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Multiple listing service

A multiple listing service (MLS, also multiple listing system or multiple listings service) is an organization with a suite of services that real estate brokers use to establish contractual offers of cooperation and compensation (among brokers) and accumulate and disseminate information to enable appraisals. A multiple listing service's database and software is used by real estate brokers in real estate (or in other industries, for example, aircraft brokers ), representing sellers under a listing contract to widely share information about properties with other brokers who may represent potential buyers or wish to work with a seller's broker in finding a buyer for the property or asset. The listing data stored in a multiple listing service's database is the proprietary information of the broker who has obtained a listing agreement with a property's seller.

Origin
According to the U.S. National Association of Realtors: "In the late 1800s, real estate brokers regularly gathered at the offices of their local associations to share information about properties they were trying to sell. They agreed to compensate other brokers who helped sell those properties, and the first MLS was born, based on a fundamental principle that's unique to organized real estate: Help me sell my inventory and I'll help you sell yours."

The term "MLS" is considered generic in the United States and cannot be trademarked or branded. MLSs can be owned and operated by individual realtor associations, regional multi-association conglomerates or independent cooperatives of real estate brokerages. There is no single authoritative MLS. However, there is a data standard for MLS systems. The Real Estate Standards Organization provides the Data Dictionary for common real estate terms and data structures, and the RESO Web API for data transport. A previous common data transport standard, RETS, has been deprecated.

Purpose and benefits
The primary purpose of an MLS is to provide a facility to publish a "unilateral offer of compensation" by a listing broker, to other broker participants in that MLS. In other words, the commission rate that is offered by the listing broker is published within the MLS to other cooperating brokers. This offer of compensation is considered a contractual obligation; however, it can be negotiated at any time between the listing broker and the broker representing the buyer. Many Realtors feel commission is not negotiable after an offer is received, but the National Association of Realtors states it can be negotiated at any time. Since the commission for a transaction as well as the property features are contained in the MLS system, it is in the best interests of the brokers to maintain accurate and timely data.

The additional benefit of MLS systems is that an MLS subscriber may search an MLS and retrieve information about all homes for sale by all participating brokers. MLS systems contain hundreds of fields of information about the features of a property. These fields are determined by real estate professionals who are knowledgeable and experienced in that local marketplace.

Limitations on access and other criticisms
There are currently 529 Multiple Listing Services in the US. They are owned by associations of realtors individually, collectively, or by, in a small number of cases, brokers. They are not freely accessible to anyone and a fee must be paid to be a user. In addition, only licensed real estate agents, and brokers, and appraisers are eligible to belong to an MLS.

In response, the Federal Trade Commission investigated, found several violations of anti-trust laws, and entered into settlements with five MLSes to enable free competition for listings. One MLS, Realcomp in Michigan, refused to enter a settlement/consent agreement with the FTC, asserting it had the right to hide listings of discounters because such competition is detrimental to the revenue of its members. In 2006, the FTC filed a lawsuit against the Realcomp MLS alleging violations of federal anti-trust laws and squelching free competition. The lawsuit went to trial in 2007 and the FTC lost, but won the case in a 4–0 unanimous ruling on appeal in 2009.

In Canada, CREA has come under scrutiny and investigation by the Competition Bureau and litigation by former CREA member and real estate brokerage Realtysellers (Ontario) Ltd., for the organization's control over the Canadian MLS system. In 2001, Realtysellers (Ontario) Ltd., a discount real-estate firm was launched that reduced the role of agents and the commissions they collect from home buyers and sellers. The brokerage later shut down and launched a $100 million lawsuit against CREA and TREB, alleging that they breached an earlier out-of-court settlement that the parties entered into in 2003.

India
Listings of India specializing in the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) launches a platform in Dec 2015 in India, for the first time, to connect all authorized Real Estate Agents/Brokers/Agency/ Promotes/Builders through one platform; to showcase their property listings for wider exposure among the network.

Philippines
The Philippine Association of Real Estate Boards (PAREB) operates the PAREB MLS, an Multi Listing Service (MLS) which provide real time property listing exchange nationwide among PAREB Brokers.

Vietnam
The Vietnam Multiple Listing Service was started in 2010. The MLS in Vietnam is based around the U.S. model, with some changes to accommodate different local market conditions. In particular, the system supports open agency listings as well as MLS listings, as the current market operates mainly on the open agency model. FSBO listings, however, are not allowed.

Australia
There is no general MLS for Australia; however, a private company Investorist operates a specialised MLS for off the plan property, which is used by some Australian developers and master agents. Investorist is also accessed by international agents.

realestate.com.au Pty. Ltd. operates Property Platform, which allows real-time reservations and eCommerce reservation fee processing.

Bahrain
Bahrain Real Estate Multilevel Listing Solution – mlsBH is a localized and enhanced version of RETS based MLS service but still in its early stage of implementation and integration within the property sector of Bahrain. mlsBH is owned and operated by a private company since 2015 and unlike conventional MLS; is not restricted to dealing with brokers only. Via RealtorBH; a set of FSRBO classes which along with extended broker classes are facilitated to directly submit their exclusive listings, which after verification are centralized in mlsBH. Furthermore it also directly syndicates centralized listings on RealtyBH – a local comparable of US' Zillow. With the introduction of Bahrain RERA in 2018 operators of mlsBH aligned themselves with the policies of the regulator.

Israel
The MLS in Israel has been operating since 1990 only in the Jerusalem. The Israel Multiple Listing Service began in 2013 and is managed by a Multiple Listing Service LTD.

Czech Republic
There are not any MLS services in the Czech Republic. With high demand and low surplus of available properties, there is no need for agents to split commission as there is not a lack of buyers.

Italy
In Italy there are many MLSs and it is possible to choose between different software enabling real estate agencies either to manage and share their properties with others or to syndicate their listings on the web, or both the two things as it happens on MLS Agent RE and, as of 2021, it had 89,22% of market shares as stated in the "Reti e Aggregazioni Immobiliari 2021" report. Unlike the US model, in agent one there is no obligation for members to include properties in the mls.

Although many countries are lacking regulations regarding real estate transactions, lately there are attempts to align with those in developed markets, among which the only one managed directly by real estate agents is the “confederazione reti Mls”. the confederation brings together a series of mls local networks that adhere to the confederation's code of ethics, and differs from other mls networks in Italy for the obligation to pre-qualify properties and the sharing of the entire list of properties. The site of the confederation for customers, who can choose the real estate agent regardless of whether he is the holder of the assignment or not, is immobilimls.

Cyprus, Turkey, Portugal and Spain
The UltraIT Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a “Trade Only” property network of estate agents. Agents subscribed to the MLS have the ability to search this database of property sales and property rentals properties from a growing number of subscribing estate agents, providing each agent the ability to access and search the UltraIT MLS system of ten’s of thousands of properties all over the world, currently including Cyprus, Turkey, Portugal and areas in Spain such as the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Barcelona and Tenerife. All Entrepreneur Real Estate Agents (TUGEM) of Turkey has started MLS based database with its members, mainly international brands that works in Turkey. TUGEM has start working relation with www.cepi.eu/ and www.nar.realtor to amalgamate their resources. Ministry of Land Registry in Turkey has started www.yourkeyturkey.gov.tr web based portal to work with TUGEM and TUGEM GLOBAL to expend their services and their database of all listings and land registry information. TUGEM is planning to launch their full MLS system in Mid- 2021.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, MLS – Multiple Listing Systems do exist via some of the agents software providers, but many software providers have only designed their software to work in one company (typically for firms working across a large office footprint). One hurdle to the traditional MLS comes as a result of mixed software packages among agencies that do not allow them to cross share data between other company, so MLS in the United Kingdom is in its infancy and a cross data platform now exists via INEA.

MLS History in the United Kingdom. In the 1980s and early/mid 1990s agents did work together much like the early U.S. and Canadian realtors via paper-based forms which had tick-boxes offering a listing from one agent to sub-agents. Attached would be the property details pre-agreed with the owner for correctness, a photographic negative of photo; later a similar procedure was carried out by email and graphic computer file. Agents involved could copy and process the paper- or email-based property data. The main agent was treated as the vendor; all sales progression went through her and commission was split upon completion.

The Dark Years: In the late 1990s many of the smaller agencies were acquired by larger companies, breaking many of the MLS relationships that existed. More software options came in (all in competition) and, as the software houses did not work together, their collectives of agents became fragmented by non-collaborative out-of-group software restraints. With large property portals gaining ground in the 2000s agents in the UK started working alone as all could upload to the same portal platforms.

MLS Today: In the UK there are a number of seedling MLS systems that attempt to connect agents horizontally. INEA, Lonres  and AgentHub.com are examples of sites that serve similar functions to US MLS counterparts, however there are insufficient data to conclude that any of these systems are used popularly across the country.

The future of MLS in the UK: The future of the MLS in the UK is uncertain at the time of writing (2017). With most home buyers beginning property search online via nationwide property portals, it would seem that the requirement for property sharing between agencies is significantly diminished. Large UK property portals vastly improve liquidity in the residential real estate market by connecting buyers with agents in an information-rich environment. In essence, horizontal sharing of inventory between agents – formerly conducted through the MLS – is now replaced by a vertical interaction between estate agents and centralised advertising portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla.

This said, it is not entirely inconceivable that new systems will be introduced to the market that share information horizontally across the market, not only between agents (under a fee sharing arrangement), but with other participants in the transaction such as mortgagors and surveyors. Moreover, UK estate agencies have shown resistance to the inflating fees charged by large property portals. In any case, the future of MLS in the UK will most probably be shaped by changes to competition law, consumer behaviours and the rate of technological advancement.

Costa Rica
There are two main real estate organizations in Costa Rica: CRGAR (Costa Rica Global Association of Realtors ), and CCCBR (Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce for Real Estate). Of these two associations only CRGAR has an MLS system in place.

CRGAR is associated with the NAR (a US based National Association of Realtors). According to the CRGAR website, as of October 2019 they have just over 120 individual agent members and sponsors.

The actual number of real estate agents in Costa Rica is unknown. Agents are not required under the law to meet any minimal licensing standards nor are they required to join any association in order to become a realtor. Anyone can be an agent without pre-qualification.

A few private real estate companies have set up their own MLS systems, some claiming to be the only official MLS, but these are not directly affiliated with any Costa Rica based real estate associations.

North America
In North America, the MLS systems are governed by private entities, and the rules are set by those entities with no state or federal oversight, beyond any individual state rules regarding real estate. MLS systems set their own rules for membership, access, and sharing of information. An MLS may be owned and operated by a real estate company, a county or regional real estate board of realtors or association of realtors, or by a trade association. Membership in the MLS is not required for the practice of real estate brokerage. The most current list of North American MLSs shows over 500 organizations in Canada and the United States.

Canada
In Canada, the national MLS is a cooperative system for the members of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), working through Canada's 101 real estate boards and 13 provincial/territorial associations. Both the terms Realtor and MLS are registered trademarks for both the members and data of the CREA. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver claims to have pioneered the first MLS in Canada. A publicly accessible website allows consumers to search an aggregated subset of each participating board's MLS database of active listings, providing limited details and directing consumers to contact a real estate agent for more information.

While most real estate boards participate in the national MLS, known as the Data Distribution System, others provide listings to a Quebec-based service known as Centris. Still others, such as the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), operate their own MLS.

In 2007, the real estate brokerage Realtysellers shut down after alleging that CREA and TRREB had modified their rules to hinder flat-fee MLS services on behalf of those selling houses themselves. In 2010, CREA settled with the Competition Bureau, and agreed to allow flat-fee listings. However, some real estate boards continued to bar the practice, citing interpretations of provincial laws requiring those trading in real estate to be licensed. Flat-free providers disputed the argument, claiming that their services were no different than posting listings on classifieds, and that they were not necessarily trading. In 2015, the Competition Bureau began a federal case against the TRREB "in hopes of breaking the real estate industry's stranglehold on the Multiple Listings Service."

Mexico
In Mexico, MLS systems have been slow to catch on, although there have been numerous attempts to create a national network. The first MLS system originated in Puerto Vallarta as www.MLSVallarta.com in 1988 and existed for a short period in the Los Cabos region as MLSCabo.com in the early 90s. They originated in these two markets as the majority of buyers are American or Canadian and familiar with the benefits of a MLS real estate system in their own home markets. MLS systems have not had as much success in other parts of Mexico. The Cabo system went through a few structural changes before contracting with FLEX MLS software in 2010. Today, it is represents over 90 brokers in the State of Baja California Sur, and is now called MLS BCS (www.mlsinbajasur.com), which operates as a corporation in which each subscriber Broker is permitted to own one voting share. Brokers and agents subscribe through MLS BCS upon meeting requirements and committing to following a strict set of Operating Policies and Procedures, requiring each listing to be Exclusive and the broker to have a complete property records file in his office on each listing. The MLS BCS has been invited to participate on the oversight council of the new Real Estate Agent License Registry, helping to write the Code of Ethics for the 2017 State License law. MLS BCS is generally recognized to be the model for MLS operation in the country. In Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, MLSVallarta.com still services the region as the oldest and longest running MLS system in Mexico. MLSVallarta is a private, independent MLS system, with membership for both qualifying brokers and developers. The Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit real estate associations formed their own MLS system in 2012, known as www.VallartaNayaritMLS.com, adopting the same FLEX system used in the Los Cabos region. Rules of membership exist for both system in Vallarta systems and only legal existing real estate businesses can apply for membership. Both are well used by local brokers, developers and the buying/selling public.

United States
As of 2020, there are 580 MLSs in the US with that number decreasing due to consolidation trends. The largest MLS in the United States is currently California-Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), representing 110,000 real estate professionals. Other notable MLSs include Bright MLS with over 109,000, Stellar MLS with over 75,000 Subscribers, First MLS in Atlanta with over 50,000 Subscribers, MetroList located in Northern California has over 22,500 Subscribers, Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) at 40,000 members serving Chicago and northern Illinois, MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN) at 37,000 subscribers serving Massachusetts and areas of New England and New York, Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) in Arizona serving 42,000 members in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and SmartMLS in Connecticut serving over 17,000 members.

New York City
Although the other boroughs and Long Island have several different MLS, MLS has never taken hold in Manhattan. A small group of brokers formed the Manhattan Association of Realtors and operate MLSManhattan.com. MLSManhattan has a small fraction of the total active inventory in Manhattan. The Bronx Manhattan North MLS also offers coverage in Northern Manhattan. It too has failed to acquire widespread adoption by brokers.

The prevalent database is operated by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), a non-Realtor entity that seceded from the National Association of Realtors in 1994. REBNY operates a database called RLS which stands for REBNY Listing Service. A predecessor of RLS was marketed as R.O.L.E.X (REBNY Online Listing Exchange), before Rolex Watches claimed trademark infringement.

Like MLS, RLS has under contract, sold and days on market data, and houses rental listings as well. There is a database, which in 2011, was slated to be converted to the more familiar RETS standard in January 2012. The RLS gateway is populated by several private databases that include RealtyMX (RMX), Online Residential (OLR) and Realplus, another proprietary database available to Manhattan Brokers. These databases exchange data continually effectively creating several separate systems with essentially similar data. Another vendor, Klickads, Inc D/B/A Brokers NYC, owned by Lala Wang sued in 2007 to be included in the list of firms permitted to participate in the Gateway. REBNY also grandfathered the major brokerages including Douglas Elliman, Corcoran, Stribling, Bellmarc as participants to the Gateway.

Seriously committed Manhattan brokerages are members of REBNY, and thus one may find the vast majority of updated and valid listings in Manhattan are represented by RLS. The REBNY RLS requires all listings to be entered and disseminated within 24 hours (Until 2007 72 Hours to accommodate agencies without weekend data entry).

Policies on sharing MLS data in the US
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has set policies that permit brokers to show limited MLS information on their websites under a system known as IDX or Internet Data Exchange. NAR has an ownership interest in Move Inc., the company which operates a website that has been given exclusive rights to display significant MLS information.

Using IDX search tools available on most real estate brokers' websites (as well as on many individual agents' sites), potential buyers may view properties available on the market, using search features such as location, type of property (single family, lease, vacant land, duplex), property features (number of bedrooms and bathrooms), and price ranges. In some instances photos can be viewed. Many allow for saving search criteria and for daily email updates of newly-available properties. However, if a potential buyer finds a property, he/she will still need to contact the listing agent (or their own agent) to view the house and make an offer.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit in September 2005 against the National Association of Realtors over NAR's policy which allowed brokers to restrict access to their MLS information from appearing on the websites of certain brokers which operate solely on the web. This policy applied to commercial entities which are also licensed brokerages, such as HomeGain, which solicit clients by internet advertising and then provide referrals to local agents in return for a fee of 25% to 35% of the commission.

The DOJ's antitrust claims also include NAR rules that exclude certain kinds of brokers from membership in MLSs. NAR has revised its policies on allowing access on web sites operated by member brokers and others to what might be considered as proprietary data.

The case was settled in May 2008, with NAR agreeing that Internet brokerages would be given access to all the same listings that traditional brokerages are.

External links and references

 * "Justice Department Sues National Association Of Realtors For Limiting Competition Among Real Estate Brokers", Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit press release, 8 September 2005

title: Multiple listing service


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Red oak (disambiguation)

Red oaks are tree species in the genus Quercus section Lobatae.

Red oak, Red Oak or Redoak may also refer to:

Trees

 * Quercus buckleyi, Texas red oak
 * Quercus falcata, southern red oak
 * Quercus graciliformis, Mexican white oak, Canby oak, or Chisos oak
 * Quercus rubra, the northern red oak, with a large range in southeastern and south-central Canada and the eastern and central United States
 * Carnarvonia araliifolia, a rainforest tree from Australia

Places

 * Red Oak, Georgia, an area of Fulton County, Georgia
 * Red Oak, Illinois, an unincorporated community
 * Red Oak, Iowa, a town in southwestern Iowa
 * Red Oak, Bell County, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
 * Red Oak, Michigan, an unincorporated community
 * Red Oak, Missouri, an unincorporated community
 * Red Oak, North Carolina, a town
 * Redoak, Ohio, an unincorporated community
 * Red Oak, Oklahoma, a town
 * Red Oak, Texas, a city
 * Red Oak, Virginia, an unincorporated community
 * Red Oaks Mill, New York, a hamlet and census-designated place
 * Red Oak (power station), in Sayreville, New Jersey

Other uses

 * Red Oaks, a 2015 American comedy-drama streaming television series
 * Red Oak (beer), a North Carolina-based microbrewery
 * Agkistrodon contortrix, a venomous snake species found in North America
 * Red Oak High School (disambiguation)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Red oak (disambiguation)


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Rodrigues solitaire

The Rodrigues solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Genetically within the family of pigeons and doves, it was most closely related to the also extinct dodo of the nearby island Mauritius, the two forming the subfamily Raphinae. The Nicobar pigeon is their closest living genetic relative.

Rodrigues solitaires grew to the size of swans, and demonstrated pronounced sexual dimorphism. Males were much larger than females and measured up to 75.7 - 90 cm in height and 28 kg in weight, contrasting with 63.8 - 70 cm and 17 kg for females. Its plumage was grey and brown; the female was paler than the male. It had a black band at the base of its slightly hooked beak, and its neck and legs were long. Both sexes were highly territorial, with large bony knobs on their wings that were used in combat. The Rodrigues solitaire laid a single egg that was incubated in turn by both sexes. Gizzard stones helped digest its food, which included fruit and seeds.

First mentioned during the 17th century, the Rodrigues solitaire was described in detail by François Leguat, the leader of a group of French Huguenot refugees who were marooned on Rodrigues in 1691–1693. It was hunted by humans and introduced animals, and was extinct by the late 18th century. Apart from Leguat's account and drawing, and a few other contemporary descriptions, nothing was known about the bird until a few subfossil bones were found in a cave in 1786. Thousands of bones have subsequently been excavated. It is the only extinct bird with a former constellation named after it, Turdus Solitarius.

Taxonomy
The French explorer François Leguat was the first to refer to the bird as the "solitaire" (referring to its solitary habits), but it has been suggested that he borrowed the name from a 1689 tract by his sponsor Marquis Henri Duquesne, which used the name "solitaire" in reference to the Réunion ibis. The bird was first scientifically named in 1789 as a species of dodo (Didus solitarius, based on Leguat's description) by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in the thirteenth edition of Systema Naturae. In 1786, subfossil Rodrigues solitaire bones encrusted in stalagmite were discovered in a cave and sent to the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in about 1830. For unknown reasons, he stated they had recently been found on Mauritius, which caused confusion, until they were compared with other bones from Rodrigues that were found to belong to the same species.

The English naturalists Hugh Edwin Strickland and Alexander Gordon Melville suggested the common descent of the Rodrigues solitaire and the dodo in 1848. They dissected the only known dodo specimen with soft tissue, comparing it with the few Rodrigues solitaire remains then available. Strickland stated that, although not identical, these birds shared many distinguishing features in the leg bones otherwise only known in pigeons. The fact that the Rodrigues solitaire laid only one egg, fed on fruits, was monogamous and cared for its nestlings also supported this relationship. Strickland recognised its generic distinction and named the new genus Pezophaps, from ancient Greek pezos (πεζός 'pedestrian') and phaps (φάψ 'pigeon'). The differences between the sexes of the bird were so large that Strickland thought they belonged to two species, naming the smaller female bird Pezophaps minor.

Additional subfossils were recovered during the 1860s, but more complete remains were found during the 1874 transit of Venus, since an observation station was located on the island. Many of these excavations were requested by the English ornithologists (and brothers) Alfred and Edward Newton, who used them to describe the osteology of the bird in detail. Thousands of bones were excavated, and mounted skeletons were composed from the remains of several specimens. Study of skeletal features by the Newtons indicated that the solitaire was morphologically intermediate between the dodo and ordinary pigeons, but differed from them in its unique carpal knob.

Some scientists believed that Réunion was home not only to a white dodo, but also to a white bird similar to the Rodrigues solitaire, both of which are now believed to be misinterpretations of old reports of the Réunion ibis. An atypical 17th-century description of a dodo and bones found on Rodrigues, now known to have belonged to the Rodrigues solitaire, led the British taxidermist Abraham Dee Bartlett to name a new species, Didus nazarenus; it is now a junior synonym of this species.

At one point it was suggested that the skeleton of this species is the best described after that of humans. In spite of the evidence, some later scholars doubted Leguat's story, and the existence of the Rodrigues solitaire. In 1921, the American linguist Geoffroy Atkinson claimed Leguat's memoir was merely a novel, and that the man had never even existed, and in 1955, the British ecologist George Evelyn Hutchinson doubted aspects of the bird's biology mentioned by Leguat. Today, it is widely accepted that Leguat's memoirs are credible observations of the bird in life.

For many years the dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire were placed in a family of their own, the Raphidae (formerly Dididae), because their exact relationships with other pigeons were unresolved. Each was also placed in a monotypic family (Raphidae and Pezophapidae, respectively), as it was thought that they had evolved their similarities independently. Osteological and DNA analysis has since led to the dissolution of the family Raphidae, and the dodo and solitaire are now placed in their own subfamily, Raphinae, within the family Columbidae.

Evolution
In 2002, American geneticist Beth Shapiro and colleagues analysed the DNA of the dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire for the first time. Comparison of mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S rRNA sequences isolated from the femur of a Rodrigues solitaire and the tarsal of a dodo confirmed their close relationship and their placement within the Columbidae. The genetic evidence was interpreted as showing the Southeast Asian Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) to be their closest living relative, followed by the crowned pigeons (Goura) of New Guinea, and the superficially dodo-like tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris) from Samoa. This clade consists of generally ground-dwelling island endemic pigeons. The following cladogram shows the closest relationships of the dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire within Columbidae, based on Shapiro et al., 2002:

A similar cladogram was published in 2007, inverting the placement of Goura and Didunculus and including the pheasant pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis) and the thick-billed ground pigeon (Trugon terrestris) at the base of the clade. Based on behavioural and morphological evidence, Jolyon C. Parish proposed that the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire should be placed in the Gourinae subfamily along with the Goura pigeons and others, in agreement with the genetic evidence In 2014, DNA of the only known specimen of the recently extinct spotted green pigeon (Caloenas maculata) was analysed, and it was found to be a close relative of the Nicobar pigeon, and thus also the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire.

The 2002 study indicated that the ancestors of the Rodrigues solitaire and the dodo diverged around the Paleogene–Neogene boundary. The Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues), are of volcanic origin and are less than 10 million years old. Therefore, the ancestors of both birds probably remained capable of flight for a considerable time after the separation of their lineage. The Nicobar and spotted green pigeon were placed at the base of a lineage leading to the Raphinae, which indicates the flightless raphines had ancestors that were able to fly, were semi-terrestrial, and inhabited islands. This in turn supports the hypothesis that the ancestors of those birds reached the Mascarene islands by island hopping from South Asia. The lack of mammalian herbivores competing for resources on these islands allowed the solitaire and the dodo to attain very large sizes. The dodo lost the ability to fly owing to the lack of mammalian predators on Mauritius. Another large, flightless pigeon, the Viti Levu giant pigeon (Natunaornis gigoura), was described in 2001 from subfossil material from Fiji. It was only slightly smaller than the Rodrigues solitaire and the dodo, and it too is thought to have been related to the crowned pigeons.

Description
The beak of the Rodrigues solitaire was slightly hooked, and its neck and legs were long. One observer described it as the size of a swan. The skull was 170 mm long, flattened at the top with the fore and hind parts elevated into two bony ridges structured with cancellous bone. A black band (a contemporary description described it as a "frontlet") appeared on its head just behind the base of the beak. The plumage of the Rodrigues solitaire was described as grey and brown. Females were paler than males and had light-coloured elevations on the lower neck.

Sexual size dimorphism in this species is perhaps the greatest in any neognath bird. Males were considerably larger than females, measuring 75.7 - 90 cm in height and weighing up to 28 kg, whereas females were 63.8 - 70 cm and weighed 17 kg. This is only 60% of the weight of a mature male. Their weight may have varied substantially due to fat cycles, meaning that individuals were fat during cool seasons, but slim during hot seasons, and may have been as low as 21 kg in males and 13 kg in females. Though male pigeons are usually larger than females, there is no direct evidence for the largest specimens actually being the males of the species, and this has only been assumed based on early works. Though the male was probably largest, this can only be confirmed by molecular sexing techniques, and not skeletal morphology alone.

Members of both sexes possessed a large tuberous knob of bone exostosis situated at the base of the carpometacarpus of each wrist. Other wing bones also sometimes show similar structures. The knob was cauliflower-like in appearance, and consisted of up to two or three lobes. The knobs were about half the length of the metacarpus, were larger in males than females, and described as the size of a musket ball. One study measured the largest knob to be 32.9 mm in diameter. The knobs vary in size across individuals, and were entirely absent from 58% of specimens examined for the study. These are thought to be immature birds, or birds without territory. The carpometacarpi of males without the knobs were smaller on average than those with it, but there was little difference between the females. In life, the knobs would have been covered by tough cartilaginous or keratinous integument, which would have made them appear even larger. Carpal spurs and knobs are also known from other extant as well as extinct birds. Within Columbidae, the crowned pigeons and the Viti Levu giant pigeon have outgrowths on the carpometacarpus which are similar to those of the female Rodrigues solitaire. Other well known examples are the steamer ducks, the torrent duck, sheathbills, screamers, the spur-winged goose, and the extinct Jamaican ibis, Xenicibis xympithecus.

The Rodrigues solitaire shared traits with the dodo, its closest relative, such as size and features in the skull, pelvis, and sternum. It differed in other aspects; it was taller and more slender than the dodo and had a smaller skull and beak, a flatter skull roof, and larger orbits. Its neck and legs were proportionally longer, and the dodo did not possess an equivalent to the carpal knob of the Rodrigues solitaire. Many skeletal features of the Rodrigues solitaire and dodo that are unique among pigeons have evolved to adapt to flightlessness. Their pelvic elements were thicker than those of flighted birds (to support their greater weight), and their pectoral region and wings were paedomorphic (underdeveloped, retaining juvenile features). However, the skull, trunk, and pelvic limbs were peramorphic, which means they changed considerably with maturity.

Contemporary descriptions
Apart from Leguat's rather simple depiction, the life appearance of the Rodrigues solitaire is only known from a handful of descriptions; no soft-tissue remains survive. Leguat devoted three pages of his memoirs to the Rodrigues solitaire, and was clearly impressed by the bird. He described its appearance as follows: "Of all the Birds in the Island the most remarkable is that which goes by the name of the solitary, because it is very seldom seen in company, tho' there are abundance of them. The Feathers of the Males are of a brown grey Colour: the Feet and Beak are like a Turkey's, but a little more crooked. They have scarce any Tail, but their Hind-part covered with Feathers is roundish, like the Crupper [rump] of a horse; they are taller than Turkeys. Their Neck is straight, and a little longer in proportion than a Turkey's when it lifts up his Head. Its Eye is Black and lively, and its Head without Comb or Cop. They never fly, their Wings are too little to support the Weight of their Bodies; they serve only to beat themselves, and flutter when they call one another. They will whirl about for twenty or thirty times together on the same side, during the space of four or five minutes. The motion of their Wings makes then a noise very like that of a Rattle; and one may hear it two hundred Paces off. The Bone of their Wing grows greater towards the Extremity, and forms a little round Mass under the Feathers, as big as a Musket Ball. That and its Beak are the chief Defence of this Bird. 'Tis very hard to catch it in the Woods, but easie in open Places, because we run faster than they, and sometimes we approach them without much Trouble. From March to September they are extremely fat, and taste admirably well, especially while they are young, some of the Males weigh forty-five Pounds."

Several of Leguat's observations were later confirmed through study of subfossil Rodrigues solitaire remains. The curved contour lines of the pelvis also support the roundness of its hind parts, which he compared to that of a horse. Also, a ridged surface appears at the base of the beak, indicating the position of the caruncular ridge, which Leguat described as a "widow's peak". Before fossils of the carpal knob were found, Strickland noted that the keel of the sternum of the Rodrigues solitaire was so well-developed as to almost indicate it had possessed the power of flight; however, since the humerus was very short he inferred that this was instead related to Leguat's claim that they used their wings for defence.

Leguat continued with an elaborate description of the female Rodrigues solitaire, which also appears to be the sex depicted in his illustration of the bird: "The Females are wonderfully beautiful, some fair, some brown; I call them fair, because they are the colour of fair Hair. They have a sort of Peak, like a Widow's upon their Breasts [beaks], which is of a dun colour. No one Feather is straggling from the other all over their Bodies, they being very careful to adjust themselves, and make them all even with their Beaks. The Feathers on their Thighs are round like Shells at the end, and being there very thick, have an agreeable effect. They have two Risings on their Craws [crop] and the Feathers are whiter than the rest, which livelily represents the fine neck of a Beautiful Woman. They walk with so much Stateliness and good Grace, that one cannot help admiring them and loving them; by which means their fine Mein often saves their Lives."

It has been proposed that Leguat's comparison between the crop of the female Rodrigues solitaire and the "beautiful bosom of a woman" (changed to "fine neck" in some editions of his memoirs) was out of longing for female companionship.

Leguat's statements were confirmed by another description by Julien Tafforet, who wrote in 1726: "The solitaire is a large bird, which weighs about forty or fifty pounds. They have a very big head, with a sort of frontlet, as if of black velvet. Their feathers are neither feathers nor fur; they are of light grey colour, with a little black on their backs. Strutting proudly about, either alone or in pairs, they preen their plumage or fur with their beak, and keep themselves very clean. They have their toes furnished with hard scales, and run with quickness, mostly among the rocks, where a man, however agile, can hardly catch them. They have a very short beak, of about an inch in length, which is sharp. They, nevertheless, do not attempt to hurt anyone, except when they find someone before them, and, when hardly pressed, try to bite him. They have a small stump of a wing, which has a sort of bullet at its extremity, and serves as a defence."

Behaviour and ecology
Observations of the Rodrigues solitaire in life indicate that they were highly territorial. They presumably settled disputes by striking each other with their wings; to aid this purpose, they used the knobs on their wrists. Fractures in their wing bones also indicate that they were used in combat. It has also been suggested that these fractures may have been the result of a hereditary bone disease rather than battle-injuries. But in all extant birds where carpal spurs and knobs are present, these are used as weapons without exceptions. Though some dodo bones have been found with healed fractures, it had weak pectoral muscles and more reduced wings in comparison with the Rodrigues solitaire. Since Rodrigues receives less rainfall and has more seasonal variation than Mauritius, which would have affected the availability of resources on the island, the Rodrigues solitaire would have more reason to evolve aggressive territorial behaviour. Several accounts state that they also defended themselves with a powerful bite.

In addition to their use as weapons, both sexes of the Rodrigues solitaire also used their wings for communication. The wings could create low-frequency sounds for communicating with mates, or to warn rivals, but it is unknown exactly how this sound was created. The sound could be heard 200 yards (182 m) away, and this may therefore be the size of the territory of an individual. Other species of birds (e.g., club-winged manakin) are also known to use their wings to create sounds that attract mates or mark their territory.

In 1869, the Newton brothers suggested that the carpal knobs may have been formed through continuous injuries, as they resemble diseased bone. It has also been claimed that the carpal knobs were instead formed due to a hereditary disease caused by inbreeding. This was dismissed in a 2013 study, since such lesions would likely not occur only in a specific part of the skeleton, but would appear in any growing bone tissue. If such a disease was due to inbreeding, it would also be present in other isolated island bird populations, but it is not. The authors instead suggested that the wing bones contained metaplastic tissue able to form the knob. This development was either in response to continuous impacts during combat, or to hormones released when individuals paired up and acquired territories. It appears a male which had long held a territory would possess especially large carpal knobs, and that their mates would have such developments as well, only smaller.

Some evidence, including their large size and the fact that tropical and frugivorous birds have slower growth rates, indicates that the Rodrigues solitaire may have had a protracted development period. Based on mass estimates, it has been suggested the male could reach the age of 28, and the female 17. The French economist Pierre-André d'Héguerty, writing about his time on the island around 1735, stated that a captive Rodrigues solitaire (which he described as having a melancholic appearance) would always walk in the same line until running out of space, and then return. The species may have lived primarily in the island's woodlands, rather than on the shores.

Many other of the endemic species of Rodrigues became extinct after the arrival of humans, so the ecosystem of the island is heavily damaged. Before humans arrived, forests covered the island entirely, but very little remains today due to deforestation. The Rodrigues solitaire lived alongside other recently extinct birds such as the Rodrigues rail, the Rodrigues parrot, Newton's parakeet, the Rodrigues starling, the Rodrigues scops owl, the Rodrigues night heron, and the Rodrigues pigeon. Extinct reptiles include the domed Rodrigues giant tortoise, the saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise, and the Rodrigues day gecko.

Diet
Leguat stated that the Rodrigues solitaire fed on dates, whereas Tafforet mentioned seeds and leaves. No other accounts mention diet. It has been suggested it ate latan palm fruits, for which it competed with the now extinct Cylindraspis tortoises. It is not known how the young were fed, but related pigeons provide crop milk. The risings on the crop of the female may have covered glands that produced the crop milk. If the theory is correct, the birds may have practiced a division of labour, where the female stayed and fed the young crop milk, while the male collected food in the crop and delivered it to the female. It has been suggested that the maximum size attained by the solitaire and the dodo was limited by the amount of crop milk they were able to produce for their young during early growth.

Several contemporary accounts state that the Rodrigues solitaire used gizzard stones. Dodos also did this, which may imply a similar diet. Leguat described the stones in the following passage, mentioning that Rodrigues solitaires refused to feed in captivity:

"Tho' these Birds will sometimes very familiarly come up near enough to one, when we do not run after them, yet they will never grow Tame. As soon as they are caught they shed Tears without Crying, and refuse all sustenance till they die. We find in the Gizzards of both Male and Female, a brown Stone, of the bigness of a Hen's Egg, 'tis somewhat rough, flat on one side and round on the other, heavy and hard. We believe this Stone was there when they were hatched, for let them be never so young, you meet with it always. They never have but one of 'em, and besides, the Passage from the Craw to the Gizard is so narrow, that a like Mass of half Bigness cou'd not pass. It serv'd to whet our Knives better than any other Stone Whatsoever."

In 1877 three stones were found in a cavern on Rodrigues, each near a Rodrigues solitaire skeleton, and were inferred to be the gizzard stones mentioned by Leguat. One of the stones was examined and found to be dolerite: somewhat rough, hard and heavy, c. 50 g, but hardly flat on one side as described by Leguat. This could be due to its association with a young individual. Although Leguat asserted that the bird hatched with the gizzard stone already inside, in reality adults most likely fed the stones to their hatchlings.

Reproduction
The most detailed account of the reproductive habits of the Rodrigues solitaire is Leguat's. He described mating and nesting as follows:

"When these Birds build their Nests, they choose a clean Place, gather together some Palm-Leaves for that purpose, and heap them up a foot and a half high from the Ground, on which they sit. They never lay but one Egg, which is much bigger than that of a Goose. The Male and Female both cover it in their turns, and the young is not hatch'd till at seven Weeks' end: All the while they are sitting upon it, or are bringing up their young one, which is not able to provide itself in several Months, they will not suffer any other Bird of their Species to come within two hundred Yards round of the Place; But what is very singular, is, the Males will never drive away the Females, only when he perceives one he makes a noise with his Wings to call to the Female, and she drives the unwelcome Stranger away, not leaving it till 'tis without her Bounds. The Female do's the same as to the Males, whom she leaves to the Male, and he drives them away. We have observ'd this several Times, and I affirm it to be true. The Combats between them on this occasion last sometimes pretty long, because the Stranger only turns about, and do's not fly directly from the Nest. However, the others do not forsake it till they have quite driven it out of their Limits. After these Birds have rais'd their young One, and left it to itself, they are always together, which the other Birds are not, and tho' they happen to mingle with other Birds of the same Species, these two Companions never disunite. We have often remark'd, that some Days after the young leaves the Nest, a Company of thirty or forty brings another young one to it, and the now fledg'd Bird, with its Father and Mother joyning with the Band, march to some bye Place. We frequently follow'd them, and found that afterwards the old ones went each their way alone, or in Couples, and left the two young ones together, which we call'd a Marriage."

The clutch was described as consisting of a single egg; given the bird's large size, this led to proposals that the solitaire was K-selected, which means it produced a low number of altricial offspring, which required extensive parental care until maturity. The gathering of unrelated juveniles suggests that they formed crèches, which may have followed foraging adults as part of the learning process. A study of subfossil remains found that the carpal knob only developed after the bird reached skeletal maturity.

Tafforet's account confirms Leguat's description of reproductive behaviour, adding that Rodrigues solitaires would even attack humans approaching their chicks: "They do not fly at all, having no feathers to their wings, but they flap them, and make a great noise with their wings when angry, and the noise is something like thunder in the distance. They only ly, as I am led to suppose, but once in the year, and only one egg. Not that I have seen their eggs, for I have not been able to discover where they lay. But I have never seen but one little one alone with them, and, if any one tried to approach it, they would bite him very severely. These birds live on seeds and leaves of trees, which they pick up on the ground. They have a gizzard larger than the fist, and what is surprising is that there is found in it a stone of the size of a henn's egg, of oval shape, a little flattened, although this animal cannot swallow anything larger than a small cherry-stone. I have eaten them: they are tolerably well tasted."

The size difference between sexes has led to the suggestion that the Rodrigues solitaire was not monogamous as stated by Leguat, and that this deeply religious man attributed the trait to the bird for moral reasons. It has been proposed that it was instead polygynous, and the wing-rattling behaviour described for males suggests lek-mating, where males gather for competitive mating display. However, size dimorphism does occur in some monogamous birds; most other pigeons are monogamous as well. A 2015 article proposed that males invited females into their territories as secondary mates, which would result in the resident female acting aggressively towards the newcomer. Similar behaviour is seen in species that practice resource-defence polygyny. The territories probably provided all the food the birds needed in addition to acting as breeding-areas, and there was probably intense competition for favourable territories. The fact that Rodrigues island shrank by 90% at the end of the Pleistocene may also have contributed to such competition over territories, and thereby furthered sexual dimorphism.

Relationship with humans
The Dutch viceadmiral Hans Hendricksz Bouwer was the first to list "dodos", most likely referring to the Rodrigues solitaire, as part of the fauna of Rodrigues in 1601. The English traveller Sir Thomas Herbert mentioned "dodos" on Rodrigues again in 1634, and they were also mentioned in 1700. The next account, which was the first referring to the bird as the "solitaire", was published in François Leguat's 1708 memoir, A New Voyage to the East Indies. Leguat was the leader of a group of nine French Huguenot refugees, who were the first to colonise the island from 1691 to 1693, after they were marooned there by their captain. His description of the Rodrigues solitaire and its behaviour is the most detailed account of the bird in life, and he also described other species that are now extinct. Leguat's observations are considered some of the first cohesive accounts of animal behaviour in the wild. He later left for Mauritius, but was too late to observe dodos there.

The Huguenots praised the Rodrigues solitaires for their flavour, especially that of the young, and used their gizzard stones as knife sharpeners. D'Héguerty later claimed these were also useful in medicine, and referred to them as bezoars. The second most detailed description of the bird was found in an anonymous document rediscovered in 1874 called Relation de l'Ile Rodrigue, which has been attributed to Julien Tafforet, a mariner marooned on Rodrigues in 1726. His observations are considered credible, though it is known he had a copy of Leguat's memoirs with him during his stay.

Many old accounts mention that Rodrigues solitaires were hunted by humans. The Danish zoologist Japetus Steenstrup noted that some Rodrigues solitaire remains bore traces of having been broken by a human or perhaps another large predator, to extract bone marrow. Writing in 1735, the French lieutenant Gennes de la Chancelière described the capture and consumption of two specimens as follows: "Our men told of having seen goats and a large quantity of birds of different kinds: they brought, amongst others, two of which were bigger by a third than the largest turkey; they appeared, nevertheless to be still quite young, still having down on the neck and head; their wingtips were but sparsely feathered, without any proper tail. Three sailors told me of having seen two others, of the same species, as big as the biggest ostrich. The young ones that were brought had the head made more or less like the latter animal, but their feet were similar to those of turkeys, instead of that of the ostrich which is forked and cloven in the shape of a hind's foot. These two birds, when skinned, had an inch of fat on the body. One was made into a pie, which turned out to be so tough that it was uneatable."

Unlike the dodo, no Rodrigues solitaires are known to have been sent to Europe alive. However, it has been claimed that the French naval officer Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais sent a "solitaire" to France from the nearby island of Réunion around 1740. Since the Réunion solitaire is believed to have become extinct by this date, the bird may actually have been a Rodrigues solitaire.

Extinction
The Rodrigues solitaire probably became extinct sometime between the 1730s and 1760s; the exact date is unknown. Its disappearance coincided with the tortoise trade between 1730 and 1750; traders burnt off vegetation, hunted solitaires and imported cats and pigs that preyed on eggs and chicks. In 1755, the French engineer Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny attempted to obtain a live specimen, as he had been assured the Rodrigues solitaire still survived in remote areas of the island. Though trying for 18 months, and offering large rewards, none could be found. He noted that cats were blamed for decimating the species, but suspected that it was due to hunting by humans instead. The French astronomer Alexandre Guy Pingré did not encounter any solitaires when he visited Rodrigues to observe the 1761 transit of Venus, although he had been assured they survived. His friend, the French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier named the constellation Turdus Solitarius after the bird to commemorate the journey. Although the Rodrigues solitaire is the only extinct bird to have a former constellation named for it, celestial mapmakers did not know what it looked like and star maps depicted other birds.

By the time the discovery of subfossil Rodrigues solitaire bones from 1786 onwards confirmed Leguat's descriptions, no living residents of Rodrigues remembered having seen live specimens. In 1831, a man who had lived on Rodrigues for 40 years said that he had never seen birds large enough to be Rodrigues solitaires. Rodrigues covers only 104 km2, making it implausible that the bird would have survived undetected.

title: Rodrigues solitaire


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Talk:Edward DeBono

I've added some information to this page. It's still mostly a bit of a gush by someone who obviously admires him greatly, full of what DeBono himself would call red hat material instead of the white hat stuff we want in an article. Andrewa 12:01, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Edward DeBono


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Babel Fish (website)

'''Yahoo! Babel Fish''' was a free Web-based machine translation service by Yahoo!. In May 2012 it was replaced by Bing Translator (now Microsoft Translator), to which queries were redirected. Although Yahoo! has transitioned its Babel Fish translation services to Bing Translator, it did not sell its translation application to Microsoft outright. As the oldest free online language translator, the service translated text or Web pages in 36 pairs between 13 languages, including English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

The internet service derived its name from the Babel fish, a fictional species in Douglas Adams's book and radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that could instantly translate languages. In turn, the name of the fictional creature refers to the biblical account of the confusion of languages that arose in the city of Babel.

History
On December 9, 1997, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and SYSTRAN S.A. launched AltaVista Translation Service at babelfish.altavista.com, which was developed by a team of researchers at DEC. In February 2003, AltaVista was bought by Overture Services, Inc. In July 2003, Overture, in turn, was taken over by Yahoo!.

The web address for Babel Fish remained at babelfish.altavista.com until May 9, 2008, when the address changed to babelfish.yahoo.com.

In 2012, the Web address changed again, this time redirecting babelfish.yahoo.com to www.microsofttranslator.com when Microsoft's Bing Translator replaced Yahoo Babel Fish.

As of June 2013, babelfish.yahoo.com no longer redirects to the Microsoft Bing Translator. Instead, it refers directly back to the main Yahoo.com page.

title: Babel Fish (website)


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Sister college

In some countries, certain universities have a tradition of pairing their residential colleges or houses with one another. Colleges that are paired are referred to as sister colleges, and have a ceremonial and symbolic relationship to one another. Some notable pairs include Harvard University and Yale University, the University of Oxford, University of Dublin, and the University of Cambridge, and the University of York and Durham University. Students at one college can often find accommodation at their sister college should they be visiting the other University; this is especially relevant to Harvard and Yale students during the annual Game.

Ireland
Secondary schools in Ireland which are run by the same religious order are often referred to as "sister colleges" and enjoy a privileged relationship with one another. For example, the Jesuit Belvedere College and Clongowes Wood College are sister colleges, as are the Spiritan Blackrock College and St. Michael's College, Dublin.

title: Sister college


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Calcareous sponge

The calcareous sponges (class Calcarea) are members of the animal phylum Porifera, the cellular sponges. They are characterized by spicules made of calcium carbonate, in the form of high-magnesium calcite or aragonite. While the spicules in most species are triradiate (with three points in a single plane), some species may possess two- or four-pointed spicules. Unlike other sponges, calcareans lack microscleres, tiny spicules which reinforce the flesh. In addition, their spicules develop from the outside-in, mineralizing within a hollow organic sheath.

Biology
All sponges in this class are strictly marine, and, while they are distributed worldwide, most are found in shallow tropical waters. Like nearly all other sponges, they are sedentary filter feeders.

All three sponge body plans (asconoid, syconoid, and leuconoid) can be found within the class Calcarea. Typically, calcareous sponges are small, measuring less than 10 cm in height, and drab in colour. However, a few brightly coloured species are also known.

Like the Homoscleromorpha, calcareous sponges are exclusively viviparous.

Calcareous sponges vary from radially symmetrical vase-shaped body types to colonies made up of a meshwork of thin tubes, or irregular massive forms. The skeleton has either a mesh or honeycomb structure of interlocking spicules. Some extinct species were hypercalcified, meaning that the spicule-based skeleton is cemented together by solid calcite.

Classification
Of the approximately 15,000 living species of Porifera, only around 400 are calcareans. Some older studies applied the name Calcispongiae to the class, though "Calcarea" is much more common in modern nomenclature.

Calcarean sponges likely first appeared during the Cambrian Period. The oldest putative calcarean genus is Gravestockia, from the "Atdabanian" (Cambrian Stage 3) of Australia. Calcareans are probably descended from "heteractinid" sponges, which first appeared in the early Cambrian. Calcareans reached their greatest diversity during the Cretaceous period.

Some molecular analyses suggest the class Calcarea is not exclusively related to other sponges, and should thus be designated as a phylum. This would also render Porifera (the sponge phylum) paraphyletic. Borchiellini et al. (2001) argued that calcareans were more closely related to Eumetazoa (non-sponge animals) than to other sponges. A few studies have also supported a sister group relationship between calcareans and Ctenophora (comb jellies). Many authors have strongly doubted the hypothesis of sponge paraphyly, arguing that genetic studies have incomplete sampling and are incompatible with the unique anatomical traits shared by living sponges.

Calcarea is divided into two subclasses (Calcinea and Calcaronea) and a number of orders. The two subclasses are mainly distinguished by spicule orientation, soft tissue and developmental traits. For example, calcineans develop from a parenchymella (a larva with a solid center and radial symmetry). Calcaroneans, on the other hand, develop from an amphiblastula (a larva with a hollow center and semi-bilateral symmetry).

Class Calcarea
 * Subclass Calcinea
 * Order Clathrinida [Holocene]
 * Order Murrayonida [Holocene]
 * Subclass Calcaronea
 * Order Baerida [Pleistocene–Holocene]
 * Order Leucosolenida / Sycettida [Carboniferous?–Holocene]
 * Incertae sedis
 * Order Lithonida [Jurassic–Holocene]
 * Order †Sphaerocoeliida [Permian–Cretaceous]
 * Order †Stellispongiida [Permian–Holocene?]
 * Genus †Gravestockia [Cambrian]

title: Calcareous sponge


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Wolof

Wolof or Wollof may refer to:

 * Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
 * Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
 * The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mali Empire from the 14th to 16th centuries in present-day Senegal
 * The Wolof or Jolof Kingdom, a rump survival of the earlier empire in the same area from the 16th to the 19th centuries

title: Wolof