crowned parakeets, red-crowned parakeets favour forest edges and open areas.