New species of insect discovered in Romania

Tuesday, September  4, 2018

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Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-31 00:17:00|Editor: yan

BUCHAREST, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Romania has discovered a new insect species for the country's fauna -- the steppe weevil, the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR) announced on Thursday in a release.

According to SOR, the discovery was made in July, in a fauna monitoring activity in the Delta of Moldova by a biologist team of the bird conservation organization.

The new species, Leucomigus candidatus, is a species of beetle and was found and identified by biologist Alexandru Pintilioaie, who works as an entomologist in the European project implemented by SOR in the northeastern area.

Pintilioaie explained that it is a specie of beetle that does not stand out for ordinary people, since its maximum length is only 16 mm. However, it is a giant compared to other species of weevil that reach only two to three millimetres in length.

According to the SOR, the species lives in North Africa, Asia and Europe, where it can be found only in the steppe regions of the European part of Russia and Ukraine.

In Ukraine, it is a protected species included on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Since 2018, the species is part of Romania's fauna and the species is expected to be present in other similar habitats in the eastern, southeastern and southern parts of the country.

Source  

Fossil of a beetle inside a lizard inside a snake – an ancient food chain – via Herp Digest

Feb 23, 2017, Vintage News

A unique fossil, demonstrating an ancient food chain was discovered by researchers studying the Messel pit on a dig site near Frankfurt, and it is believed to be 48 million years old.

The specimen contains a snake that died shortly after eating a lizard that had recently eaten a beetle.

It is impressive that such a fossil exists in such a well-preserved state, and that each consumed creature is recognizable. The snake was known to be a member of the species Palaeopython fischeri, which is an extinct type of snake once found in what is now Germany. It was a tree-dwelling snake related to modern boas. Growing to a size of up to 2 meters, they could live on the ground or in shallow water near riverbanks. The individual in this fossil, however, was only 103 centimeters in length and so is thought to be a juvenile.

The lizard belongs to the species Geiseltaliellus maarius. It is an extinct lizard of the iguanian lizards that are found in Germany, Belgium, and France. The best-preserved ones are found in the Messel pit in Germany. These lizards had long legs, short arms, and a long tail. The tail was adapted to running and climbing on the ground and in trees. The long toe bones of these lizards, like those of their living cousins, suggest that this species spent most of its time in trees. The probable paleoenvironment of the Messel Pit would have been a dense forest.

Paleoecology is the science of determining ancient environments. Using the evidence found in fossils, it reconstructs the ecosystems these creatures would have lived in. Traces left behind in the fossil record, such as seeds, shells, teeth, and pollen, help scientists infer characteristics of the environment. Therefore, a fossil field like the Messel pit in Germany offers valuable clues to not just the creatures themselves, but to what the plant life would have been like too.

Scientists can tell that the lizard is inside the snake due to the way the snake’s ribs overlap those of the lizard. The lizard had the ability to shed its tail when attacked but did not do so before being eaten, as its complete remains are intact inside the snake. The beetle is not preserved enough to be meaningfully identified.

Also discovered at the same site is the last meal of grapes and leaves inside a fossilized prehistoric horse. Pollen grains found inside fossilized bird and insect remains visible in fish excrement are a testament to the excellent preservation qualities of the area.

Previous fossils of reptiles contained only plant remains due to the speed of the creature’s digestive system. The Messel Pit will likely yield more fascinating finds as digs continue.

Hairy-Legged 'Chewbacca Beetle' Discovered in New Guinea

by Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | April 26, 2016 07:15am ET

The towering and shaggy Wookiee character Chewbacca from the "Star Wars" movies has a new namesake — a tiny weevil recently discovered in New Guinea.

Though the insect is significantly smaller and much less hairy than everyone's favorite "walking carpet," dense scales on the weevil's legs and head reminded the scientists of Chewbacca's fur, prompting their name choice.

Trigonopterus chewbacca is one of four new weevil species identified on the island of New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago in New Guinea. Discovered alongside it were the somewhat less whimsically named weevils T. obsidianus, T. puncticollis and T. silaliensis.

T. chewbacca is a flightless weevil, a type of beetle typically found in leaf litter in forests. The male's body is black with hair-like structures on its antennae and legs, and measures 0.13 inches (3.34 millimeters) in length.

Scientists spent 10 days combing through leaf litter for the miniscule beetles, eventually collecting 18 specimens that represented the four new species.

Previously, only one known species in the Trigonopterus weevil group had been found in this region, although prior studies described Trigonopterus weevils in New Caledonia, Samoa and Fiji. While T. chewbacca was the first species in this group that was named for a "Star Wars" character, it's not the only one with a celebrity-inspired moniker. Trigonopterus attenboroughi — described in a study published in ZooKeys in 2014 — was named for famed British naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

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52-Million-Year-Old 'Ant-Loving' Beetle Caught in Amber

Laura Geggel, Staff Writer | October 02, 2014 01:06pm ET

A newly discovered 52-million-year-old fossil of an "ant-loving" beetle is the oldest example of its species on record, and may help researchers learn more about this social parasite, a new study finds.

Like its descendants living today, the ancient beetle was likely a myrmecophile, a species that depends on ants for survival. The prehistoric beetle probably shared living quarters with ants and benefited from their hard work by eating ant eggs and taking the ants' resources.

Other myrmecophiles include the lycaenid butterfly, which lays its eggs in carpenter ants' nests, tricking the ants into caring for their young; and the paussine ground beetle, which also dupes ants by living alongside them as it preys on the ants' young and workers.

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Lost and found: New beetle collected by Darwin 180 years ago published on his birthday

Date:

February 12, 2014

Source:

Pensoft Publishers

Summary:

On Feb. 12, Darwin's birthday, scientists name a long lost new beetle genus and species after him to commemorate the legacy of the father of evolution. The beetle was collected by Charles Darwin in 1832 in Argentina during the Beagle's voyage. The specimen was considered lost for many years until it was rediscovered recently in the Natural History Museum, London.

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New beetle species discovered on Ateneo de Manila campus

Ateneo de Manila University: home to the Ateneo Blue Eagles, a plethora of cats, some extremely hairy caterpillars—and now, a new species of water beetle.

Hydraena ateneo, a new species of insect was found inside a waterway in the Ateneo de Manila campus in November of last year.

It is about one millimeter in length and half a millimeter in width, a bit smaller than its close cousin, theH. castamescens. It also has distinctive legs and a male reproductive organ called an aedeagus.

H. ateneo's discovery was not surprising, Ateneo biology professor Dr. Hendrik Freitag wrote in the scientific journal ZooKeys, since the Hydraena genus is mega-diverse and the hydraenid fauna is found in many islands of the Philippines.

But what makes it special is its discovery in the densely populated metropolis that is Metro Manila, where biological diversity is highly unlikely.

“A new species from a highly urbanized megacity is always a surprise,” Dr. Freitag told the International Business Times.

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'Beetle in Spider's Clothing:' Quaint New Species from Philippine Rainforest Creeks

Aug. 6, 2013 — For biologists it is an easy matter: spiders have eight legs and insects have six. This fact is important when beholding and recognizing the tiny new species of Spider Water Beetles from the Philippine Island of Mindoro discovered by researchers of the Ateneo de Manila University.

Zookeys has published the paper about the curious creatures in its latest issue.

Primarily, the study was intended to find and describe the larvae of known species of the genus Ancyronyx, under which all Spider Water Beetles of the world are compiled. But when the researchers checked the pristine creeks and rivers of the ethnic Buhid's ancestral lands in the Municipality of Roxas, Oriental Mindoro, they found the first new species, now named as Ancyronyx buhid.

The second new species was detected among older collections of undetermined museum specimens. It was confirmed to occur in the waters of the famous Tamaraw Falls, a popular tourist destination in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro. It was namedAncyronyx tamaraw after it's "type locality".

The newly discovered Buhid Spider Water Beetle has high potential to be used as a bioindicator species for healthy ecosystem conditions, since it fulfills the necessary criteria: it is surprisingly common in clean, pristine running waters all over Mindoro, but it is absent in more or less polluted and altered streams and it can easily be identified in larval and adult stages, by eye-catching color patterns.

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Deadly oak disease 'spreading' in UK

The government is stepping up monitoring of a disease thought to pose a serious threat to UK oak trees.

Acute Oak Decline, which causes weeping patches on the stems of mature trees, is on the rise in England, particularly in the Midlands and the South East.

A national survey has been commissioned as part of a new £1.1m research drive.

Thousands of trees are thought to be affected, the Forestry Commission's lead scientist on the condition told Radio 4's Farming Today.

"This is a serious problem in the UK," said Dr Sandra Denman.

"So far we've only seen it in England, but because we haven't done any formal surveys we're unsure as to the full extent of the problem.

"But we do estimate that there are many thousands of trees that are affected."

Scientists believe a beetle may be responsible for the disease.

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Pest Uses Plant Hairs for Protection: Trichomes Save Insect from Beetle Predation

Feb. 5, 2013 — Everyone needs to eat. But it's a dog-eat-dog world, and with the exception of the top predators, everyone also gets eaten. To cope with this vicious reality, a tiny insect that eats plants has learned to employ the plant's hairs for physical protection from its beetle predator.

The pest is called the cycad aulacaspis scale, and its invasion into numerous countries in recent years has caused immeasurable loss of biodiversity. Cycads belong to an ancient lineage of plants that date to the dinosaur era, and the pest requires a cycad plant for food. The insect's recent invasion to the island of Guam has endangered the island's endemic cycad species. Local biologists introduced a voracious beetle predator to the island to eat the scale insects, but the plant damage by the pest has persisted.

"We began looking into the reasons that the beetle was failing to control the pest, and discovered that the pest could crawl between the plant's trichomes to reach its feeding sites," said UOG Professor Thomas Marler. Trichomes are what biologists call the hairs that can be found on many plant leaves and stems. Unfortunately, the much larger beetle predator could not make the same journey through the trichomes to feed on the scale insects that were feeding on the plant beneath the trichomes.

Plant hairs serve several functions, and one of those functions is to protect the plant from insects. "The glitch in this situation was that the insect that was excluded by the plant hairs was our beneficial insect that eats the scale pest, and the insect that could just walk straight through the hairs was the very pest we wished to control," said Marler.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130206094941.htm

New Beetle Species Found in Remote Arizona Cave

A newfound species of beetle has been discovered in remote caves in Arizona, boasting long antennae and slender legs with hairlike tufts.

The beetle, Eleodes wynnei, was named after its discoverer, Northern Arizona University researcher Jut Wynne.

Since 2005, Wynne and his colleagues have identified three new genera (the plural of genus, the taxonomic classification above species) and more than 20 new species of cave-dwelling arthropods in caves in the Grand Canyon region, according to a statement from Northern Arizona University.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/21927-new-cave-beetle-found.html