Japan’s subtropical forests home to a newly discovered beetle species

The weevil has distinctive features and is sensitive to human disturbance

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OKINAWA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (OIST) GRADUATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: THE NEWLY DISCOVERED ACICNEMIS RYUKYUANA (A) AND OTHER ACICNEMIS SPECIES FOUND IN OKINAWA. A) ACICNEMIS RYUKYUANA, B) ACICNEMIS POSTICA, C) ACICNEMIS AZUMAI, D) ACICNEMIS EXILIS, E) ACICNEMIS MACULAALBA, AND F) ACICNEMIS KIOTOENSIS. view more 

CREDIT: OIST

A new weevil species was discovered in Japan’s pristine subtropical forests on Ishigaki Island and Yanbaru National Park in Okinawa.

Renowned for their remarkable biodiversity, the Ryukyu Islands are a chain of subtropical islands distributed between mainland Japan and Taiwan that boast a relatively isolated evolutionary history, and are home to a distinctive and fascinating insect fauna.  

Researchers at the Okinawan Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have been placing net traps to monitor insects on Okinawa Island since 2015, and have captured a wide range of insects, including beetles, flies, wasps and bees, which are preserved in ethanol, dried and stored in the OIST insect collection. The newly discovered beetle species, Acicnemis ryukyuana, was successfully identified through microscope analysis and dissection by OIST entomologist Jake H. Lewis, who works as Collection Manager in the OIST Environmental Science and Informatics Section.  

“When I arrived at OIST in 2022, I dove headfirst into the OIST weevil collection. As I closely examined them, this species immediately caught my eye. It clearly belonged to the genus Acicnemis, but was unlike anything else described from East Asia,” recounts Lewis. “Its elongated scales and unique coloration set this species apart from other known Japanese species.” 

The genus Acicnemis contains over 180 species, so confirming the discovery of a new species within this genus requires thorough examination of the existing literature and museum collections. As the "type specimens" (the original specimens used for species description) in the genus Acicnemis are housed in European and Japanese museums, Lewis had to reach out to several institutions, including the Kyushu University Museum (Japan), the Natural History Museum in London (UK), and the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute (Germany) in order to authenticate the status of Acicnemis ryukyuana as a novel species.  

Based on the current knowledge, Acicnemis ryukyuana is endemic to the Ryukyus. The entomologist named this species ryukyuana [from Ryukyu] and リュウキュウカレキゾウムシ [pronunciation: Ryuku-kareki-zoumushi, translation: “Ryukyu dead-tree weevil”] in Japanese to emphasize that it is an endemic element of the Ryukyu biodiversity.   

Weevils form one of the most diverse animal groups on the planet and generally feed on plants. Some weevil species are highly specialized and have a narrow range of plants they can feed on. The host plant(s) for this new species remains unknown, and Lewis hopes to conduct further field studies investigating this. 

 

The distinctive features of Acicnemis ryukyuana 

Acicnemis ryukyuana can be immediately recognized by the yellow bands on its shoulders, and distinct pattern of grey, black and yellow scales on its tough fore wings. Other unique features visible under the microscope include the long scales (hairs) on the back and the shape of the last segment of the leg. 

“Based on the unique set of features observed in this new species, A. ryukyuana appears to be closely related to some other species in southeast Asia, however DNA analyses will be required to confirm this,” explains Lewis.      

“I was drawn to Okinawa as there are numerous undescribed weevil species in the region, unlike in Canada, my home country, where weevils have been much more thoroughly studied. Living in Okinawa and having Yanbaru National Park as a backyard is very exciting as it is home to many undescribed, endemic species.” enthuses Lewis. “The Ryukyu Islands offer an irresistible playground for taxonomists, rich in species which you only find here”.  

 

The beetles’ sensitivity to human presence   

Although OIST researchers distributed insect traps widely across Okinawa Island including heavily populated and disturbed areas, A. ryukyuana was only captured in a pristine, specially protected part of Yanbaru National Park. The new species was also collected in well-preserved subtropical forest areas on Ishigaki Island; and located by Lewis in the Kyushu University Museum collection. “Based on these collection locations, this weevil species appears to be very sensitive to human disturbance compared to other Acicnemis species commonly found in the Ryukyu Islands.”  

“This newly discovered beetle might be considered a vulnerable, endemic element of the Ryukyu fauna, similar to the flight-less bird Okinawa rail, the Yanbaru long-armed scarab beetle and the Okinawa spiny rat,” says Lewis. “I am sure that taxonomists, conservation biologists, and local naturalists in Okinawa will be interested in knowing that yet another remarkable species has been discovered in the Ryukyu Islands.” 

3D models created using X-ray microtomography show the differences in leg shape between the newly discovered Acicnemis ryukyuana and Acicnemis postica. The shape of the second segment of the leg is evenly curved in Acicnemis postica (A and B), but wavy along the inner edge in the new species Acicnemis ryukyuana (C and D).

Acicnemis ryukyuana’s distinctive colours and leg shape: Acicnemis ryukyuana (A) can be distinguished by the yellow bands on its shoulders and the colour of its hardened fore wings. The shape of its leg segment (tarsal segment) is also very unique, as it is not strongly indented. In most Acicnemis species the same leg segment is heavily indented and heart shaped (shown here in Acicnemis postica, B).

Environmental Science and Informatics Section (OIST) staff member Jake Lewis is working on taxonomy and evolution of weevils. Currently, he is using a wide variety of techniques like microscopy, dissections, DNA analysis, and X-ray microtomography to find and describe new species across Asia.

CREDIT

OIST

DOI

10.1649/0010-065X-77.2.185 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

The Coleopterists Bulletin

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-Jun-2023

DEJA VU

International Energy Agency says peak oil demand in sight by end of decade

With advances in renewable and alternative forms of energy, the International Energy Agency sees peak demand for fossil fuels emerging before the end of the decade.

 File photo by Pat Benic/ UPI | License Photo

June 14 (UPI) -- Shifts in renewable and alternative forms of energy suggest global crude oil demand will peak by the end of the decade, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said Wednesday.

The IEA expects oil demand will "slow almost to a halt" in the years ahead as the so-called energy transition -- the pivot away from fossil fuels -- accelerates.

"The shift to a clean energy economy is picking up pace, with a peak in global oil demand in sight before the end of this decade as electric vehicles, energy efficiency and other technologies advance," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.

With an expected move away from crude oil, the IEA estimated that $2.8 trillion will be invested globally in the energy sector this year, with around $1.7 trillion of that going to cleaner technologies such as nuclear power, renewable energy and electric vehicles.

RELATED Renewables gaining ground, but gas dominates the U.S. energy grid

For just solar power, investments are on pace to overtake capital spending on oil production for the first time.

The rest of that, some $1 trillion, will go toward more traditional forms of energy, such as coal and crude oil.

Despite his comments Wednesday in the IEA's monthly oil report, Birol has a long track record of vocal support for alternative energy, particularly electric vehicles.

The IEA said more than 10 million electric vehicles were sold last year, and sales are expected to reach 14 million in 2023 -- a pace the agency described as "explosive."

Cars, meanwhile, are just the "first wave," with buses and long-haul trucks expected to follow recent trends.

Birol said in April that EVs are ushering in a historic transformation not only for the global energy landscape, but for the auto manufacturing sector worldwide.

RELATED  IEA: CO2 emissions up 0.9% as fossil fuels hinder climate goals

With the IEA predicting something of a sea change in global energy markets, Birol offered a stark warning to energy companies.

"Oil producers need to pay careful attention to the gathering pace of change and calibrate their investment decisions to ensure an orderly transition," he said Wednesday.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PEAK OIL 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbert_peak_theory

Hubbert peak theory - Wikipedia 

The Hubbert peak theory says that for any given geographical area, from an individual oil-producing region to the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum ...

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Hubbert%27s_peak

Hubbert's peak - Energy Education 

Hubbert's prediction compared to actual US crude oil production, data from EIA. Note that the inclusion of Alaska in the data results in a peak that is not ...

 

Antarctic tipping points: the irreversible changes to come if we fail to keep warming below 2℃

By

 Timothy Naish, The Conversation

 -

14 June 2023

16

Ongoing warming will speed up ice loss and ocean warming, pushing Antarctica towards thresholds of irreversible change. Vincent LECOMTE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

The slow-down of the Southern Ocean circulation, a dramatic drop in the extent of sea ice and unprecedented heatwaves are all raising concerns that Antarctica may be approaching tipping points.

The world has now warmed by 1.2℃ above pre-industrial levels (defined as the average temperature between 1805 and 1900) and has experienced 20cm of global sea-level rise.

Significantly higher sea-level rise and more frequent extreme climate events will happen if we overshoot the Paris Agreement target to keep warming well below 2℃. Currently, we are on track to average global warming of 3-4℃ by 2100.

While the recent Antarctic extremes are not necessarily tipping points, ongoing warming will accelerate ice loss and ocean warming, pushing Antarctica towards thresholds which, once crossed, would lead to irreversible changes – with global long-term, multi-generational repercussions and major consequences for people and the environment.

The Earth system is designed to reach equilibrium (come into balance) in response to climate heating, but the last time atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) were as high as they are today (423ppm) was three million years ago.

It took a millennium for the world’s climate to adjust to this. When it did, Earth’s surface was 2℃ warmer and global sea-levels were 20m higher due to Antarctic ice-sheet melting. Back then, even our earliest human ancestors were yet to evolve.

The evolution of humankind could only begin after CO₂ levels dropped below 300ppm, about 2.7 million years ago. Since then, Earth’s average temperature has fluctuated between 10℃ during ice ages and 14℃ during warmer inter-glacial periods.

During the past 10,000 years of our present inter-glacial period, Earth’s greenhouse gas thermostat has been set at 300ppm of CO₂, maintaining a pleasant average temperature of 14℃. A goldilocks climate – not too hot, not too cold – but just right for human civilisation to flourish.

The Earth system is interconnected

Current global heating is taking the Earth system across a threshold humans have never experienced, into a climate where Antarctica’s ice shelves and marine ice sheets can no longer exist and one billion people, currently living near the coast, will be drowned by rising seas.

This will be a world where wildfires, heatwaves, atmospheric rivers, extreme rainfalls and droughts – such as those we have seen globally last summer – become commonplace.

The Earth system (oceans, atmosphere, cryosphere, ecosystems etc) is interconnected. This allows energy flow, enabling physical and ecological systems to remain in balance, or to regain balance. But connections can also mean dependencies, leading to reactions, amplifying feedbacks and consequences. Changes have roll-on effects, much like toppling dominoes.

Feedback loops – cyclical chain reactions that repeat again and again – can make the effects of climate change stronger or weaker, sometimes stabilising the system, but more often amplifying a response with adverse impacts.

Change is also not always linear. It can be abrupt and irreversible on human timescales if a threshold or tipping point is crossed.

Here, we outline one sequence of changes and consequences, including feedback loops and thresholds, using the example of global heating melting Antarctica’s ice sheets and the resulting sea-level rise.

This graph shows how unabated climate change sets off a cascade of effects that result in more severe consequences and impacts, some of which will be irreversible over many generations into the future. Bec McMaster of ReMaster, CC BY-ND

We take a 50-year view into the future, as this is relevant for today’s policy makers but also sets in place much longer multi-generational consequences. While we focus on this example, there are many other Antarctic tipping points, including the effects of freshwater from ice-sheet melt on marine ecosystems and the effects of Antarctic change on Aotearoa’s temperature and rainfall patterns.

Antarctica in a warming world

Unless we change our current emissions trajectory, this is what to expect.

By 2070, the climate over Antarctica (Te Tiri o te Moana) will warm by more than 3℃ above pre-industrial temperatures. The Southern Ocean (Te Moana-tāpokopoko-a-Tāwhaki) will be 2℃ warmer.

As a consequence, more than 45% of summer sea ice will be lost, causing the surface ocean and atmosphere over Antarctica to warm even faster as dark ocean replaces white sea ice, absorbing more solar radiation and re-emitting it as heat. This allows warm, moist air in atmospheric rivers from the tropics to penetrate further south.

This accelerated warming of the Antarctic climate is a phenomenon known as polar amplification. This is already happening in the Arctic, which is warming two to three times faster than the global average of 1.2℃, with dramatic consequences for the permanent loss of sea ice and melting of Greenland’s ice sheet.

Antarctic tipping points

The warmed waters melt the ice shelves, which are floating tongues of ice that stabilise the Antarctic ice sheet, slowing down the flow of ice into the ocean.

Ice shelves can pass a tipping point when local ocean temperature thresholds are crossed, causing them to thin and float in places where they were once held in place by contact with the seabed. Melting at the surface also weakens ice shelves. In some cases, water on the surface fills up cracks in the ice and can then cause large areas to disintegrate catastrophically.

By 2070, heat in the ocean and atmosphere will have caused many ice shelves to break up into icebergs that will melt and release a quarter of their volume into the ocean as freshwater. By 2100, 50% of ice shelves will be gone. By 2150, all will have melted.

Antarctica’s ice shelves hold back land-based glaciers, which flow out to sea under gravity. Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

Without ice shelves holding back the ice sheet, glaciers will discharge at an even faster rate under gravity into the ocean. Large parts of the East Antarctic ice sheet and almost the entire West Antarctic ice sheet sit on rock in deep depressions below sea level.

They are vulnerable to an irreversible process called marine ice sheet instability (MISI). As the edges of the ice retreat into the deep basins, driven by the ongoing encroachment of warm ocean waters, the loss of ice becomes self-sustaining at an accelerating rate until it is all gone.

Another positive feedback, called marine ice cliff instability (MICI), means cliffs at the margins of the retreating ice sheet become unstable and topple over, exposing even taller cliffs that collapse under their own weight continuously like dominoes.

If global heating is not held below 2℃, ice-sheet models show global sea-levels will rise at at an accelerating rate up to 3m per century. Future generations will be committed to unstoppable retreat of the Greenland and marine sections of the Antarctic ice sheets, causing as much as 24m of global sea-level rise.

Parts of Antarctica’s ice sheet are grounded below sea level and are vulnerable to unstoppable retreat, once certain thresholds are crossed. British Antarctic Survey, CC BY-ND

These changes highlight the urgency for immediate and deep cuts to emissions. Antarctica has to remain a stable ice-covered continent to avoid the worst impacts of rising seas.

Programmes around the world, including the Antarctic Science Platform, are prioritising research about future changes to the Antarctic ice sheet. Even if the news is not great, there is still time to act.

---

Mel Climo, Sandy Morrison and Nancy Bertler from the Antarctic Science Platform are acknowledged for their input and support.

---

Timothy Naish is a Professor in Earth Sciences, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.

RUSSIA
State Duma approves first reading of bill banning legal gender changes

June 14, 2023
Source: Meduza

Russia’s State Duma passed the first reading of a bill to ban legal gender changes, reports the independent news outlet Mediazona. All 365 deputies present at the meeting voted in favor of the bill.

The bill includes a ban on changes to gender markers in official documents without having first undergone surgery, which would only be possible for those with “congenital physiological anomalies,” referring to intersex people. Hormone therapy would also be banned.

The bill was first submitted to the State Duma at the end of May. One deputy, Pyotr Tolstoy, said the bill would help “preserve Russia for posterity, with its cultural and family values, with its traditional ways, by placing a barrier in the way of the Western anti-family ideology.”

WHAT THE BAN WOULD MEAN FOR TRANSGENDER RUSSIANS

Workshop in Lebanon: Solution to crises lies in Abdullah Öcalan’s proposals

The perspectives of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan were highlighted in the third session of the two-day workshop in Beirut.

ANF
BEIRUT
Wednesday, 14 Jun 2023

A workshop kicked off in Beirut on June 13 to discuss the International Conspiracy against Kurdish leader Öcalan, the global crisis and its effects, the role of a democratic nation and women, and joint working methods for the realization of democratic confederalism in the Middle East.

The two-day workshop is organized under the motto "Road to peace, Together for a democratic Middle East". More than 80 lawyers, politicians and intellectuals from 10 countries in the Middle East and the world, including Lebanon, Iraq, Tunisia, Sudan, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, South Africa, Iran, Turkey, North and East Syria and Kurdistan are participating in the workshop.

The workshop is organized by the Lebanese Continual Federal Congress, the Newroz Cultural Association and the Multicultural East Platform in cooperation with Demokratia Novu Orao Seclorum and RESILIENT BEIRUT.

The third session of the workshop today was moderated by Kurdish journalist Xazne Nebi from North-East Syria. The opening speech was made by Selwe Qiqe Bin Afiye, member of the African Women’s Union and Committee for Security and Peace, who spoke about Öcalan’s perspective and philosophy of women, equality and freedom.

Selwe defined Öcalan as “a great theoretician with a strategic vision towards the region’s realities and practical proposals”.

Remarking that it was time to make arrangements according to the requirements of the age, Selwe said: “Where do we stand in terms of the practice of democracy and gender equality? Where do we stand in terms of diversity and freedom of thought? We must ask these very questions.”

Academic Dr. Hesen El İsa from the University of Şerq in Raqqa pointed to Abdullah Öcalan’s “Democratic Nation” philosophy, which criticizes the state’s nationalist colour.

El İsa said: “Leader Öcalan examines the system and its institutions, and their primary missions. According to his perspective, their mission is to get organized but they failed to do so and became tyrant administrators.”

Kurdish politician Mizgîn Mugiriyan from East Kurdistan highlighted the importance of re-gaining women’s leading role in society and cited the women-led uprising in Iran and East Kurdistan. Remarking that women should organize themselves according to the changes in the world, Mizgin pointed out women’s capability to achieve anything with commitment and determination. She noted that women’s organizations could be utilized to achieve rights and other gains.

Speaking after, Rihan Loqo, spokesperson of the women’s umbrella organization in North-East Syria, Kongra Star, stated that the first revolution in human history was led by women. She also talked about the concept of Jineology (Women’s Science) which was presented by Abdullah Öcalan in 2008.

“Abdullah Öcalan taught us to demand freedom for women. While dealing with the equality of women and men, he was the first one to bring up the idea of empowering women and stopping violence against women,” Rihan Loqo said.

The workshop continues with the fourth session titled “"Towards a Democratic Middle East", discussing the common strategy for the construction of a democratic Middle East, joint efforts to introduce a democratic confederation in the Middle East, and solution methods for the refugee problem in the region, especially in Syria.

'Democratic Middle East' workshop to kick off in Beirut tomorrow

A workshop will kick off tomorrow (June 13) to discuss the International Conspiracy against Kurdish leader Öcalan, the global crisis and its effects, the role of a democratic nation and 

women, and ...

ANF News

 

Beirut workshop calls for action to ensure Öcalan’s freedom

A workshop kicked off in Beirut on June 13 to discuss the International Conspiracy against

Kurdish leader Öcalan, the global crisis and its effects, the role of a democratic nation

 and women,  and j...

ANF News

Lebanese politicians fail to elect president for 12th time


Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, casts his vote as parliament gathers to elect a president at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

LEBANESE politicians failed another attempt to elect a president today and break a seven-month power vacuum that has roiled the Mediterranean country.

The session — the twelfth bid to pick a president — broke down after the bloc led by the powerful political party and militant group Hezbollah withdrew following the first round of voting, breaking the quorum.

Hezbollah’s preferred candidate, Sleiman Frangieh, the scion of a political family close to the ruling Assad family in Syria, trailed behind his main rival, Jihad Azour, a former finance minister and senior official with the International Monetary Fund, in the first round of voting.

Mr Azour, who is supported by the opposition to Hezbollah and some of its nominal allies, received 59 votes to 51 for Mr Frangieh, while 18 lawmakers cast blank ballots, protest votes or voted for minority candidates.

However, Mr Azour failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to win in the first round.

The meeting came after 11 previous sessions by the parliament, the last of which was held in January, failed to elect a replacement for President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, whose term ended in late October.

Mr Azour has the backing of the country’s largest Christian political parties, the Free Patriotic Movement, which has been allied with Hezbollah since 2006, and the Lebanese Forces party, an opponent to Hezbollah.

Under Lebanon’s complex power-sharing agreement, the country’s president has to be a Maronite Christian, the parliament speaker a Shi’ite Muslim and the prime minister a Sunni.

Japan Immigration Law Creates New Obstacles for Asylum Seekers

Heightened Risk of Refugee Applicants Being Returned Home to Harm

Teppei Kasai

HRW
Program Officer, Asia Division

June 14, 2023

Japan’s Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, which includes the Tokyo Detention Center, December 2, 2015. © 2015 Yuya Shino/Reuters

On June 6, just weeks before World Refugee Day, Japan’s Diet passed a bill to amend the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. The new law allows the Japanese government to deport asylum seekers who apply for refugee status more than twice.

The amendments faced fierce opposition from lawmakers, international legal experts, and civil society organizations. For people seeking refuge in Japan, they will be another obstacle. Japanese policy is already strongly oriented against granting refugee status. In 2022, only 202 people out of 3,772 applicants were recognized as refugees.

In April, United Nations human rights experts criticized the proposed amendments, saying “the absence of appropriate procedural safeguards that explicitly require individual assessment on the circumstances and protection needs prior to deportation, [and] legislative proposals lifting automatic suspension of deportation procedures for asylum seekers ... would undermine international human rights law and the principle of non-refoulement,” which is not returning someone to where their life or freedom would be threatened.

The bill is nearly identical to its predecessor, which was rejected in 2021 following public outcry over the death of a 33-year-old Sri Lankan woman, Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, in an immigration detention center. At the time, UN experts voiced similar criticisms, asking the Japanese government “to respect the principle of non-refoulement.”

Japan’s immigration and refugee policy has long been mired in red tape and unnecessarily restrictive measures. Some refugee applicants are held for prolonged periods in detention centers without judicial oversight, sometimes without adequate access to medical services. Even if they are temporarily released, they are denied work permits or access to basic social services and are prohibited from traveling outside the area of their residence.

Instead of making it harder for asylum seekers seeking refuge from the threat of persecution, the Japanese government should respect the international treaties it has ratified, notably the Refugee Convention and the Convention against Torture. It should end the prolonged detention of refugee status applicants and respect the principle of nonrefoulement.

As recommended by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, the government should also establish independent bodies to oversee refugee applications and appeals. At the same time, improving procedural safeguards will only help if deportation is suspended for as long as a final review of the asylum application is pending; if Japanese officials recognize an asylum seeker’s refugee claim after the applicant has been sent back to be persecuted, what good will that do?