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hoatzin

(Encyclopedia)hoatzin wätsēnˈ [key] [Aztec], common name for a peculiar marsh bird, Opisthocomus hoatzin. The hoatzin is a slender bird with a brownish plumage spotted with white above and reddish-yellow to rust...

Wu, Chien-Shiung

(Encyclopedia)Wu, Chien-Shiung chyĕnˈ-shyo͝ongˈ wo͞o [key], 1912–97, Chinese-American physicist. She emigrated to the United States from China in 1936 and received a Ph.D. from the Univ. of California, Berke...

mushroom

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The poisonous mushroom Amanita mushroom, type of basidium fungus characterized by spore-bearing gills on the underside of the umbrella- or cone-shaped cap. The name toadstool is popularly rese...

firefly

(Encyclopedia)firefly or lightning bug, small, luminescent, carnivorous beetle of the family Lampyridae. Fireflies are well represented in temperate regions, although the majority of species are tropical and subtro...

Archaeopteryx

(Encyclopedia)Archaeopteryx ärˌkēŏpˈtərĭks [key] [Gr.,=primitive wing], a 150 million-year-old fossil animal first discovered in 1860 in the late Jurassic limestone of Solnhofen, Bavaria, and described the f...

grasshopper

(Encyclopedia)grasshopper, name applied to almost 9,000 different species of singing, jumping insects in two families of the order Orthoptera. Grasshoppers are long, slender, winged insects with powerful hind legs ...

Ono, Yoko

(Encyclopedia) Ono, Yoko, 1933- , Japanese-American conceptual artist, songwriter, and recording artist, b. Tokyo, Japan. Ono’s father was a banker and her mother ...

Herzog, Werner

(Encyclopedia)Herzog, Werner, 1942–, German director, screenwriter, and producer; originally named Werner Stipetic. A leading contemporary German filmmaker, Herzog is known for his vivid and poetic films. He made...

aging

(Encyclopedia)aging, in biology, cumulative changes in an organism, organ, tissue, or cell leading to a decrease in functional capacity. In humans, aging is associated with degenerative changes in the skin, bones, ...

larva, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)larva, independent, immature animal that undergoes a profound change, or metamorphosis, to assume the typical adult form. Larvae occur in almost all of the animal phyla; because most are tiny or micro...