Scientific Illustration

biomedicalephemera:

“Star of India” Clematis

The clematis flowers are members of the Ranunculaceae family, which also includes the buttercups and the Acontium (wolfsbane or monk’s bane) genus. There are hundreds of species, and over a thousand cultivars of Clematus spp.

Found in European gardens (by way of the Japanese) by the 18th century, and in the United States since the mid-19th century, clematis flowers are hardy and perennial, but solely ornamental. Despite having a “pepper-like” taste, the seeds, sap, and everything else from the plant, is highly toxic, causing intense abdominal pain and intestinal bleeding when consumed.

The Floral World and Garden Guide. Edited by Shirley Hibbard, Esq., 1871.

biomedicalephemera:

Giant Golden Mole - Chrysochloris trevelyani [now Chrysospalax trevelyani]

If there were ever a mammal worthy of being given the common name of “Blorp”, this would be it. But no, they get to be called the “giant golden mole”, despite not being all that giant, or all that golden. I’m still calling them Blorps.

These pudgers are ancient, mostly-desert-dwelling Gondwanan creatures which are remarkably well adapted to climates with significant thermal shifts. During times of extreme heat or cold, their bodies can go into a state of torpor, almost stalling their basal metabolism rate, and completely turning off their internal thermoregulation until the temperature returns to a more amicable range.

The family of golden moles, Chrysochloridae, is not related to the “true moles” (Talpidae), but get their common name from their similar appearance, which developed through convergent evolution. Most scientists agree that the golden moles are more closely related to hedgehogs and shrews than to true moles, though some theories group them with the tenrecs. Until full genetic profiles are established for the Insectivoridae, we probably won’t have a definitive answer.

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1875.

(via mudwerks)

oddmanoutphx:

“The Bertillon System of Criminal Identification, invented by French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon in 1879, was a technique for describing individuals on the basis of a catalogue of physical measurements, including standing height, sitting height (length of trunk and head), distance between fingertips with arms outstretched, and size of head, right ear, left foot, digits, and forearm. In addition, distinctive personal features, such as eye colour, scars, and deformities, were noted. The system was used to identify criminals in the later years of the nineteenth century, but was soon displaced by the more reliable and easily-recorded fingerprints.”

biomedicalephemera:

rhamphotheca:

Arakan Forest Turtle (Geoemyda depressa now Heosemys depressa)

- Arakan Hill Range, Western Mayanmar

from Anatomical and zoological researches v.2., London, B. Quaritch, 1878.

(via: biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34177985)

* The Arakan Forest Turtle was thought extinct since 1908 until spotted in a Chinese food market in 1994! 

Speaking of Lazarus taxon…

biomedicalephemera:

Top: Dorsal view and pectoral limb of Manatus americanus (now Trichechus manatus)
Bottom: African Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

These two creatures, though vastly different, are actually some of the most closely related extant sea and land mammalia.

Though the transition from land to sea occurred around the same time, the Sirenians (dugongs and manatees) are only distantly related to the Pinnipedia (seals and sea lions) and Cetacea (whales). The only living ocean-dwelling mammalian herbivores, Sirenians split off from a common ancestor with elephants around the middle of the Eocene epoch. This pig-like creature was very distinct from the small deer-like creatures that led to both the Cetaceans and modern horses.

The manatee’s land-dwelling origins can be seen in their pectoral limbs - there are “fingernails” at the end of each flipper, much more similar to the fingernails on an elephant’s foot than the claw-like nails you can see on the Pinnipedia.

Manatee: Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, Vol. VIII 1874.

Elephant: Wildlife of the World: A Descriptive Survey of the Geographical Distribution of Animals. Richard Lydekker, 1911.

biomedicalephemera:

It is Monday. Monday is sloth-like to me.

Arctopithecus flaccidus [now Bradypus tridactylus flaccidus]

This is a subspecies of the pale-throated sloth, which is one of the three-toed sloths. Pale-throated sloths, like most of their genus, live mostly solitary lives, but are around more creatures than you might think. In addition to the green algae that they live mutalistically with, they also have multiple species of insects, which live commensally within their fur.

The sloth moth and several beetle species live on the sloth itself, and lay their eggs in its droppings on the ground. The sloth provides both heat and camouflage to the insects, and the insects themselves don’t harm the sloth, so there is no benefit to expending energy removing them.

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Illustrated by Joseph Smit, 1871.

biomedicalephemera:

Tapirus pinchaque - The Mountain tapir

Biologia Centrali-Americana: Mammalia. Edward R. Alston, 1879.

biomedicalephemera:

Arctopithecus griseus (now Bradypus variegatus griseus) - Three-toed sloth

Dear Mariana,

Stop thinking I don’t love you. I gift you sloths. 

This particular subspecies of the three-toed sloth lives in Costa Rica and Eastern Panama. 

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1871.

biomedicalephemera:

Anatomy of the porpoise

The word “porpoise” comes from porcopiscus - Medieval Latin for “pig fish”. It was obviously related to dolphins, but with a snub-nose, it was more pig-like than the “delphinos” - ”fish with a womb”. Later, the English term “mereswine” was used to refer to both dolphins and porpoises.

Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. Vol VIII, 1878.