Of special interest to me right now are the dinosaurs of the British Wealden (of course), the intriguing tie-ins between Wealden fossil collectors, Conan Doyle's Lost World and the Piltdown fiasco, convergence between different fossorial tetrapods, manatee evolution, and British big cats (yes, really). ❋ Darren Naish (2006)
These include colonial fossorial rodents (marmots, ground squirrels) large birds of prey, and phytophagous insects (grasshoppers). ❋ Unknown (2008)
Four of the endemics are representatives of the three endemic genera in the hotspot: a rodent (Microakodontomys transitorius), known only from a single specimen collected in 1986 in the Brasília National Park; the Candango mouse (Juscelinomys candango), a semi-fossorial rodent first discovered in 1960 on the site of the capital, Brasília, then under construction, and which has never again been collected; and the cerrado mouse (Thalpomys cerradensis) and hairy-eared cerrado mouse (T. lasiotis). ❋ Unknown (2008)
Slow-worms are nocturnal and semi-fossorial and mostly occur in well-vegetated places with thick ground cover and loose soils. ❋ Darren Naish (2006)
And those big hands that moles have testify to their underground lifestyle, fancy word -- fossorial. ❋ DNLee (2008)
-- Pearsonomys annectans Patterson, 1992, a semi-fossorial Chilean murid. ❋ Darren Naish (2006)
The aquatic origin seems very illogical since no aquatic lineage of lizard has ever lost its limbs but fossorial lizards have undergone limb reduction or loss on multiple occasions. ❋ Unknown (2005)
Burrow structure and fossorial ecology of the springhare Pedetes capensis in Botswana. ❋ Unknown (1991)
In seeking food and avoiding enemies in different habitats the limbs and feet radiate in four diverse directions; they either become _fossorial_ or adapted to digging habits, ❋ Unknown (N/A)
Malaxation: a kneading or softening; applied to the chewing and squeezing by fossorial wasps of insects captured as food for their larva. ❋ John. B. Smith (N/A)
Again in the fossorial hymenoptera, the neuration of the wings is a character of the highest importance, because common to large groups; but in certain genera the neuration differs in the different species, and likewise in the two sexes of the same species. ❋ Unknown (1909)
Badger (Gray remarks: "it most resembles the European animal"), with somewhat smaller head, with longer, finer fur than usual; the entire sole of the foot is not naked, but only about two-thirds, and the toe-pads are very much developed, thus raising the powerful long fossorial claws from the ground in walking. ❋ Robert Armitage Sterndale (1870)
He goes on to add: "The anterior limbs are decidedly fossorial, and the hinder suited for walking in a sub-plantigrade manner; both wholly unfitted for rapatory or scansorial purposes." ❋ Robert Armitage Sterndale (1870)
Westwood has remarked, the number varies greatly; and the number likewise differs in the two sexes of the same species: again in fossorial hymenoptera, the manner of neuration of the wings is a character of the highest importance, because common to large groups; but in certain genera the neuration differs in the different species, and likewise in the two sexes of the same species. ❋ Charles Darwin (1845)
A fossorial wasp of the family of _Sphegidæ_, [1] which is distinguished by its metallic lustre, enters by the open windows, and converts irritation at its movements into admiration of the graceful industry with which it stops up the keyholes and similar apertures with clay in order to build in them a cell. ❋ James Emerson Tennent (1836)
I have been particularly interested of late in fossorial snakes, since we seem to have a lot of them here in Fayetteville: ringnecks, midland browns, worm snakes, etc. ❋ Serena (2010)
Having said that, Vizcaíno et al. (1999) and Vizcaíno & Milne (2002) looked at function in armadillo limbs and used an Index of Fossorial Ability (IFA, calculated by dividing olecranon length by the difference between ulnar length and olecranon length) to compare the fossorial ability of the different armadillos. ❋ Unknown (2008)
-- the Candango or Brasilia burrowing mouse Juscelinomys candango Moojen, 1965, a semi-fossorial murid discovered in 1960, known from 9 specimens, last collected in 1990, and now possibly extinct (the Brazilian site where it was discovered was destroyed and built on). ❋ Darren Naish (2006)
Other animals endemic to this ecoregion include the Fitzroy River turtle (Rheodytes leukops VU), flecked fossorial lizard (Calyptotis temporalis), yellow-lipped scalyfoot (Delma labialis), unadorned rock-wallaby (Petrogale inornata), and the russet-tailed thrush (Zoothera heinei). ❋ Unknown (2007)
