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Simplified schematic of an island's fauna - all its animal species, highlighted in boxes.

Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora. Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota.

Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna". It also can refer to a given subset of the fauna of a given region, as in: "... the Amazon Basin has a rich ant fauna...".

Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils.

Etymology[link]

"Fauna" comes from the Latin names of Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and panis is the Greek equivalent of fauna. Fauna is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner. The term was first used by Linnaeus in the title of his 1745^[1] work Fauna Suecica.

Subdivisions of fauna[link]

Australian and New Zealand Fauna. This image was likely first published in the first edition (1876–1899) of the Nordisk familjebok.

Cryofauna[link]

Cryofauna are animals that live in, or very close to, ice.

Cryptofauna[link]

Cryptofauna are animals that are rarely seen and may be extinct or mythological.

Infauna[link]

Infauna are benthic organisms that live within the bottom substratum of a body of water, especially within the bottom-most oceanic sediments, rather than on its surface. Bacteria and microalgae may also live in the interstices of bottom sediments. In general infaunal animals become progressively smaller and less abundant with increasing water depth and distance from shore, whereas bacteria show more constancy in abundance, tending toward one billion cells per milliliter of interstitial seawater.

Epifauna[link]

Epifauna, also called epibenthos, are aquatic animals that live on the bottom substratum as opposed to within it, that is, the benthic fauna that live on top of the sediment surface at the seafloor.

Macrofauna[link]

Macrofauna are benthic or soil organisms which are retained on a 0.5mm sieve. Studies in the deep sea define macrofauna as animals retained on a 0.3mm sieve to account for the small size of many of the taxa.

Megafauna[link]

Megafauna are large animals of any particular region or time. For example, Australian megafauna.

Meiofauna[link]

Meiofauna are small benthic invertebrates that live in both marine and fresh water environments. The term Meiofauna loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than microfauna but smaller than macrofauna, rather than a taxonomic grouping. One environment for meiofauna is between grains of damp sand (see Mystacocarida).

In practice these are metazoan animals that can pass unharmed through a 0.5 – 1 mm mesh but will be retained by a 30 – 45 μm mesh,^[2] but the exact dimensions will vary from researcher to researcher. Whether an organism passes through a 1 mm mesh also depends upon whether it is alive or dead at the time of sorting.

Mesofauna[link]

Mesofauna are macroscopic soil invertebrates such as arthropods or nematodes. Mesofauna are extremely diverse; considering just the springtails (Collembola), as of 1998, approximately 6,500 species had been identified.^[3]

Microfauna[link]

Microfauna are microscopic or very small animals (usually including protozoans and very small animals such as rotifers).

Other[link]

Examples of Fauna in Olleros de Tera (Spain).

Other terms include avifauna, which means "bird fauna" and piscifauna (or ichthyofauna), which means "fish fauna".

Other[link]

"Fauna was a term author Aldo Leopold used in describing the fragile environment along the Round River" from: A Sand County Almanac.

Fauna treatises[link]

Classic faunas[link]

• Linnaeus, Carolus. Fauna Suecica. 1746

See also[link]

	Environment portal
	Ecology portal
	Earth sciences portal

References[link]

 3 http://www.springerlink.com/content/v7044wm252462k53/

External links[link]

Look up fauna in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fauna

Gauchito Gil
A mural with a traditional depiction of the Gauchito Gil in a suburb of Rosario.
Born	Mercedes, Corrientes
Died	8 January 1878
Honored in	Folk Catholicism
Feast	January 8
Attributes	red bandana, cross, Prosopis caldenia

The Gauchito Gil (literally "Little Gaucho Gil") is a legendary character of Argentina's popular culture. His full name was Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez and he was allegedly born in the area of Pay Ubre, nowadays Mercedes, Corrientes, possibly in the 1840s, and died on 8 January 1878.^[1] He is regarded as the most prominent gaucho saint in Argentina.

The legend[link]

Popular accounts vary, but in broad terms the legend tells that Antonio Gil was a farmworker and that a wealthy widow fell in love, or had an affair, with him. When her brothers and the head of the police (who was also in love with the widow) found out about their relationship, accused him of robbery and tried to kill him. He enlisted in the army to escape from them. In the army, he fought against the Paraguayan army. Finally, he could come back to his village as a hero.

But, when he arrived at his village, he was forced to return to the army to fight in the Argentine Civil War. It was a brother versus brother war and "Gauchito" Gil was tired of fighting. Therefore, he decided to desert. During this time he became an outlaw and acquired a reputation as a Robin Hood figure, for his efforts to protect and help the needy.

Traditional roadside shrine to Gauchito Gil in Santiago del Estero Province.

In the end the policemen caught him in the forest. They tortured him and hung him from his feet on an algarrobo tree. When a policeman was going to kill him, "Gauchito" Gil said to him: "Your son is very ill. If you pray and beg me to save your child, I promise you that he will live. If not, he will die". Then the policeman killed "Gauchito" Gil by cutting his throat. That was January 8, 1878.^[2]

When the policemen came back to his village, the one who had killed "Gauchito" Gil learnt that his child was in fact very ill. Very frightened, the policeman prayed to "Gauchito" Gil for his son. And afterwards, his son got better. Legend has it that "Gauchito" Gil had healed his murderer's son.

Very grateful, the policeman gave Gil's body a proper burial, and built a tiny shrine for "Gauchito". Moreover, he tried to let everybody know about the miracle.^[3]

Current veneration[link]

Gauchito Gil shrine, Argentina.

Closer view of Gauchito Gil shrine, Argentina.

"Gauchito" Gil is thought to be a folk saint for many people of the provinces of Formosa, Corrientes, Chaco, the north of Santa Fe and even the province of Buenos Aires. One can spot smaller shrines of Gauchito Gil on roadsides throughout Argentina. Great pilgrimages are organised to the sanctuary (located about 8 km from the city of Mercedes) to ask to the saint for favours.

Moreover, each January 8 (date of Gil's death), there is a celebration honoring "Gauchito" Gil. There, the people dance, sing and drink, and also play folklorical sports as tanning horses, bulls and others animals.

The Catholic Church hasn't declared "Gauchito" Gil a saint, but many Argentine people are promoting him.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "The Legend of Argentina's Gaucho Gil", NPR, byline Oct 10, 2004, accessed Nov. 14, 2007
• "Cultures of Devotion by Frank Graziano", academic website with images relating to Gaucho Gil and other Spanish American folk saints.
• [1]"Miracles on the Road" Reportage By Sebastian Marjanov
• Gauchito (Curuzú) Gil at Folklore del Norte.
• El Gauchito Gil at La Guía del Chaco.
• Dos gauchos que atraen la veneración popular.

Oh Land
Oh Land performing at Roskilde Festival 2011 in Roskilde, Denmark
Background information
Birth name	Nanna Øland Fabricius
Born	(1985-05-02) 2 May 1985 (age 27) Copenhagen, Denmark
Genres	Pop, electronic, experimental
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Fake Diamond, Epic
Website	www.ohlandmusic.com

Nanna Øland Fabricius (born 2 May 1985),^[1] better known by her stage name Oh Land, is a Danish singer-songwriter and record producer. She lives in Brooklyn, New York City.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Oh Land performing at the Music Box in Los Angeles, 25 March 2011.

Oh Land was born in Copenhagen,^[3] the daughter of Bendt Fabricius,^[4] an organist, and Bodil Øland,^[5] an opera singer.^[6] She is the great-great-grandchild of missionary and ethnographer Otto Fabricius, who published Fauna Groenlandica in 1780, the first zoological observations of Greenland.^[7] She is a former student of the Royal Danish and Royal Swedish Ballet schools.^[8] However, an injury caused by a slipped disc and spinal fracture put an end to her dancing career, which eventually led her to start making music.^[6] Oh Land has a small dog named Ujan that travels with her sometimes.^[9][10] She has been living in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Williamsburg since January 2010.^[11]

Career[link]

Oh Land's debut album, Fauna, was released in her native Denmark on 10 November 2008 by Danish independent label Fake Diamond Records.^[12] For her eponymous follow-up album, she worked with producers Dan Carey, Dave McCracken and Lester Mendez.^[13] The album was released on 14 March 2011^[14] and peaked at number five on the Danish Albums Chart.^[15] It also served as her debut in the United States, where it was released on 15 March 2011 by Epic Records,^[16] reaching number 184 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[17] An EP with the same name was previously released on 19 October 2010, containing four tracks from the full-length album.^[18] On 7 April 2011, she was given the Brink of Fame: Music Artist award at the 2011 NewNowNext Awards.^[19]

Oh Land made her US television debut performence on Late Show with David Letterman on 2 March 2011 performing her single "Sun of a Gun".^[20] She also performed it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 24 March 2011 and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 25 May.^[21][22] Oh Land toured North America as the supporting act for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in March 2011,^[23] and supported Sia on North American dates of her We Are Born tour in July and August 2011.^[24] She also opened for Katy Perry on select US dates of her California Dreams Tour in August 2011, and joined Perry again in October and November on the tour's second leg in the UK and Ireland.^[25]

As an actress, Oh Land had a supporting role as Sara in the 2007 Danish psychological drama film Hvid nat.^[26][27]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

• Oh Land (2010)

Singles[link]

Featured singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Oh Land at Allmusic
• Oh Land at the Internet Movie Database