biology

Neocorynura electra

Neocorynura electra is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Neocorynura electra rather than just read about it. In short: Neocorynura electra is an extinct species of sweat bee in the Halictidae genus Neocorynura. N. electra is named from the Latin electrum meaning "amber".

Key takeaways

Neocorynura electra belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Neocorynura electra to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Neocorynura electra from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Neocorynura electra is an extinct species of sweat bee in the Halictidae genus Neocorynura. N. electra is named from the Latin electrum meaning "amber". The species is known from a single female specimen, the holotype, deposited in the American Museum of Natural History, and which was first studied by Dr. Michael S. Engel. He published his type description in the Journal of the New York Entomological Society volume 103 published in 1995. Extremely well preserved in early Miocene Burdigalian stage Dominican amber from the island of Hispaniola, the female individual is very slightly compressed along the legs and head but without apparent destruction of details and the specimen is free from "schimmel", a type of white mold sometimes present on arthropods in amber. Though a fracture does cross the specimen the bee is not harmed, with the fracture running along the bee from the head down the body to the mesothorax. The wings of the female are either slightly folded or crumpled and held at an angle to the line of the thorax. Overall N. electra has a total length, not including antennae, of just over 7 millimetres (0.28 in) and a forewing length of 4.9 millimetres (0.19 in). As a whole the female has a metallic gold-green coloration to the head and thorax. The antenna and some of the region above the mouth are black while the pronotum is black with metallic green highlights. The legs are dark brown to black with strong metallic green highlights, while the wings are hyaline. N. electra is the only species of Neocorynura known from fossils and one of only a few extinct Halictidae which are known from the amber record. N. electra can be identified from the extinct halictid genus Oligochlora by differences in the mesoscutum and carinate pronotal ridge. Although similar to the associated Dominican amber species Eickwortapis dominicana the mesoscutum is again different between the two species. The modern Greater Antilles do not have any native species of Neocorynura. The closest living species is an undescribed species which is found on St. Vincent and Trinidad, known from specimens in the National Museum of Natural History. The relationship between N. electra, the only known species from the Greater Antilles, and species in Central and South America is not clear. The rarity of N. electra in the Dominican amber record may be in part due to the general habit of Neocorynura species bees to nest in the ground and not collect resin as other bees thus making contact and preservation unlikely.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neocorynura electra

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neocorynura electra claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Neocorynura electra before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Neocorynura electra ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Neocorynura electra

In research: Neocorynura electra appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Neocorynura electra in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Neocorynura electra is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Burdigalian life, Dominican amber, Fauna of Hispaniola, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neocorynura electra outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Neocorynura electra in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Neocorynura electra means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Neocorynura electra out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Neocorynura electra in simple terms?

Neocorynura electra is an extinct species of sweat bee in the Halictidae genus Neocorynura. N. electra is named from the Latin electrum meaning "amber".

Why does Neocorynura electra matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Neocorynura electra?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Neocorynura electra.