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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/beetles/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Beetles</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/beetles/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>New research shines a light on Sri Lanka fireflies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-research-shines-a-light-on-sri-lanka-fireflies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-research-shines-a-light-on-sri-lanka-fireflies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2023 12:21:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/15115742/3.-Fireflies-in-a-fores-c-Image-by-Kiwi-Chen-from-Pixabay-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270971</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beetles, Environment, Habitat Degradation, Insects, Photos, Research, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Fireflies, with their bioluminescent rears, are fascinating species that appeal to people’s imaginations, especially those of children. In Sri Lanka, the first systematic study of fireflies was carried out by British naturalists in the 18th century, but afterward, there was a loss of interest in studying these fascinating creatures. Shedding new light on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Fireflies, with their bioluminescent rears, are fascinating species that appeal to people’s imaginations, especially those of children. In Sri Lanka, the first systematic study of fireflies was carried out by British naturalists in the 18th century, but afterward, there was a loss of interest in studying these fascinating creatures. Shedding new light on Sri Lanka’s firefly fauna, researchers and at least one enthusiastic amateur continue to study them today, resulting in several discoveries. Sri Lanka is home to 16 firefly species, while Abscondita perplexa and Asymmetricata humeralis are more common and show a countrywide distribution. In 2022, research on A. humeralis conducted by Dammika Wijekoon and Hemantha Wegiriya of the University of Ruhuna showed that male A. humeralis can look different in color and pattern, highlighting that there can be more secrets in the world of fireflies to be investigated. Luciola nicolleri was recorded after a lapse of 100 years since its initial description in 1922 by a British naturalist. Image courtesy of Dhammika Wijekoon. Wijekoon and Wegiriya initiated their study on fireflies in 2009 and have already made several significant discoveries. In 2010, the researchers recorded Curtos costipennis for the first time in Sri Lanka, making it the first firefly member of the genus Curtos found in Sri Lanka. Their study in 2022 re-recorded Luciola nicolleri after a lapse of 100 years. The species was first described in 1922. L. nicolleri has not been recorded since its discovery, a highly significant finding as it was considered possibly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-research-shines-a-light-on-sri-lanka-fireflies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-research-shines-a-light-on-sri-lanka-fireflies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270971</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Is invasive species management doing more harm than good? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/is-invasive-species-management-doing-more-harm-than-good-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/is-invasive-species-management-doing-more-harm-than-good-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2022 14:02:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Janae Malpas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258200</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colorado, Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beetles, Biodiversity, Butterflies, Commentary, Conservation, Global Environmental Crisis, Herbicides, Insects, Invasive Species, Pesticides, Plants, Pollinators, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Where I live in the Rocky Mountains, summer is marked by the arrival of the Rocky mountain iris, a favorite for bumble bees and other pollinators, which also make their debut in the brief summer months here. By keeping the land wild and natural, free from threats, retained by nature, I protect and nurture these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Where I live in the Rocky Mountains, summer is marked by the arrival of the Rocky mountain iris, a favorite for bumble bees and other pollinators, which also make their debut in the brief summer months here. By keeping the land wild and natural, free from threats, retained by nature, I protect and nurture these seasonal interactions. My property may be a bit of an eyesore for the occasional neighbor; the grass isn’t mowed, there are a couple of unsightly snag piles scattered around, and a few dead gnarled trees left standing. All the same, magpies construct their nests in the tall grasses, pollinators frequent the wildflowers that grow in abundance, rabbits call the snags home, and the gnarled trees are favorites for squirrels and owls. Every summer comes with labor; I tend to the land with thoughtful attention, from providing clean water for wildlife to maintaining the invasive alien species (IAS). Through experimentation and an ever-growing variety of methods, I am finding a balance with the IAS that grow in my region, as does the wildlife. For instance, I harvest common mullein after it loses its blooms so that the bees can take advantage of it as food source, and I can take advantage of its combustible properties (mullein makes for a great fire starter during the winter months in my wood burning stove). While I am a conservationist by trade, this also is conservation for me; I consider myself a steward, a loving caretaker of the Earth. Through&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/is-invasive-species-management-doing-more-harm-than-good-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/is-invasive-species-management-doing-more-harm-than-good-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258200</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Death by 1,000 cuts: Are major insect losses imperiling life on Earth?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2021 18:52:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/25182909/vassen-cover-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238940</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Bees, Beetles, Biodiversity, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Insects, Moths, Pesticides, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chances are, the works of the world’s insects touch your lips every day. The coffee or tea you savor, both are insect pollinated. Apples, oranges, cabbages, cashews, cherries, carrots, broccoli, watermelon, garlic, cinnamon, basil, sunflower seeds, almonds, canola oil — all are insect pollinated. Honey, dyes, even some vaccines require insects to come to fruition. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chances are, the works of the world’s insects touch your lips every day. The coffee or tea you savor, both are insect pollinated. Apples, oranges, cabbages, cashews, cherries, carrots, broccoli, watermelon, garlic, cinnamon, basil, sunflower seeds, almonds, canola oil — all are insect pollinated. Honey, dyes, even some vaccines require insects to come to fruition. Vital to the world’s food web, nested in nutrient cycling, and embedded in industries — the closer we look, the more we see insects as vital to maintaining life’s frameworks. Referring to this fact, famed biologist E.O. Wilson wrote in 1987, “[I]f invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt the human species could last more than a few months.” Which is why the precipitous decline of insects is raising alarms. Insect populations are being reduced at varying rates across space and time, but on average, the decline in their abundance is thought to be around 1-2% per year, or 10-20% per decade. The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) is endangered throughout its range in North America. Photo by Jill Utrup/USFWS (CC BY 2.0) “Think of a landowner with a million-dollar house on a river that&#8217;s a little bit wild. And they&#8217;re losing 10% to 20% of their land every decade, and it&#8217;s horrifying. It means that after even a century, you really don&#8217;t have anything left,” David Wagner, an entomologist with the University of Connecticut told Mongabay in an interview. That, he says of this comparison, is the danger we now face. Wagner has just edited&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/death-by-1000-cuts-are-major-insect-losses-imperiling-life-on-earth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238940</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Canopy beetles and flowering trees rely on each other in the Amazon, study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/canopy-beetles-and-flowering-trees-rely-on-each-other-in-the-amazon-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/canopy-beetles-and-flowering-trees-rely-on-each-other-in-the-amazon-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jan 2021 15:15:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/06102350/IMAGE_2021Jan5_ScarabFlower-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238500</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, Pollinators, Rainforests, Research, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Held aloft by a canopy crane nearly 10 stories above the forest floor, Susan Kirmse observed and collected beetles in the rainforest canopy for an entire year. What did she find? Amazonian treetops are crawling with beetles, and they love little white flowers. As part of her Ph.D. research for Leipzig University, Germany, Kirmse collected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Held aloft by a canopy crane nearly 10 stories above the forest floor, Susan Kirmse observed and collected beetles in the rainforest canopy for an entire year. What did she find? Amazonian treetops are crawling with beetles, and they love little white flowers. As part of her Ph.D. research for Leipzig University, Germany, Kirmse collected 859 species of beetles (6,698 individuals) from the canopies of 23 different tree species in a healthy lowland tropical rainforest in southern Venezuela in the late 1990s. The Surumoni Crane in Venezuela allowed Kirmse to collect beetles from the rainforest canopy.  Image by Susan Kirmse (CC BY-ND). After decades of tedious work to identify all of the beetles and trees, Kirmse and her colleague, Caroline Chaboo from the University of Nebraska State Museum, have recently published a study in the Journal of Natural History. Kirmse and Chaboo suggest that flowering trees play an important role in maintaining canopy beetle diversity in the Amazon and that these trees are being visited by beetles more than any other insect order, including bees and butterflies. More than 75% of the beetle species Kirmse collected were found living exclusively on flowering trees, and 36% were found only on trees with small white flowers. This, the authors say, means that flowering trees are important food and resource for canopy beetles. A lot of research into pollination is dominated by the roles of bees and butterflies, Kirmse told Mongabay, but this work shows that, in a pristine rainforest, beetles have a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/canopy-beetles-and-flowering-trees-rely-on-each-other-in-the-amazon-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/canopy-beetles-and-flowering-trees-rely-on-each-other-in-the-amazon-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238500</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>One year on: Insects still in peril as world struggles with global pandemic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/one-year-on-insects-still-in-peril-as-world-struggles-with-global-pandemic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/one-year-on-insects-still-in-peril-as-world-struggles-with-global-pandemic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2020 16:05:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/10132417/7-BANNER-IMAGE-7-768x446.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236705</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals and Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Australia, Central America, Costa Rica, Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Latin America, North America, South America, Tropics, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Bees, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article is a one year follow up to the award-winning series, The Great Insect Dying published in June, 2019 on Mongabay. The original series documents insect losses in Europe, the U.S. and the tropics — here’s what we know today.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A green hoverfly in Malinidi, Kenya. Image by Dino J. Martins. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the heart of a what was increasingly a global lockdown, the rains finally came to East Africa. They came after several years of drought and less-than-stellar rainy seasons. And with these rains, came the insects, says Dino Joseph Martins, the executive director of the Mpala Research Center. “There&#8217;s been this beautiful flash of butterflies and everybody&#8217;s with their families or at home, or trying to entertain their kids that are not in school, and looking at things in the garden or going on walks,” Martins said in August. Martins, an entomologist and butterfly aficionado, has become so “inundated” by questions from curious insect onlookers in lockdown that he’s considering “quitting social media” just to have some time to breathe again. “I think there has been a much broader appreciation of nature [during the pandemic] and it&#8217;s because of the loneliness of lockdown, the isolation,” says Martins. “This has been such a blow for so many people.” But, according to the scientist, the pandemic has also unexpectedly awakened many people to the marvels of the natural world and our interconnectedness with it. It’s a happy anecdote in a year that has seen not only wrenching global change due to the pandemic, but also reams of new research on the potential decline of insects around the world, often dubbed more dramatically as the “insect apocalypse” by the media. Parataxonomists building a DNA barcode&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/one-year-on-insects-still-in-peril-as-world-struggles-with-global-pandemic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/one-year-on-insects-still-in-peril-as-world-struggles-with-global-pandemic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236705</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Disaster interrupted: How you can help save the insects</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/disaster-interrupted-how-you-can-help-save-the-insects/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/disaster-interrupted-how-you-can-help-save-the-insects/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2020 18:02:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/15172217/Screen-Shot-2020-05-15-at-4.21.01-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230346</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroforestry, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Extinction, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Rainforests, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Life can’t function without insects. At least, not for long. Dutifully, they pollinate, break down waste, cycle nutrients, move seeds, and touch every node in the web of life, filling endless functional niches across the globe. And though we are seeing mass global insect declines, there may be hope. In a newly published paper, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Life can’t function without insects. At least, not for long. Dutifully, they pollinate, break down waste, cycle nutrients, move seeds, and touch every node in the web of life, filling endless functional niches across the globe. And though we are seeing mass global insect declines, there may be hope. In a newly published paper, a group of nearly 30 scientists from around the world offers suggestions for land managers, policymakers, and individuals to protect insects. The solutions paper was published alongside scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions, in which the group expresses its deep concerns about global insect declines. “The truth is that we need invertebrates but they don’t need us,” renowned biologist E.O. Wilson wrote in 1987. “If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change … But if invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt the human species could last more than a few months.” A tiger beetle (Cicindela aurulenta). Photo by Pen Araneae (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) According to the largest study of insect populations to date, insect populations are declining by about 0.92% per year, amounting to 24% fewer insects in 30 years and 50% fewer in 75 years. The authors suggest nine things that individuals can do to help out the insects, including: Mow your lawn infrequently or get rid of it; Plant native plants, which are all that many insects need to survive; Go organic and avoid pesticides — your own back yard is a good place to start;&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/disaster-interrupted-how-you-can-help-save-the-insects/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/disaster-interrupted-how-you-can-help-save-the-insects/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230346</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Extreme El Niño drought, fires contribute to Amazon insect collapse: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/extreme-el-nino-drought-fires-contribute-to-amazon-insect-collapse-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/extreme-el-nino-drought-fires-contribute-to-amazon-insect-collapse-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2020 12:35:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taran Volckhausen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/13120514/BANNER-IMAGE-1-768x447.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=227892</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drought, Ecosystem Services, El Nino, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Fires, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Insects, Land Use Change, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dung beetle species populations are moving toward collapse in parts of the Brazilian Amazon apparently due to climate change-driven drought, fires, and other human disturbances.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deltochillum enceladus, the largest dung-roller beetle species in the study area, seen rolling a golf ball-sized morsel of dung within an undisturbed forest in the Santarém region of the Brazilian state of Pará, 2017. Image by Filipe França Imagine if your local trash collectors stopped showing up for work. Garbage would immediately pile up and the waste management system would eventually fail, causing the entire community to suffer. It appears something similar is happening in parts of the Amazon rainforest, where a recent study showed that one of nature’s most important waste management systems — the humble dung beetle — is becoming far scarcer in ecosystems stressed by climate change-driven drought, fire and human disturbances. Filipe França, associate researcher at Lancaster University and Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, recently led researchers in a study published in Biotropica examining the effect of stronger El Niños and human activity on dung beetles populations. The results are alarming Scientists found that dung beetle species experienced significant diversity and population declines in human-modified tropical Brazilian ecosystems in the aftermath of droughts and fires exacerbated by the intense 2015-2016 El Niño climate event — El Niño is a periodic warming of Pacific Ocean currents off of Peru that result in disruptive extreme weather around the planet, a phenomena that appears to be intensifying due to climate change. Loss of ecosystem services The new study, conducted in the Brazilian state of Pará also showed these insects’ ability to provide vital ecological services including nutrient cycling, seed dispersal and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/extreme-el-nino-drought-fires-contribute-to-amazon-insect-collapse-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/extreme-el-nino-drought-fires-contribute-to-amazon-insect-collapse-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227892</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Iridescence helps these &#8216;living jewels&#8217; hide in plain sight</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/iridescence-helps-these-living-jewels-hide-in-plain-sight/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/iridescence-helps-these-living-jewels-hide-in-plain-sight/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jan 2020 12:39:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/01/24121558/X8IIy_d4-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=226514</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, and Charismatic Animals]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study in Current Biology shines a light on how iridescence in jewel beetles (Sternocera aequisignata) helps them to hide from predators. Iridescence produces the mesmerizing hues of a male peacock&#8217;s feathers, the varied brilliance in opal, and the soupy rainbow that sometimes graces soap bubbles. Asian jewel beetles sport a metallic iridescent wing case that changes color [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study in Current Biology shines a light on how iridescence in jewel beetles (Sternocera aequisignata) helps them to hide from predators. Iridescence produces the mesmerizing hues of a male peacock&#8217;s feathers, the varied brilliance in opal, and the soupy rainbow that sometimes graces soap bubbles. Asian jewel beetles sport a metallic iridescent wing case that changes color depending on the angle of light that strikes it. &#8220;I have always been fascinated by animal coloration, ever since I was a young girl investigating the beautiful butterflies and beetles that inhabit our gardens,&#8221; said Karin Kjernsmo, an evolutionary and behavioral ecologist at the University of Bristol, U.K., and first author of the paper. &#8220;In particular, I am mostly interested in how animals or prey can use their colors and patterns to avoid getting eaten by their enemies or predator.&#8221; Bright shiny things attract attention: this is true even in the natural world. Which begs the question: whose attention? For the male peacock, its stunning plumage attracts peahens, but it also makes them conspicuous targets for predators like jungle cats. Given that bright colors make species stick out, it is baffling to scientists that iridescence is seen in everything from beetles to caterpillars to birds. The new study shows that this may not be such a bad survival strategy — as a way of befuddling predators. A peacock at Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. Image by Rhett A. Butler &#8220;Our findings provide the first evidence to support Thayer&#8217;s more than century-old idea that biological&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/iridescence-helps-these-living-jewels-hide-in-plain-sight/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/iridescence-helps-these-living-jewels-hide-in-plain-sight/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-226514</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay investigative series helps confirm global insect decline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2019 11:48:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/24100750/2-480946-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219729</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Latin America, Mexico, North America, Puerto Rico, South America, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Near consensus found among 24 entomologists and scientists working on 6 continents: Insects are likely in serious global decline, but much more data needed.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Read the entire series by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance here As night falls, numerous insects still fly to the artificial lights of homes in the Kenyan bush. But entomologist Dino Joseph Martins vividly recalls a time when the numbers swarming nightly above his outdoor table were staggering. “You would struggle … to eat your supper because you would have endless beetles and [flying] things falling in your … soup,” he recalls. Today, “that happens far less,” making outdoor dining more pleasant, but far more disquieting. Now Mongabay, in an exclusive four-part series, “The Great Insect Dying,” takes a deep dive into the so-called “Insect Apocalypse.” Interviews with 24 researchers on six continents, and working in 12 nations, are at the heart of the report — likely the most in-depth published on the looming insect abundance crisis by any news media outlet to date. Answers, so far, rest on the hard evidence found in a mere handful of studies, and on the anecdotal, though expert, observations by scientists. Despite limited peer-reviewed research, the scientists interviewed are in near consensus, agreeing that insects are very likely in significant decline globally. Part One of the series, an introduction to the issue, looks at the hard evidence. First news of a possible “Insect Apocalypse” broke in 2017 with groundbreaking research in temperate Europe, where researchers were stunned to learn that flying insect abundance fell by 75 percent in just 27 years in Germany’s nature reserves. Then, in 2018, tropical researchers reported that total&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/mongabay-investigative-series-helps-confirm-global-insect-decline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How to save insects and ourselves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2019 09:50:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/06175222/1280px-Compound_eye_of_a_Bumblebee-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219219</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Borneo, Central America, Costa Rica, European Union, Germany, Global, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Latin America, Netherlands, North America, Oceania, Puerto Rico, South Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Cattle, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the fourth and final story of this exclusive Mongabay series, entomologists around the world offer far ranging solutions to curb and reverse the great insect die-off.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and most importantly — what we should do about it. This is part 4 of a four part exclusive series written by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Click on the following links to read part 1, part 2, and part 3. They formed the unlikeliest of survey teams: in 2017, University of Reno entomologist Lee Dyer, graduate student Danielle Salcido, and executives from some of the world’s biggest banks spent a week roughing it at a gathering facilitated by the Earthwatch Institute. The team chatted, laughed, hiked and scrounged the coniferous forests of Arizona’s Chiricahua National Forest hunting for bugs. At night, the researchers gave presentations about the impacts of global warming on insect populations. On the last day, a researcher offered a talk on the value of native plantings around homes — a message that really connected. “They loved that talk; discussion ensued, and they left with excitement to plant native trees in their yards,” says Salcido. But she worries whether this small-scale solution undercut a week’s worth of messaging to get these powerful people to comprehend the links between a rapidly warming world, plummeting insect populations, and the impacts both may have on ecosystems and civilization.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-how-to-save-insects-and-ourselves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219219</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The tropics in trouble and some hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2019 11:12:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/06134017/Coleoptera_SMNK_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219216</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Australia, Borneo, Brazil, Congo Basin, East Africa, Global, Indonesia, Kenya, Latin America, Mexico, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, South Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Cattle, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Funding, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Research, Spiders, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tropical insects are wildly diverse, but most species are unstudied or unknown, even as they’re heavily impacted by deforestation, climate change and pesticides. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and most importantly — what we should do about it. This is part 3 of a four part exclusive series written by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Click on the following links to read part 1 and part 2. Early in the 1980s, a beetle-mad scientist named Terry Erwin decided to count the number of Coleoptera species — the insect order containing beetles and weevils — chilling in the rainforest canopy. He was trying to answer a really big question: how many total species live on Earth? And he figured beetles, one of the planet’s super-families, was the place to start. So he packed off to Panama and picked 19 trees of a single species, Luehea seemannii. Then, he bombed them with pesticide — a method dubbed “fogging,” well known to entomologists and exterminators. Counting the dead, Erwin identified 988 distinct beetle species. Then he did some back-of-napkin-calculations, estimating how many of those beetles might be endemic to Luehea seemannii, and how many rainforest tree species there might be in the world, etc., etc., until he concluded there could be 30 million tropical arthropod species on the planet. Most scientists today have considerably curbed that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-the-tropics-in-trouble-and-some-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219216</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vanishing act in Europe and North America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2019 12:09:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/29164546/12-20100815_449_SY_Hehy_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218968</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Mexico, North America, Puerto Rico, Tropics, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Mass Extinction, Moths, Pesticides, Pollinators, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The insects of the EU and US are the best studied in the world, and it is here that a strengthening case can be made for an alarming insect abundance decline.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and, most importantly, what we should do about it. This is part two of a four-part exclusive series by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Read Part I, &#8220;A global look at a deepening crisis&#8221; here. Tyson Wepprich, a postdoctoral research associate at Oregon State University, was only supposed to be looking at the presence or absence of butterfly species in Ohio. But news of insect decline, in blockbuster studies from Germany and Puerto Rico, changed his plans. His team is now also looking hard at overall abundance — and the early results aren’t good. “The trends are similar to those in long-term European butterfly monitoring where abundance, summed across all species, is declining at around 2 percent per year,” he says of the team’s unpublished work (Wepprich&#8217;s work is now published here), and “about twice as many species are declining rather than increasing.” Wepprich’s ongoing research is just another sign that something may be seriously amiss with the world’s insects — something some entomologists have privately suspected, but which they are only now beginning to prove and publish about. “I used to think of conservation as policies to save rare species from extinction,” Wepprich says,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-vanishing-act-in-europe-and-north-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218968</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A global look at a deepening crisis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-a-global-look-at-a-deepening-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-a-global-look-at-a-deepening-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2019 11:24:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/28183400/brasil_157-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218951</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Great Insect Crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, European Union, Germany, Global, Kenya, North America, Puerto Rico, Tropics, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Bees, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Herbicides, Industrial Agriculture, Insects, Land Use Change, Logging, Mass Extinction, Moths, Natural Capital, Pesticides, Pollinators, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Spiders, Temperate Forests, Tropical Deforestation, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Recent surveys hint at an insect apocalypse. But are insects at risk globally? Mongabay talks with 24 scientists on 6 continents to find out in an exclusive new series.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months a debate over whether a global insect apocalypse is underway has raged in the mainstream media and among researchers. To assess the range of scientific opinion, Mongabay interviewed 24 entomologists and other scientists working on six continents, in more than a dozen countries, to better determine what we know, what we don’t, and, most importantly, what we should do about it. This is part one of a four-part exclusive series by Mongabay senior contributor Jeremy Hance. Read Part II, &#8220;Vanishing act in Europe and North America&#8221; here. Dust stirred up by the wind turns a Kenyan sunset deep scarlet. Then, as day fades to night, millions, maybe billions, of insects, fly to the artificial lights of homes found at the edge of the bush. One of those residents is Dino Joseph Martins, and while his evidence is anecdotal, the entomologist is a highly qualified observer. Martins has vivid recollections of a time when the abundance of insects swirling around the lights illuminating his outdoor dinner table were staggering. “You would struggle to sit down to eat your supper because you would have endless beetles and [flying] things falling in your bowl of soup,” he said. Today, “that happens far less.” Now, dinner in the African bush may be a pleasanter affair, but it’s much more disquieting. Martins, the executive director of the Mpala Research Center, was born and raised in Kenya. As a child, he recalls visiting forests during the wet season that were filled with “tens&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-a-global-look-at-a-deepening-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/the-great-insect-dying-a-global-look-at-a-deepening-crisis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218951</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>All you need is human feces: The strange world of dung beetle sampling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/all-you-need-is-human-feces-the-strange-world-of-dung-beetle-sampling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/all-you-need-is-human-feces-the-strange-world-of-dung-beetle-sampling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2019 06:41:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gianluca Cerullo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/06060504/beetle.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218360</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Insects, Rainforests, Research, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[All you need to find out how many dung beetles survive in a damaged rainforest is a plastic cup, a length of string, a plate, a piece of muslin … and a bagful of human feces. In an age where drones, camera traps and bioacoustic devices are fast becoming the new norm for surveying rainforest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[All you need to find out how many dung beetles survive in a damaged rainforest is a plastic cup, a length of string, a plate, a piece of muslin … and a bagful of human feces. In an age where drones, camera traps and bioacoustic devices are fast becoming the new norm for surveying rainforest biodiversity, these are the simple tools that have made dung beetles one of the most heavily monitored animal groups in the tropics. And there’s no school like the old school. Jos Barlow, a professor of conservation science at Lancaster University in the U.K., thinks one study he was involved in was particularly influential in promoting dung beetle sampling in tropical forests. Published in Ecology Letters more than 10 years ago, and cited on Google Scholar more than 400 times since, this study compared the various costs and benefits of monitoring 14 different wildlife groups in the Amazon, from tiny fruit flies and orchid bees to bats, trees, lizards, large mammals and fruit-eating butterflies. “The differences in the quality of information we got from each group were clear,” Barlow says. Dung beetles were not only one of the cheapest groups for the researchers to survey, costing up to 40 times less to monitor than small mammals and 65 times less than fruit flies. They were also among the best indicators of the consequences of habitat change, since the number of dung beetle species found in a particular habitat mirrored how ecologically intact it was. At the time,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/all-you-need-is-human-feces-the-strange-world-of-dung-beetle-sampling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218360</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists urge greater protection of Brazil’s secondary forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/scientists-urge-greater-protection-of-brazils-secondary-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/scientists-urge-greater-protection-of-brazils-secondary-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Oct 2018 09:03:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/09/25164954/Alexander_C_Less_10-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=210476</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Birds, Cattle, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Infrastructure, Insects, Logging, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Roads, Secondary Forests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With around half the world’s forest cover cleared or otherwise degraded at some point in the recent past, the new forests that pop up to replace them – called secondary forests – are often seen by conservationists as the next best thing. But just how well secondary forests compare to primary forests in terms of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With around half the world’s forest cover cleared or otherwise degraded at some point in the recent past, the new forests that pop up to replace them – called secondary forests – are often seen by conservationists as the next best thing. But just how well secondary forests compare to primary forests in terms of biodiversity and carbon storage has been a bit of a mystery. Now, new research published in Global Change Biology sheds more light on the ecological value of secondary forests. It finds that even after 40 years of recovery, fast-growing tropical forests in Brazil house significantly fewer species and sequester less carbon than their primary counterparts. The study’s authors say that in order to meet their full ecological potential, established secondary forests need greater protection to allow them to recover more completely. The study was conducted by a team of scientists from institutions in Europe, Brazil and Australia. They measured carbon content and recorded 1,600 plant, bird and dung beetle species in 59 naturally regenerating secondary forests of varying ages and 30 undisturbed primary forests in the eastern Amazon region of Brazil. Secondary forest in the Santarém region in eastern Amazonia. Photo by Adam Ronan Abandoned pasture in Paragominas quickly reverts to secondary forest. Photo by Alexander C. Lees/Manchester Metropolitan University) According to Gareth Lennox, a senior research associate at Lancaster University in the UK and lead author of the study, deforestation starting ramping up in this part of Brazil in the 1970s with the construction&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/scientists-urge-greater-protection-of-brazils-secondary-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-210476</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After logging, activists hope to extend protections for Bialowieza Forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/after-logging-activists-hope-to-extend-protections-for-bialoweiza-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/after-logging-activists-hope-to-extend-protections-for-bialoweiza-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2018 22:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/29161205/37832088774_be12b45a42_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207897</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and Poland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Birds, Bison, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Global Warming, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Temperate Forests, Trees, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[But for the rumble of frogs or the song of a bluethroat, Bialowieza Forest in Poland has become quiet again after two years of heavy machinery, chainsaws and falling trees. But it’s not the same forest as it was before the drastic explosion in logging began—and it will likely take decades, if not longer, to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[But for the rumble of frogs or the song of a bluethroat, Bialowieza Forest in Poland has become quiet again after two years of heavy machinery, chainsaws and falling trees. But it’s not the same forest as it was before the drastic explosion in logging began—and it will likely take decades, if not longer, to recover. So, activists say now is the time to call for the Bialowieza National Park to be extended across the entire ecosystem. “The entire Forest of Bialowieza must become a national park. It is [the] most valuable forest [in] Poland and lowland Europe, the home of unique species of animals, plants and fungi,” said Krzysztof Cibor, a spokesperson for Greenpeace- Poland. “We cannot lose this treasure.” The logging bonanza The firestorm over Bialowieza—which tested the European Union—began over two years ago. In March of 2016, then-Polish Environment Minister Jan Szyzko approved a plan to triple industrial logging in Poland’s Bialoweiza forest. The government argued it was the only way to combat a spruce bark beetle outbreak, but environmentalists believed that was largely an excuse to give access to the state-run logging regime. Two months later the government dismissed 32 scientists from an advisory board for their opposition to the plan. Although the logging plan spared the national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site portion of Bialoweiza, it targeted the remaining unprotected forest, which comprises the majority of the ecosystem in Poland. Logs lie on the ground after being felled in Bialoweiza Forest. Photo by Grzegorz&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/after-logging-activists-hope-to-extend-protections-for-bialoweiza-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207897</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Photo Ark’ a quest to document global biodiversity: Q&#038;A with photographer Joel Sartore and director Chun-Wei Yi</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/photo-ark-a-quest-to-document-global-biodiversity-qa-with-photographer-joel-sartore-and-director-chun-wei-yi/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/photo-ark-a-quest-to-document-global-biodiversity-qa-with-photographer-joel-sartore-and-director-chun-wei-yi/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Feb 2018 14:53:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/21161403/04_Red-Wolves_Canis-rufus-gregoryi_Joel_Sartore_NationalGeographic_PhotoArk_11284337_preview-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=203945</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Beetles, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Birds, Cats, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystem Services, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Film, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Insects, Interviews, Mammals, Mass Extinction, Orangutans, Parks, Photos, Primates, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Species, Tigers, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At turns haunting, humorous or just downright bizarre, the studio portraits of the thousands of animal species that photographer Joel Sartore has collected are more than just a catalog of life on Earth. When someone sees one of his photographs for the National Geographic Photo Ark, Sartore wants the encounter, often with an animal looking [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At turns haunting, humorous or just downright bizarre, the studio portraits of the thousands of animal species that photographer Joel Sartore has collected are more than just a catalog of life on Earth. When someone sees one of his photographs for the National Geographic Photo Ark, Sartore wants the encounter, often with an animal looking directly into the camera’s lens, to be inspiring. A recent three-part film documents the lengths to which he’ll go to take the most compelling images and showcase our planet’s biodiversity. “RARE: Creatures of the Photo Ark” follows Sartore through jungle treks and sittings with ornery birds, and the filmmakers will be honored Thursday for Best Conservation Film at the New York WILD Film Festival, held at the Explorers Club in Manhattan. An endangered Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, in Nebraska, taken for the National Geographic Photo Ark. © Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark. Sartore isn’t picky about the species he photographs. He’s trained his lens on raccoons and dung beetles as eagerly as he has on critically endangered orangutans and rhinos. But there’s a sense of urgency with the rarer animals. Yes, it’s an image for posterity, a snapshot of life as it exists at this moment in time before some of these animals disappear forever. But Sartore also knows that it might just be the push that someone needs to make a difference. “I want people to care, to fall in love, and to take action,” Sartore&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/photo-ark-a-quest-to-document-global-biodiversity-qa-with-photographer-joel-sartore-and-director-chun-wei-yi/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/photo-ark-a-quest-to-document-global-biodiversity-qa-with-photographer-joel-sartore-and-director-chun-wei-yi/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-203945</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Top 20 new species of 2017</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/photos-top-20-new-species-of-2017/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/photos-top-20-new-species-of-2017/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2017 11:43:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/02115724/Batang-Toru-Maxime-Aliaga-581-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=202498</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Apes, Beetles, Biodiversity, Environment, Fish, Frogs, Great Apes, Herps, Lemurs, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Orangutans, Primates, Reptiles, Rodents, Species Discovery, Spiders, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There’s still so much we don’t know about life on planet Earth that scientists discover new species with whom we share this planet nearly every day. For instance, this year scientists described a new species of orangutan in Sumatra — just the eighth great ape species known to exist on planet Earth. Sometimes we discover [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There’s still so much we don’t know about life on planet Earth that scientists discover new species with whom we share this planet nearly every day. For instance, this year scientists described a new species of orangutan in Sumatra — just the eighth great ape species known to exist on planet Earth. Sometimes we discover new species that have been hiding right under our noses — like the six new species of silky anteater that were mistakenly lumped in with the one known, widespread species in Central and South America. Then there are new species that surprise even the scientists who discovered them — such as the new butterflyfish recently discovered in the Philippine’s Verde Island Passage, even though butterflyfish are a relatively well-studied group. Some new species are named after famous people or characters in an attempt to draw more attention and awareness to the natural world — including new spiders named for David Bowie, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Bernie Sanders, as well as a new bat sometimes referred to as “the Yoda bat” because of its resemblance to the diminutive Jedi Master from the Star Wars films. A lot of newly discovered species can certainly use the attention, given that they are already facing severe threats from human activities, even though we just learned of their existence — as is the case with the a new catfish found in South America and the newly discovered orangutan species. Here, in no particular order, we present the top 20&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/photos-top-20-new-species-of-2017/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-202498</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study finds hundreds of thousands of tropical species at risk of extinction due to deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/study-finds-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tropical-species-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/study-finds-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tropical-species-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2017 16:16:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/05152810/co06-1366-742x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195447</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Beetles, Biodiversity, Birds, Butterflies, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Extinction, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Frogs, Global Environmental Crisis, Insects, Lizards, Mammals, Mass Extinction, Mosquitoes, Rainforests, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A 2015 study found that humans activities are driving species loss at a rate 100 times faster than historical baseline levels — which the researchers behind the study characterized as a conservative estimate. This finding fueled speculation that we’re currently witnessing a sixth global mass extinction event. New research published in the Proceedings of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A 2015 study found that humans activities are driving species loss at a rate 100 times faster than historical baseline levels — which the researchers behind the study characterized as a conservative estimate. This finding fueled speculation that we’re currently witnessing a sixth global mass extinction event. New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides further evidence that, even if we haven’t already entered a sixth era of mass species loss on a global scale, it may yet be imminent. John Alroy, a professor of biological sciences at Australia’s Macquarie University, examined local-scale ecological data in order to forecast potential global extinction rates and found that hundreds of thousands of species are at risk if humans disturb all pristine forests remaining in the tropics. “Disturbance is no small matter, because roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of all the world&#8217;s species are found in tropical forests even though tropical forests only cover about 10 percent of the entire Earth&#8217;s continental area,&#8221; Alroy said in a statement. Scientists have long believed that the rate at which we are destroying tropical forests, and the habitat those forests represent, could drive a global mass extinction event, but the extent of the potential losses has never been fully understood. Mass extinction will occur primarily in tropical forests because Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity is so heavily concentrated in those ecosystems, Alroy notes in the study. In order to examine just how severe the impacts might be, he applied a highly accurate method&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/study-finds-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tropical-species-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195447</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two species of beetles go extinct in the US, one gets protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/two-species-of-beetles-go-extinct-in-the-us-one-gets-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/two-species-of-beetles-go-extinct-in-the-us-one-gets-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2016 11:09:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/10/01175844/23408471139_6e260cdeb2_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=190193</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Extinction, Insects, Invertebrates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two beetle species found only in the U.S — the Stephan’s riffle beetle and the Tatum Cave beetle — are now officially extinct, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on October 5. The beetles had been first identified as candidates for the Endangered Species List more than two decades ago, but failed to receive [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two beetle species found only in the U.S — the Stephan’s riffle beetle and the Tatum Cave beetle — are now officially extinct, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on October 5. The beetles had been first identified as candidates for the Endangered Species List more than two decades ago, but failed to receive federal protection. This delay in listing of the beetles may have contributed to their extinction, according to the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). In fact, according to a study published in August, the average processing time for listing species under the ESA is 12 years, six times that of the mandated timeline. Such delays in granting protection can sometimes prove fatal for species that are already on the brink of extinction, the study warned. And this may have been the case for the Stephan’s riffle beetle and the Tatum Cave beetle. “I&#8217;m deeply saddened by the loss of these two beetles, which we can never get back,” Michael Robinson of CBD said in a statement. “The extinction of species, tiny and tremendous alike, leaves us all a little poorer, whether we recognize the losses or not.&#8221;” The Stephan&#8217;s riffle beetle has not been collected or documented since 1993. Illustration courtesy USFWS. The Stephan’s riffle beetle (Heterelmis stephani) was first designated as a candidate for the Endangered Species List in May 1984. Historically, it has been known to occur in shallow springs and streams in Santa Cruz and Pima Counties, Arizona. But the beetle has not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/two-species-of-beetles-go-extinct-in-the-us-one-gets-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-190193</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reestablishing a wild population of American burying beetles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/reestablishing-a-wild-population-of-american-burying-beetles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/reestablishing-a-wild-population-of-american-burying-beetles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2016 17:24:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/05/01205029/Screen-Shot-2016-05-30-at-11.22.34-AM-520x285.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186710</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beetles, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Insects, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Cincinnati Zoo &#38; Botanical Garden released 110 pairs of endangered American burying beetles at the nearby Fernald Nature Preserve last week as part of ongoing efforts to restore the beetle’s population in the wild. The 110 pairs were carefully matched by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan, then placed in holes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Cincinnati Zoo &amp; Botanical Garden released 110 pairs of endangered American burying beetles at the nearby Fernald Nature Preserve last week as part of ongoing efforts to restore the beetle’s population in the wild. The 110 pairs were carefully matched by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan, then placed in holes in the ground to breed, according to a statement released by the Cincinnati Zoo. This is the fourth year in a row in which the Zoo has released members of its captive breeding population of the insects back into nature. American burying beetles (Nicrophorus americanus) were once found throughout the eastern United States but now inhabit only 10 percent of their historical range due to habitat degradation and increasing competition for prey by mammalian scavengers, among other factors. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) designated the beetles as endangered in 1986, and they&#8217;re currently listed as critically endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) initiated the current project to save the species from extinction shortly thereafter. The USFWS partnered with the Cincinnati Zoo and the Fernald Nature Preserve on the project, for which a limited number of beetles were taken from the wild in order to establish a captive population and allow for the beetle’s reintroduction in its former habitat. “After this year we will have placed over 600 adult [American burying beetles] at Fernald in an attempt to found a wild population,” the Cincinnati Zoo’s Head Insectarium Keeper, Mandy Pritchard, said&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/reestablishing-a-wild-population-of-american-burying-beetles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/reestablishing-a-wild-population-of-american-burying-beetles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-186710</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Are Europe’s Ash trees headed towards extinction?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/are-europes-ash-trees-headed-towards-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/are-europes-ash-trees-headed-towards-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Apr 2016 11:56:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01215742/1024px-Fraxinus_excelsior_002-683x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=185524</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Britain, Europe, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Fungi, Insects, Invasive Species, Invertebrates, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) are the second most abundant trees in Europe. But these commonly-found trees could soon become extinct, a new study warns. Threats from an invasive and “potentially devastating” emerald ash borer beetle (Agrilus planipennis), and the ash-dieback fungus could wipe out Europe&#8217;s Ash trees, according to the review study published in the Journal of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) are the second most abundant trees in Europe. But these commonly-found trees could soon become extinct, a new study warns. Threats from an invasive and “potentially devastating” emerald ash borer beetle (Agrilus planipennis), and the ash-dieback fungus could wipe out Europe&#8217;s Ash trees, according to the review study published in the Journal of Ecology. “Between the fungal disease ash dieback and a bright green beetle called the emerald ash borer, it is likely that almost all ash trees in Europe will be wiped out – just as the elm was largely eliminated by Dutch elm disease,” author of the paper, Peter Thomas of Keele University, said in a statement. Ash dieback-causing fungus (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) was first seen in eastern Europe in 1992, possibly introduced via an infected ash tree imported from the Russian far east, experts say. In Britain, the disease was first spotted in 2012. Ash dieback has already had a serious effect on ash stands throughout mainland Europe, Thomas writes in the review paper. Currently, it covers 2 million square kilometers (~772,000 square miles) from Scandinavia down to France and Italy. The fungus infects an Ash tree through its leaves. Then it invades the phloem, xylem and pith of the tree, rapidly spreading through the tree in all directions, eventually killing the tree. Thomas writes that in the worst-case scenario, ash dieback in Britain could result in up to 95 percent mortality. “As yet, we have no real idea whether such high mortality rates will be reached, but they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/are-europes-ash-trees-headed-towards-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/are-europes-ash-trees-headed-towards-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-185524</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A forest full of beetles: an interview with bug researcher Caroline Chaboo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/a-forest-full-of-beetles-an-interview-with-bug-researcher-caroline-chaboo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/a-forest-full-of-beetles-an-interview-with-bug-researcher-caroline-chaboo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Mar 2016 08:07:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/03/01222237/PseudocalaspideaCassidea-RW-413x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Insects, Interviews, Invertebrates, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Beetles are everywhere. Of the roughly 1.5 million species described so far, beetles account for around 400,000 species, making them the most species-rich group known in the world. In contrast, birds account for only around 10,000 of all described species, while only 5,600 of all known species are mammals. Beetles are incredibly adaptable and diverse. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Beetles are everywhere. Of the roughly 1.5 million species described so far, beetles account for around 400,000 species, making them the most species-rich group known in the world. In contrast, birds account for only around 10,000 of all described species, while only 5,600 of all known species are mammals. Beetles are incredibly adaptable and diverse. They have learned to use a wide variety of habitats, and have become very specialized in the process, playing crucial roles in the ecosystem. They are important pollinators, recyclers, scavengers and decomposers. Much of beetle diversity, however, is yet to be uncovered. In Peru, Caroline Chaboo, an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, is doing just that. Since 2008, she has been meticulously collecting beetles in the Peruvian forests, hoping to build an accurate picture of the rich beetle diversity there. “We know now that there are around 10,000 species of beetles in Peru, and there are many, many new species awaiting discovery and description,” Chaboo told Mongabay. “My work in Peru is analogous to documenting all the bird species in the world.” Chaboo &#8212; fondly called a “bug doctor” by her seven year-old daughter &#8212; focuses on leaf beetles, one of the most common groups of beetles. Her love for beetles has taken her to Africa, where she lived with the San indigenous peoples to see how they use toxins from leaf beetles to make poison-tipped arrows. In Peru, Chaboo works in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world &#8212; around Manu National Park and Kosnipata&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/a-forest-full-of-beetles-an-interview-with-bug-researcher-caroline-chaboo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/a-forest-full-of-beetles-an-interview-with-bug-researcher-caroline-chaboo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-181531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Creating wild edges on fields boosts wildlife numbers and crop yield</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/creating-wild-edges-on-fields-boosts-wildlife-numbers-and-crop-yield/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/creating-wild-edges-on-fields-boosts-wildlife-numbers-and-crop-yield/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2015 06:36:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/10/03145524/BrigitStrawbridge_Megachile_LeafcutterBee-477x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Evolving Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bees, Beetles, Biodiversity, Environment, Farming, Food, Pollinators, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Commercial farms can benefit from creating exclusive spaces for wildlife on field edges, a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found. “It is possible to achieve BOTH wildlife conservation and maintain &#8212; and in some cases increase &#8212; food production on a modern, commercial farm,” Richard Pywell from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A leafcutter bee, one of the species benefiting from wildlife-friendly farming. Photo by Brigit Strawbridge. Commercial farms can benefit from creating exclusive spaces for wildlife on field edges, a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found. “It is possible to achieve BOTH wildlife conservation and maintain &#8212; and in some cases increase &#8212; food production on a modern, commercial farm,” Richard Pywell from the Natural Environment Research Council&#8217;s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, UK, told Mongabay in an email. Instead of looking at the role of preexisting semi-natural habitats within crop fields as many past studies have done, Pywell and his colleagues investigated the value of actually creating wildlife-friendly habitat on low-yielding edges of fields that have been removed from food production. For six years, between 2005 and 2011, the team studied yields of wheat, oilseed rape, and beans on 56 fields in central England. Creation of wildflower habitats on small areas of less productive land at the field edge to attract crop pollinators. Photo by Heather Lowther, CEH. They removed three to eight percent of usable cropping land from the edges of some of these fields, and instead grew native plants and wildflowers there to attract wildlife like bees, beetles, and birds. Then they compared crop yields from these fields with yield from other fields lacking such wildlife-friendly habitats. The team found that in fields without wildlife-habitat margins, crop yields were much lower at the field edges than in the rest of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/creating-wild-edges-on-fields-boosts-wildlife-numbers-and-crop-yield/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-151359</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Your name here: auctioning the naming rights to new species to fund conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/your-name-here-auctioning-the-naming-rights-to-new-species-to-fund-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/your-name-here-auctioning-the-naming-rights-to-new-species-to-fund-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Apr 2015 20:09:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Heather D'angelo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/04/your-name-here-auctioning-the-naming-rights-to-new-species-to-fund-conservation/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beetles, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Mongabay.org, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A newly discovered beetle species, Cactopinus rhettbutleri, was named after mongabay.com&#8217;s founder to fund the preservation of Ethiopian forests. Meg Lowman is on a mission to save northern Ethiopia&#8217;s church forests, one at a time. Numbering around 3,500, these small &#8220;sacred&#8221; patches of forest surrounding churches are isolated natural oases in Ethiopia&#8217;s otherwise mostly agricultural [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A newly discovered beetle species, Cactopinus rhettbutleri, was named after mongabay.com&#8217;s founder to fund the preservation of Ethiopian forests. Meg Lowman is on a mission to save northern Ethiopia&#8217;s church forests, one at a time. Numbering around 3,500, these small &#8220;sacred&#8221; patches of forest surrounding churches are isolated natural oases in Ethiopia&#8217;s otherwise mostly agricultural terrain, and they are losing ground to human activity at an alarming rate. Church forests are considered critical conservation areas. They are home to hundreds of species found nowhere else in the world, with new discoveries still being made. These discoveries inspired Lowman to try a new strategy for fundraising: auctioning off the naming rights to new species. Lowman, a forest canopy ecologist and the science and sustainability director for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, explained her reasoning to mongabay.com. &#8220;I started the auction program to save Ethiopian forests, because this country is not only underrepresented by scientists and NGOs in general, but also because Ethiopia&#8217;s northern forests are almost extinct. As a scientist, I cannot sleep at night knowing I discovered and named a species, but that I did not conserve its habitat. We can do all three &#8212; discover, name, and conserve species and their habitat. But we need to start yesterday,&#8221; said Lowman. Debresena church forest in South Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo courtesy of Google earth. To kick off the new program, Lowman held an auction for the naming rights to a tiny beetle endemic to the thorny valleys of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/your-name-here-auctioning-the-naming-rights-to-new-species-to-fund-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-23831</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wonderful Creatures: meet the beetle-riding arachnid</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/03/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-beetle-riding-arachnid/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/03/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-beetle-riding-arachnid/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Mar 2014 10:57:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ross Piper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/03/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-beetle-riding-arachnid/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Arachnids, Beetles, Environment, Evolution, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, and Strange]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Without wings, smaller terrestrial animals are really restricted when it comes to moving long distances to find new areas of habitat. However, lots of species get around this problem simply by clinging on to other, more mobile animals. The common, yet overlooked pseudoscorpions are among the most accomplished stowaways, one of which (Cordylochernes scorpiodes) has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Without wings, smaller terrestrial animals are really restricted when it comes to moving long distances to find new areas of habitat. However, lots of species get around this problem simply by clinging on to other, more mobile animals. The common, yet overlooked pseudoscorpions are among the most accomplished stowaways, one of which (Cordylochernes scorpiodes) has forged a fascinating relationship with the harlequin beetle, a large, strikingly colored insect. This story begins on a dead fig tree in the neotropical rainforest. Inside these trees, the larvae of the harlequin beetle feed on the decaying wood. Scuttling around on the tree are pseudoscorpions feeding on other small arthropods which they dispatch with their venom-dispensing pincers. These arachnids are most at home in newly decaying trees and after a while their habitat usually becomes less suitable, but how are they to find a new place to live? A female harlequin beetle (Acrocinus longimanus) found in Trinidad. These large, powerful fliers are used as transport by the pseudoscorpion, Cordylochernes scorpioides. More than 30 pseudoscorpions may clamber aboard one beetle. Photo by: © Ross Piper. Fortunately, the solution to their problem is beneath their feet. The harlequin beetle larvae have completed their development and are ready to emerge as adults from the tree. As soon as an adult beetle has fully emerged from its larval tunnel, the pseudoscorpions gather around its rear end and nip its abdomen with their pincers. Annoyed by these pinches, the beetle flexes it abdomen, making enough space beneath its elytra&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/03/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-beetle-riding-arachnid/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25587</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Spectacular new beetle discovered in French Guiana</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/spectacular-new-beetle-discovered-in-french-guiana/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/spectacular-new-beetle-discovered-in-french-guiana/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jan 2014 15:29:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Devitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/01/spectacular-new-beetle-discovered-in-french-guiana/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[French Guiana and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Rainforests, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The discovery of a new, bi-colored beetle species in the lowland rainforest of French Guiana just added a little pizzazz to the ranks of the Pseudomorphini tribe of beetles. With wing cases (elytra) that sport black spots against a rusty red background, the newcomer was dubbed Guyanemorpha spectabilis, or the spectacular Guyane false-form beetle, by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The discovery of a new, bi-colored beetle species in the lowland rainforest of French Guiana just added a little pizzazz to the ranks of the Pseudomorphini tribe of beetles. With wing cases (elytra) that sport black spots against a rusty red background, the newcomer was dubbed Guyanemorpha spectabilis, or the spectacular Guyane false-form beetle, by entomologist Terry Erwin in the journal ZooKeys. The new beetle is one of hundreds collected by The Entomological Society Antilles-Guyane as part of an ongoing effort to inventory the insect biodiversity in French Guiana’s protected areas. But unlike most of its unremarkably-colored kin, Guyanemorpha spectabilis is the first flashy pseudomorphine to show up in the Western Hemisphere. Spectacular Guyane False-form beetle, a colorful new species found in French Guiana. Photo credit: Karolyn Darrow, Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian Institution. “This surprising large and colorful pseudomorphine came as a shock to me, as all other species of the Tribe in the Western Hemisphere are quite dull brown, dark reddish, or blackish with no, or little, color contrast on the upper surface,” explains Erwin with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. “In the world of entomology this new species can be only compared in its rare characteristics to the Olinguito, a new carnivore species which charmed the world and just recently described by Kris Helgen.” In addition to its colorful attributes, the new species from French Guiana is also big by comparison to other beetles in the Western Hemisphere measuring a little more than 13&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/spectacular-new-beetle-discovered-in-french-guiana/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25796</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wonderful Creatures: the lightning-fast Stenus beetles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-the-lightning-fast-stenus-beetles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-the-lightning-fast-stenus-beetles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2014 13:17:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ross Piper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-the-lightning-fast-stenus-beetles/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A Stenus beetle. Photo by: Ross Piper. Rove beetles are among the most diverse animals on the planet, with around 56,000 species currently described. Amongst this multitude of species is a dazzling array of adaptations perhaps best illustrated by the genus Stenus. These beetles, with their bulbous eyes and slender bodies are often found near [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A Stenus beetle. Photo by: Ross Piper. Rove beetles are among the most diverse animals on the planet, with around 56,000 species currently described. Amongst this multitude of species is a dazzling array of adaptations perhaps best illustrated by the genus Stenus. These beetles, with their bulbous eyes and slender bodies are often found near water running swiftly over the wet ground and clambering among the vegetation. As charming as they appear, Stenus are fierce predators, able to make short work of smaller arthropods, such as springtails. When they are within range of a suitable victim they employ their unique, secret weapon: the floor of their mouth (the labium) is part of a telescopic tube that can be extended at lightning speed under blood pressure. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the head of a Stenus beetle showing the labium. Photo by: David Spears/Ross Piper. At the business end of this telescoping structure is an arrangement of pads, bristles and adhesive-secreting pores, all of which help to securely snag the prey. The labium is then retracted to bring the victim within range of the sickle-like mandibles. This adaptation is particularly useful when the beetle is clambering around in vegetation. It is thought this amazing way of capturing food evolved due to the rapid reflexes of prey, such as springtail. The grasping appendage is so thin and can be extended at such speed that a springtail probably does not have sufficient time to react and hurl itself clear using its flexible&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-the-lightning-fast-stenus-beetles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25843</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Newly discovered beetles construct private homes out of leaf holes and feces</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/11/newly-discovered-beetles-construct-private-homes-out-of-leaf-holes-and-feces/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/11/newly-discovered-beetles-construct-private-homes-out-of-leaf-holes-and-feces/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Nov 2013 16:42:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/11/newly-discovered-beetles-construct-private-homes-out-of-leaf-holes-and-feces/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Beetles, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered two new species of leaf beetles in southern India that display a novel way of using leaf holes and their fecal pellets to build shelters – a nesting behavior previously not known among leaf beetles. Discovered in the forests of the Western Ghats in the states of Karnataka and Kerala, the scientists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered two new species of leaf beetles in southern India that display a novel way of using leaf holes and their fecal pellets to build shelters – a nesting behavior previously not known among leaf beetles. Discovered in the forests of the Western Ghats in the states of Karnataka and Kerala, the scientists have named these pin-head sized leaf beetles Orthaltica syzygium and Orthaltica terminalia, after the plants they feed on: Syzygium species (e.g., the Java plum) and Terminalia species (e.g., the flowering murdah). Their findings were recently published in the journal Zookeys. This image shows Orthaltica terminalia, one of the two newly discovered species. Photo by Alexander S. Konstantinov. After several months of observing the behavior of these Orthaltica beetles in the field, the team found that the tiny adults of these species are so small they are incapable of cutting holes into the leaves. Instead they opportunistically use leaf holes previously created by larger leaf beetles that cut into the leaves while feeding. The tiny leaf beetles, unable to cut, simply scrape the leaf surface to feed. &#8220;These scraped areas look like trenches on close examination or under a microscope,&#8221; says Prathapan Divakaran, lead author with the Department of Entomology, Kerala Agricultural University, India. The team also found that the beetles were not particularly picky about the holes they use. When they punched artificial holes into some leaves, the beetles readily used them as shelters. In fact, the beetles not only occupied the holes, but also&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/11/newly-discovered-beetles-construct-private-homes-out-of-leaf-holes-and-feces/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26095</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beetles in the spotlight: a new species of burying beetle from the Solomon Islands Archipelago</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/11/beetles-in-the-spotlight-a-new-species-of-burying-beetle-from-the-solomon-islands-archipelago/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/11/beetles-in-the-spotlight-a-new-species-of-burying-beetle-from-the-solomon-islands-archipelago/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2013 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Raja Bandi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/11/beetles-in-the-spotlight-a-new-species-of-burying-beetle-from-the-solomon-islands-archipelago/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Solomon Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, and Islands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If you thought of the little beetle that you saw the other day as just a ‘regular one’ then this might interest you. Scientists from the University of Alaska discovered Nicrophorus efferens, a new species of burying beetle from Solomon Islands. Studying six adult specimens borrowed from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Hawaii (BPBM), [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If you thought of the little beetle that you saw the other day as just a ‘regular one’ then this might interest you. Scientists from the University of Alaska discovered Nicrophorus efferens, a new species of burying beetle from Solomon Islands. Studying six adult specimens borrowed from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Hawaii (BPBM), Dr Sikes and Tonya Mousseau describe the new species in a detailed taxonomic assessment published in the journal Zookeys, and how it differs from two closely related species of the Solomon Islands. &#8220;Without my background and training in the taxonomy of beetles, particularly the burying beetles, this new species might never have been uncovered,&#8221; said Mousseau. &#8220;This really reinforces the idea that classic training in taxonomy and systematics is absolutely necessary to discovering and understanding the biodiversity of earth.&#8221; Specimens from Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Hawaii. Source: Sikes DS, Mousseau T (2013) Description of Nicrophorus efferens, new species, from Bougainville Island (Coleoptera, Silphidae, Nicrophorinae). Zookeys 10.3897/zookeys.311.5141 While beetles are the largest order of insects on this planet, comprising 30% of all animals, the majority of beetle species have yet to be described. Burying beetles are primarily black with red markings on their forewings, and are named for their tendency to bury the carcasses of dead animals before consuming them. Impressively, these beetles are capable of detecting dead carcasses from as far away as two miles, and they exhibit remarkable parental care similar to ants and honeybees. Although Nicrophorus efferens is closely related to the two&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/11/beetles-in-the-spotlight-a-new-species-of-burying-beetle-from-the-solomon-islands-archipelago/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26131</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species of beetle discovered in megacity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/new-species-of-beetle-discovered-in-megacity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/new-species-of-beetle-discovered-in-megacity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2013 16:27:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dominic Rowland]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/10/new-species-of-beetle-discovered-in-megacity/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Philippines]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beetles, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When imagining the discovery of a new species, most people conjure thoughts of intrepid explorers, battling the odds in remote rainforests. But this needn&#8217;t be the case, at least according to a new study published in Zookeys. The study reports the discovery of a new species of water beetle in the heart of the 10th [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When imagining the discovery of a new species, most people conjure thoughts of intrepid explorers, battling the odds in remote rainforests. But this needn&#8217;t be the case, at least according to a new study published in Zookeys. The study reports the discovery of a new species of water beetle in the heart of the 10th largest megacity in the world: Manila, Philippines. During a routine training exercise for undergraduate biology students, scientists from Ateneo de Manila University discovered the unknown beetle hidden in the leaf litter of a small creek within the university&#8217;s campus. The new species Hydraena ateneo was found among leaf litter in a small creek of the Ateneo de Manila Campus. Photo Credit: H. Freitag, Ateneo de Manila University. The new species, Hydraena ateneo, named after the University in which it was found, is a tiny freshwater invertebrate measuring only 1-1.5 mm (0.04-0.06 in) in length. It is distinguished from similar species by its small size and by a characteristic straight section on its leg known as a metatibia. It belongs to the genus Hydraena, which are commonly known as long-palped water beetles. These are endemic to the Philippines, i.e. found no-where else. New species are discovered every year in the Philippines, but they are mostly uncovered in natural forests and remote mountain ranges. The discovery of a new species in the heart of a city with a population of nearly 12 million proved astonishing to the researchers and students involved . &#8220;I was so amazed that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/new-species-of-beetle-discovered-in-megacity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26172</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New long-horned beetle discovered in China</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/new-long-horned-beetle-discovered-in-china/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/new-long-horned-beetle-discovered-in-china/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2013 16:57:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hannah Lindstrom]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/07/new-long-horned-beetle-discovered-in-china/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Recent expeditions by the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Zoology to the Yunnan Province of China have uncovered the existence of a new species of long-horned beetle. This newly discovered beetle has a beautifully colored blue-green body with short, slender, and distinctively blue legs according to a new article in Zookeys. There are over [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Recent expeditions by the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Zoology to the Yunnan Province of China have uncovered the existence of a new species of long-horned beetle. This newly discovered beetle has a beautifully colored blue-green body with short, slender, and distinctively blue legs according to a new article in Zookeys. There are over 20,000 known species of long-horned beetles. The family, called Cerambycidae, can be distinguished by their extremely long antennae, which tend to be even longer than the beetles’ body. The Cerambycidae family is mostly identified with leaf-litter habitats. Some beetles are considered pests due to the fact that their wood-feeding larvae can cause extreme damage to trees and lumber. Scientists have given the new species the name Schwarserium yunnanum, which is derived from the location where the species was discovered, the Yunnan Province of China. Yunnan is China’s most biodiverse province. Most of this province lies within either the subtropical highland or humid subtropical zones with mild to warm winters and tempered summers. Its mountainous nature and plenty of precipitation nurture an extremely high level of biodiversity as well as high degrees of endemism, meaning many organisms unique to this specific region. As a result of this study, the existence of a new subgenus, called Rugosochroma, was also uncovered. Schwarzerium yunnanum the newly described species: The male beetle is on the left and the female on the right. Photo by Mei-ying Lin. CITATION: Vives E, Lin M-Y (2013) One new and seven newly recorded Callichromatini species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/new-long-horned-beetle-discovered-in-china/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28731</doi>				</item>
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