Cockchafer (May-bug) (Melolontha melolontha) Order Beetles Scarab beetles (including the chafers and dung beetles) have characteristic antennae in which the final segments have fan-like extensions. The largest and most conspicuous of the almost 90 species of scarabs found in the British Isles is the Cockchafer (or May-Bug). What do they look like? Adult Cockchafers are …
Megalodon was not only the biggest and baddest prehistoric shark that ever lived; it was the largest marine predator in the history of the planet. Today’s great white sharks would be a mere bite size snack for this monster. It terrorized the diverse ocean waters around the world from 15.9 to 2.6 million years ago …
Ernst Haeckel, in full Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel, German zoologist and evolutionist who was a strong proponent of Darwinism and who proposed new notions of the evolutionary descent of human beings.
Twenty-five million year old rocks in New Zealand have yielded two species of archaic baleen whale. These whales, both members of the genus Tohoraata, retained teeth at the tips of their jaws in addition to baleen. The evolution of whales is one of the most intriguing stories in natural history. Shortly after the extinction of …
