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Back-cross |
A cross between a hybrid and one of its parents. |
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Barbicels |
Small hook-like structures on barbules that link adjoining barbules to form the rigid, interlocked structure of the feather vane. |
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Barbs |
The structures that branch from the main shaft of a feather and form the feather's vanes. |
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Barbules |
Small structures that grow from the barbs of a bird's feather. Barbules overlap and interlock to give a feather rigidity. |
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Basal |
At the base of an organ, e.g. a leaf at the base of a plant - basal leaf. |
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Basal |
The area at the base of the stem |
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Basal |
At, or towards the base of an object or part of the anatomy. |
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Basic Plumage |
If a bird species only molts once a year, their basic plumage is the set of feathers they have throughout the year. If a bird species experiences two molts per year, the basic plumage is (in most... |
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Basidia |
Club-shaped cells on which spores are produced in basidiomycetes |
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Basidiocarp |
Fruiting body of fungi of the Basidiomycota, bearing basidia |
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Basidioma |
fruit-body; sporophore*
plural: basidiomata |
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Basidiomycetes |
Major group of fungi characterised by development of basidia on which sexual basidiaspores are produced. Includes gill bearing fungi, boletes, polypores, clavarias, jelly fungi, & gasteromycetes |
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Basidiospore |
Reproductive cell (spore) of the basidiomycete fungi |
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Basidium |
Microscopic structure on which basidiospores develop |
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basipetal |
produced in succession towards the base. |
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Basking |
Basking is an activity whereby butterflies rest in the sun, with open wings, to absorb the heat and raise their body temperature when they are too cold to fly.
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Batesian mimic |
An edible species of Butterfly whose colouration mimics that of a poisonous species. |
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Biennial |
A plant that completes its life cycle in two years and then dies. It usually flowers and produces fruit the second year. |
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Biennial |
Having a two year life cycle. |
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Bifurcate |
Bifurcate refers to something that is two-pronged or divided into two parts. |
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Bill |
Beak; horny projecting mouth of a bird. |
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Binding hyphae |
Much branched thick-walled hyphae without dividing cell walls, which bind other hyphae together |
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biseriate |
arranged in two rows |
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bitunicate |
2 walled |
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Bivoltine |
Having two broods. |
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Bog |
Wet, acidic peat. |
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Boitrophic |
Obtaining nutrients from living host cells without killing them |
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Bosses |
Irregular swellings. |
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Bract |
A modified leaf beneath a flower. |
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Bract |
Leaf-like structure often found below the flower. |
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Bracteole |
A secondary bract at the base of secondary branches of the flower stem. |
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Breast |
The upper front part of a bird's chest |
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Bristles |
Long, stiff feathers that are often found near a bird's mouth or eyes. The function of bristles is not well-understood and it is thought they may serve to funnel food into a bird's mouth or... |
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Brood |
A generation of young from one female. |
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Brood |
A brood refers to a collection of individual insects that hatch from a singe mother at approximately the same time. |
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Brood Cells |
The brood cells are the individual chambers in a hive where the egg is laid and the larva develop. |
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Brood Parasite |
A bird that lays its eggs in the nest of another bird (either another species or another individual of the same species) so that the young will be raised by the host parents. |
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Brood Parasitism |
A method of reproduction seen in birds that involves the laying of eggs in the nests of other birds. The eggs are left under the parental care of the host parents. Brood parasitism may be occur... |
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Brood Patch |
An area that develops on the lower abdomen of birds in which the feathers drop off and the skin thickens, becoming densely populated with blood vessels and is used in incubation to keep the eggs... |
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Brood Reduction |
A reproductive strategy in which a female bird produces more eggs than she would normally be capable of raising. If food resources are too limited to support all young (if all eggs hatch), any late-... |
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Brooding |
A behaviour in birds in which the parents continue to warm nestlings or young that are unable to maintain their own body temperatures. |
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Bulb |
Formed by a cluster of fleshy leaf bases, this is a food storage organ. |
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Bulb (bulbous) |
Abruptly swollen basal region of stem |
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Bulbil |
A small bulb often located in the axil of a leaf or bract. |
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Bursa copulatrix |
A sac in the female butterfly's abdomen where spermatophore from the male butterfly is stored. |
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byssoid |
made up of slender threads |
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