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From today's featured article

Range of O. dimidiatus (yellow) in Central America

Oryzomys dimidiatus, also known as the Nicaraguan oryzomys, Thomas's rice rat, or the Nicaraguan rice rat, is a rodent in the genus Oryzomys of the family Cricetidae. It is known from only three specimens, all collected in southeastern Nicaragua (range pictured) since 1904. Placed in Nectomys upon its discovery, it was later classified in its own subgenus of Oryzomys and finally recognized as closely related to other species now placed in Oryzomys, including the marsh rice rat and Oryzomys couesi, which occurs in the same region. With a head and body length of 118 to 128 mm (4.6 to 5.0 in), O. dimidiatus is a medium-sized rice rat. The upperparts are gray-brown and the underparts are grayish, not buffy as in O. couesi. The tail is only slightly darker above than below. All three specimens were caught near water and the species may be semiaquatic, spending some time in the water. There is currently not enough data to make a proper assessment of its conservation status. (This article is part of a featured topic: Oryzomys.)

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Did you know ...

Artwork showing Murray (right) and Michael Brake with lightsabers as "Jedi rowers"

... that outside of rowing, New Zealand double-Olympian Tom Murray (artwork shown) is known for his devotion to Star Wars?
... that bookseller T. S. Shanbhag started Bangalore's landmark Premier Bookstore on the site of a burned-down clothing store in 1971?
... that the first Olympic volleyball match in more than 16 years for Kenya's Malkia Strikers is being played today in Tokyo against Japan?
... that the Connecticut National Guard, Frank Sinatra, and a full-sized Cape Cod house have all been seen at the New Haven Armory?
... that Auguste Rodin's erotic sculpture The Kiss was removed from Lewes Town Hall during the First World War after a local headmistress complained?
... that Jack Mitchell and his heiress wife Lolita transformed El Mirador into "one of the most fabulous estates in Montecito", complete with a dairy, a zoo, and a floating tea pavilion on a lake?
... that for polygons with integer coordinates, the area can be computed from the numbers of integer points inside and on the boundary of the polygon?
... that English cricketer Josh de Caires, the son of former England captain Michael Atherton, was given his mother's maiden name at birth, and he does not know why?

In the news

Brisbane

The delayed 2020 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo, Japan.
The Australian city of Brisbane (pictured) is announced as the host city of the 2032 Summer Olympics.
In sumo, Terunofuji Haruo becomes the 73rd yokozuna.
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City in England is stripped of its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to modern development in the area.
Floods and landslides result in at least 56 deaths in Henan, China.

On this day

July 25

Head of the Colossus of Constantine

306 – Constantine the Great (sculpture pictured) was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops after the death of Constantius Chlorus.
1139 – Prince Afonso Henriques led Portuguese troops to victory over the Almoravid Moors at the Battle of Ourique, which soon resulted in Portuguese independence from the Kingdom of León.
1861 – The United States Congress passed the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, asserting that the aim of the American Civil War was to "preserve the Union"; the measure was repealed five months later.
1978 – Two Puerto Rican independence activists were killed in a police ambush at Cerro Maravilla in Ponce.
2007 – Pratibha Patil was sworn in as the first female president of India.

Isaac Luria (d. 1572)
Rosalind Franklin (b. 1920)
Gladys Bustamante (d. 2009)

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Today's featured picture

The Castle of St John the Baptist, also called the Black Castle, is a circular fort in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It is located in the heart of the city, near the Parque Marítimo César Manrique and behind the Auditorio de Tenerife. Construction began in 1641 and was completed in 1644. The structure was later rebuilt in 1765 with the addition of a cylindrical tower facing the sea. It served as a military fort until 1924 and was converted to a military museum in 1948. A re-enactment of the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife takes place annually at the castle, commemorating the unsuccessful attempt by the British admiral Horatio Nelson to invade the city and archipelago on 25 July 1797.

Photograph credit: Thomas Wolf

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