Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Smell emitted by ladybugs may provide alternative to harmful pesticides

Researchers have found a way to use a smell emitted by ladybugs to ward off plant-eating insects, without dangerous chemicals. Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The "smell of fear" emitted by predator insects may help farmers and gardeners seeking to protect what they grow from plant-eating bugs resistant to traditional pesticides, research presented Wednesday during the American Chemical Society meeting found.

Herbivorous insects present a major threat to plants and crops but the predator insects that feed on these bugs emit odors that pests can sense, the researchers said.

Smelling this odor causes pests to change their behavior and, in some cases, their physiology -- body structure -- to avoid being eaten, they said.

However, the researchers, from the Pennsylvania State University, have developed a way to bottle this smell to repel and disrupt destructive insects naturally, without the need for harsh chemicals that may also harm other, beneficial insects.

"Insects rely on olfactory cues to find food, mates and places to live," one of the researchers, Jessica Kansman, said in a press release.

"This is a great opportunity to investigate how to use these smells to manipulate their behavior," said Kansman, a post-doctoral researcher at Penn State in State College.

Insects called aphids are a highly destructive pest to an array of crops, and their large numbers, ability to transmit plant pathogens and increased resistance to insecticides make them a persistent problem for growers, according to the researcher

These insects also happen to be a favorite food of the ladybug, which gardeners welcome as a source of sustainable pest management, the researchers said.

Earlier research by the same team found that aphids and other herbivorous insects avoid fields and gardens if they can smell predators nearby.

In addition, exposure to the odor cues given off by ladybugs can cause aphids to slow their rates of reproduction and increase their ability to grow wings, both of which are behaviors designed to avoid threats, according to the researchers.

To see whether the olfactory cues given off by ladybugs could, by themselves, control pests, the researchers identified and extracted the volatile odor profile from live ladybugs using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

This process allowed them to identify and separate the individual components of the ladybugs' smell, the researchers said.

To see which compounds the herbivorous insects would respond to, the researchers hooked up the antennae of live bugs to an electroantennogram machine and exposed them to each individual odor the ladybug emitted to see which compounds were detected.

The strength of their reactions was measured based on the signal picked up by the machine, according to the researchers.

Of the many compounds emitted by ladybugs, herbivorous insects had the strongest response to chemicals called methoxypyrazines, including isopropyl methoxypyrazine, isobutyl methoxypyrazine and sec-butyl methoxypyrazine.

The researchers then used the chemicals produced by the ladybugs to create a special odor blend that can be used in an essential oil diffuser for spreading across a garden or field.

Next, the team plans to conduct field tests of their scent diffusers to see if the effects on herbivorous insects and ladybugs are similar to what was observed in the lab.

They also want to determine the dispersal area of the diffusers, and whether they could be applied to other pests and predators, as well as various types of crops, the researchers said.

In addition, they are collaborating with a manufacturing company to design special diffusers for eventual commercial use by both farmers and gardeners, they said.

"It is not uncommon to use our senses to avoid risky situations -- if a building was on fire, we as humans could use our senses of sight or smell to detect the threat," researcher Sara Hermann said in a press release.

"There is evidence for such behavioral responses to risk across taxa that suggest prey organisms can detect predation threats, but the mechanisms for detection aren't very well understood, especially with insects," she said.

Protecting gardens and crops from insects

using the ‘smell of fear’

Reports and Proceedings

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

ATLANTA, Aug. 25, 2021 — For home gardeners and farmers, herbivorous insects present a major threat to their hard work and crop yields. The predator insects that feed on these bugs emit odors that pests can sense, which changes the pests’ behavior and even their physiology to avoid being eaten. With bugs becoming more resistant to traditional pesticides, researchers now report they have developed a way to bottle the “smell of fear” produced by predators to repel and disrupt destructive insects naturally without the need for harsh substances.

The researchers will present their results today at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Fall 2021 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person Aug. 22-26, and on-demand content will be available Aug. 30-Sept. 30. The meeting features more than 7,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

“It is not uncommon to use our senses to avoid risky situations. If a building was on fire, we as humans could use our senses of sight or smell to detect the threat,” says Sara Hermann, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator. “There is evidence for such behavioral responses to risk across taxa that suggest prey organisms can detect predation threats, but the mechanisms for detection aren’t very well understood, especially with insects.”

“Insects rely on olfactory cues to find food, mates and places to live, so this is a great opportunity to investigate how to use these smells to manipulate their behavior,” says Jessica Kansman, Ph.D., a postdoc who is presenting the work at the meeting. Hermann and Kansman are at the Pennsylvania State University.

Aphids are a highly destructive pest to an array of crops, and their large numbers, ability to transmit plant pathogens and increased resistance to insecticides make them a persistent problem for growers. They also happen to be a favorite food of the ladybug, which gardeners welcome as a source of sustainable pest management. Hermann’s research has shown that aphids and other herbivorous insects will steer clear of fields and gardens if they can smell predators nearby. Not only that, but exposure to the odor cues given off by ladybugs can also cause aphids to slow their reproduction rates and increase their ability to grow wings, both of which are behaviors designed to avoid threats.

With these observations in mind, the research team set out to determine whether the olfactory cues given off by ladybugs could, by themselves, control pests. They started by identifying and extracting the volatile odor profile from live ladybugs using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry, which separates and allows for identification of the individual components of the ladybugs’ smell. To see which compounds the aphids would respond to, they hooked up the antennae of live aphids to an electroantennogram (EAG) machine and exposed them to each individual odor the predator emitted to see which compounds they detected. The strength of their reactions was measured based on the signal picked up by the EAG machine. Of the many compounds emitted by ladybugs, aphids had the strongest response to methoxypyrazines, such as isopropyl methoxypyrazine, isobutyl methoxypyrazine and sec-butyl methoxypyrazine. Once the compounds were identified, Hermann and team set out to create a special odor blend that can be used in an essential oil diffuser that will spread the scent over time across a garden or field.

Next, the team plans to conduct field tests of their scent diffusers to see if the effects on aphids and ladybugs are similar to what they observed in the lab. Hermann and Kansman also want to determine the dispersal area of the diffusers, and whether they could be applied to other pests and predators, as well as various types of crops. In addition, they are collaborating with a manufacturing company to design special diffusers for eventual commercial use by both farmers and gardeners.

A recorded media briefing on this topic will be posted Wednesday, Aug. 25 at 9 a.m. Eastern time at www.acs.org/acsfall2021briefings.

###

The researchers acknowledge support and funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Title
Smell of fear: Harnessing predatory insect odor cues as a pest management tool for herbivorous insects

Abstract
Predatory insects are highly valued tools in the sustainable management of herbivorous insects in agroecosystems. Considerable research focuses on recruiting and retaining natural enemies that consume and thus reduce herbivore populations that damage crop plants. However, the mere risk of predation can provoke changes in herbivore behavior and physiology that can influence herbivore reproductive capacity and survival. The contribution of these fitness affecting risk-responses (known as non-consumptive effects) in suppressing herbivorous pest populations as a pest management tool is far less explored, as well as identification of the mechanisms used by the herbivore to detect predation risk. The goal of our study was to ask 1) do the odor cues from predators play a role in risk detection by prey and 2) are these odor cues capable of eliciting non-consumptive effects in prey organisms? We ask these questions using the herbivorous green peach aphid (Myzus persicae (Sulzer)), the predatory multi-colored Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis (Pallas)), and collards (Brassica oleracea) as a system. In this study, we first identified the volatile odor profile of H. axyridis using GC-MS, and assessed the bioactivity of the compounds and blend using GC-EAG. We further explored the impact of these odor cues on M. persicae using two-choice olfactometer assays. We also found that exposure to H. axyridis volatile odor cues affects M. persicae host-plant choices and reproductive capacity in laboratory experiments. This approach was critical in determining if prey odor cues lead to changes in herbivore behavior and performance that ultimately benefit plant productivity. Harnessing non-consumptive effects through the use of natural enemy odor cues is a promising future direction for applied chemical ecology in sustainable pest management.

Zero-emission, crewless cargo ship to launch by year-end

The fully electric, autonomous cargo ship Yara Birkeland is on track for its first voyage between two Norwegian cities by the end of the year. Photo courtesy of Yara International

Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The Yara Birkeland, the first zero-emissions, crewless cargo ship, built by Norwegian company Yara International, is set to make its first journey by the end of the year.

The ship will be monitored from three onshore data control centers when it makes its voyage between two Norwegian towns, CNN reported Wednesday

The fully electric container ship is designed to reduce emissions in the shipping industry, which currently accounts for between 2.5% and 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The crewless cargo ship was conceptualized in 2017 and can carry 103 containers at speeds up to 13 knots.

The COVID-19 pandemic and logistical challenges delayed the launch of the Yara Birkeland, which originally was scheduled for 2020.

"[I]nnovation projects come with uncertainties and challenges," Yara International said in a news release in November. "In particular, the autonomous logistics on land that have proven to be a challenge for the project.

"The construction of the ship has been done according to plan with slight delays, including the fitting of the battery, control and navigation systems, For the autonomous logistics on land the project team continues to look for simplified solutions to this."

The crewless ship follows an autonomous ferry launched in Finland in 2018.

ROBOTS TAKING OUR JOBS THAT'S FINE

1,500-year-old burial in China holds lovers locked in eternal embrace

By Laura Geggel

The woman may have sacrificed herself for the burial.

An aerial view of the lovers' burial. Archaeologists found three pottery containers next to the burial and charcoal and ash at the man's foot, "laid as moisture-proof material under the coffin during burial," the researchers wrote in the study. (Image credit: Qian Wang)

The skeletal remains of two lovers, buried together more than 1,500 years ago in northern China, were recently discovered locked in an eternal embrace, a new study finds.

It's possible that the woman, who wore a metal ring on her left ring finger, sacrificed herself so that she could be buried with her husband, the researchers said. While joint male-female burials are not uncommon in China, this entwined burial "with two skeletons locked in an embrace with a bold display of love" is the first of its kind in the country, and may reflect changing attitudes toward love in Chinese society at that time, the researchers wrote in the study.

"This is the first [couple] found in a loving embrace, as such, anywhere anytime in China," study lead researcher Qian Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Texas A&M College of Dentistry, told Live Science in an email.

Related: In photos: Ancient tomb of Chinese couple revealed

Archaeologists discovered the burial in June 2020 during the excavation of a cemetery that had been exposed during construction work in Shanxi province. The cemetery contained about 600 burials from the Xianbei, an ancient nomadic group in northern China that assimilated into Han Chinese culture, and dated to the North Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386-534), the grave shapes and ceramic goods found in the cemetery revealed.

Because the couple's burial was unique, the archaeologists decided not to fully excavate the skeletal remains. Instead, the team left them entwined so that the duo could be put on display in a future museum exhibit. The archaeologists found two other couples buried together in the same cemetery; but these couples were not hugging as closely, and the females were not wearing rings, Wang said.
Image 1 of 2

An illustration of the two lovers fitted onto a photo of the burial in Shanxi province, China. (Image credit: Illustration by Anqi Wang; Photo by Qian Wang)

An illustration showing the man and woman in their eternal embrace. (Image credit: Anqi Wang)

The ringed lovers' partial excavation still revealed plenty about them. The man would have stood about 5 feet, 4 inches (161.5 centimeters) tall and had a few injuries, including a broken arm, part of a missing finger on his right hand and bone spurs on his right leg. He likely died between the ages of 29 and 35, the researchers said.

The woman, in contrast, was fairly healthy when she died. She stood about 5 feet, 2 inch (157.1 cm) tall and only had a few dental problems, including cavities. She likely died between the ages of 35 and 40. It's possible that the woman wore the ring on her ring finger due to influence "by the customs from the western regions and beyond through the Silk Roads … and assimilation of the Xianbei people, reflecting the integration of Chinese and Western culture," Wang said.

The silver-colored metal ring found on the woman's left ring finger. (Image credit: Qian Wang)

Whoever buried the couple did so with tender care. The man's body was curved toward the woman's, and his left arm lay beneath her body. His right arm embraced her, with his hand resting on her waist. The woman's body was placed "in a position to be embraced," the researchers wrote in the study. Her head faced slightly downward, meaning her face would have rested on his shoulder. Her arms hugged his body.

It's likely this scene reflected the couple's dedication to each other in life. "The [burial] message was clear — husband and wife lied together, embracing each other for eternal love during the afterlife," the researchers wrote in the study.

The team had a few ideas about how the couple ended up in the same grave. It's unlikely the lovers died at the same time from violence, disease or poisoning, as there is no evidence yet of any of these things. Perhaps the husband died first and the woman sacrificed herself so that they could be buried together, the researchers said. It's also possible that the woman died first and the husband sacrificed himself; however, this is less likely, as the woman appears to have been in better health than her partner.

Related: Photos: Treasures from 800-year-old tombs in China

Dying for love?

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During the first millennium, when this couple was alive, the ability to freely express and pursue love in China became culturally "prominent," the researchers said. There were fictional love stories galore and even historical records of people taking their own lives for love. In essence, pursuing love and dying by suicide for love was "accepted, if not promoted," Wang said.

While the circumstances that led to these lovebirds' intimate entombment remains a mystery, their burial is a "unique display of human emotion of love in a burial, offering a rare glimpse towards love, life, death, and afterlife," Wang said.

The study was published online June 4 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

Originally published on Live Science.

2,000-year-old flower offerings found under Teotihuacan pyramid in Mexico

The bouquets had survived a bonfire

By Owen Jarus

A bouquet of flowers found in a tunnel under a Teotihuacan pyramid survived a bonfire about 2,000 years ago. (Image credit: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH)/Sergio Gómez)

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the ancient people of Teotihuacan wrapped bunches of flowers into beautiful bouquets, laid them beneath a jumble of wood and set the pile ablaze. Now, archaeologists have found the remains of those surprisingly well-preserved flowers in a tunnel snaking beneath a pyramid of the ancient city, locted northeast of what is now Mexico City.

The pyramid itself is immense, and would have stood 75 feet (23 meters) tall when it was first built, making it taller than the Sphinx of Giza from ancient Egypt. The Teotihuacan pyramid is part of the "Temple of the Feathered Serpent," which was built in honor of Quetzalcoatl, a serpent god who was worshipped in Mesoamerica.

Archaeologists found the bouquets 59 feet (18 m) below ground in the deepest part of the tunnel, said Sergio Gómez-Chávez, an archaeologist with Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) who is leading the excavation of the tunnel. Numerous pieces of pottery, along with a sculpture depicting Tlaloc, a god associated with rainfall and fertility, were found beside the bouquets, he added.

The bouquets were likely part of rituals, possibly associated with fertility, that Indigenous people performed in the tunnel, Gómez-Chávez told Live Science in a translated email. The team hopes that by determining the identity of the flowers, they can learn more about the rituals.

Related: Photos: The amazing pyramids of Teotihuacan

The team discovered the bouquets just a few weeks ago. The number of flowers in each bouquet varies, Gómez-Chávez said, noting that one bouquet has 40 flowers tied together while another has 60 flowers.

Archaeologists found evidence of a large bonfire with numerous pieces of burnt wood where the bouquets were laid down, Gómez-Chávez said. It seems that people placed the bouquets on the ground first and then covered them with a vast amount of wood. The sheer amount of wood seems to have protected the bouquets from the bonfire's flames.
Image 1 of 4

A digital reconstruction of the tunnel running under the pyramid at Teotihuacan. (Image credit: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH)/Sergio Gómez)

One of the 2,000-year-old bouquets is prepped for research. (Image credit: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH)/Sergio Gómez)

The Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan, Mexico (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Sergio Gómez-Chávez does excavation work in the tunnel beneath the Teotihuacan pyramid. (Image credit: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH)/Sergio Gómez)http://

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The tunnel that Gómez-Chávez's team is excavating was found in 2003 and has yielded thousands of artifacts including pottery, sculptures, cocoa beans, obsidian, animal remains and even a miniature landscape with pools of liquid mercury. Archaeologists are still trying to understand why ancient people created the tunnel and how they used it.

Teotihuacan contains several pyramids and flourished between roughly 100 B.C. and A.D. 600. It had an urban core that covered 8 square miles (20 square kilometers) and may have had a population of 100,000 people.

Originally published on Live Science.

Megalodon's mortal attack on sperm whale revealed in ancient tooth

By Laura Geggel

The megatoothed shark's serrated teeth left gouge marks.

An illustration showing how the attack may have gone down, with a megatoothed shark biting the lower jaw of the sperm whale. (Image credit: Artwork by Tim Scheirer; Acta Palaeontologica Polonica (2021); CC BY 4.0)

Millions of years ago, an ancient sperm whale had a very, very bad day when a megatoothed shark — possibly the fearsome Otodus megalodon or its ancestor Otodus chubutensis, the largest predatory sharks that ever lived — viciously attacked it in what is now North Carolina, a new study suggests.

Marks from the attack, preserved as gouges out of the sperm whale's tooth, are the first evidence in the fossil record that megatoothed sharks tussled with sperm whales, the researchers said.

"It would seem that these giant sharks were preying on whatever they wanted to, and no marine animal was safe from attacks from these giant sharks," study lead researcher Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland, told Live Science in an email.

The single tooth is all that's left of the ancient sperm whale. Study co-researcher Norman Riker, an amateur fossil collector from Dowell, Maryland, found the tooth in what is now called the Nutrien Aurora Phosphate mine, a large phosphate mine in Aurora, North Carolina, in the 1970s or 1980s, when the mine was open to fossil collectors. (Riker, who donated the tooth to the Calvert Marine Museum, died at age 80 in January 2021, the museum newsletter reported.)

The researchers aren't sure when this shark-whale brawl occurred. To reach the older phosphate-rich beds, mine workers removed bucketloads of overlying sedimentary rock and dumped them nearby, where fossil collectors could scour them, Godfrey said. The different rock layers — which get laid down over time and so are used to date objects in the layers — got mixed up; because of the mixing, the scientists don't know if the tooth comes from the older sedimentary beds, which would date it to the Miocene epoch, 14 million years ago, or the younger fossils beds, which would date it to the Pliocene epoch, about 5 million years ago.

Either way, the tooth falls into the Neogene period (23 million to 2.5 million years ago), he noted. During the Neogene, the Earth's climate was warmer than it is today and, as a result, the North and South Poles had less ice, so sea levels were higher. That's why "coastal North Carolina was covered by a vast shallow arm of the Atlantic Ocean," Godfrey said. "These marine waters teemed with abundant sea life."

Different views of the ancient sperm whale tooth that show the three gouge marks from the megatoothed shark. (Image credit: Photos by Stephen Godfrey; Acta Palaeontologica Polonica (2021); CC BY 4.0)

Shark versus whale

The size and shape of the curved 4.5-inch-long (11.6 centimeters) tooth clearly indicates that it belongs to an extinct sperm whale species, Godfrey said. By using an equation that compares extinct sperm whale tooth size with body size, the researchers estimate this particular whale was small, only about 13 feet (4 meters) long. Today's sperm whales can reach lengths of over 50 feet (15 m), Godfrey noted.

Three gouge marks on the tooth show that whatever took a bite out of it had evenly spaced, serrated teeth. Based on the size and spacing of the bite marks and serrations, the only possible culprits are the megatoothed shark O. chubutensis (which lived 28 million to 13 million years ago) and its descendant O. megalodon (which existed 20 million to 3.5 million years ago), the researchers found.

"None of the other fossil sharks known from the phosphate mine have teeth large enough and serrations even enough to have left these bite traces on the sperm whale tooth," Godfrey wrote in the email. "Up until now, bite traces by these giant sharks (with a body length of megalodon over 60 feet [18 m] long) have been found on other bones of extinct whales and dolphins, but never on the head or other bones of a sperm whale."

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The team added that while it's possible the megatoothed shark was scavenging an already-dead sperm whale, it's more likely that that gouge marks were made during a predatory attack. That's because the cut marks were made on the root of the tooth, or the part that was embedded in the whale's jaw. "So before the megatoothed shark tooth could cut into the sperm whale tooth, it first had to cut through the jaw bone of the sperm whale holding the tooth," Godfrey said.

"It would seem unlikely that a large shark would target the jaws of a floating or seafloor carcass of a sperm whale. There would be little flesh in return for the effort," he continued. Instead the bite marks "hint at an attack to the head with the goal of inflicting a mortal wound. In other words, if a giant shark is biting your head, it's trying to kill you."

The findings shed light on the ancient ecology of North Carolina, said paleontologist Alberto Collareta, of the University of Pisa in Italy who was not involved in the study. Moreover, it's not too surprising that the megatoothed shark bit the sperm whale's tooth, he said. Killer whales, apex predators in today's oceans, are known to eat the meaty tongues and blubbery throats of other whales. "Maybe the sperm whales had some reserve of fat or there was the tongue," that attracted the megatoothed shark, Collareta told Live Science.

The study was published online Aug. 9 in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Originally published on Live Science.

Fossil confiscated in police raid is one of the most complete pterosaur skeletons ever found

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

A discovery made during a police raid has been identified as the most complete fossil of a flying reptile from Brazil. The remains revealed new information about tapejarids, or pterosaurs that soared across the skies during the Early Cretaceous period between 100.5 million and 145 million years ago.

© Courtesy Victor Beccari Fig. 02: Artistic representation of Tupandactylus navigans in the Lower Cretaceous of what is now Northeastern Brazil. Credit Victor Beccari

A study on the findings published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

These particular pterosaurs are best known for having a giant crest crowning the head. Tapejarids are common within Brazil's fossil record, but most of these are only partial remains.

The newly discovered fossil preserves almost the entire body of the pterosaur, including bits of soft tissue. This species is known as Tupandactylus navigans.

The fossil was located in six squares of limestone slabs that were confiscated during a 2013 police raid of São Paulo's Santos Harbour.

"The Federal Police of Brazil was investigating a fossil trade operation and recovered, in 2013, over 3.000 specimens," said Victor Beccari, study author and vertebrate paleontologist at the University of São Paulo. "Fossils in Brazil are protected by law, as they are part of the geological heritage of the country. Therefore, collecting fossils requires permission, and the trade and private collections of fossils are illegal in Brazil."

Once the slabs were moved to the University of São Paulo, they put the slabs together like a puzzle to figure out the fossil and researchers conducted a CT scan to find the bones inside the stone. Beccari and his colleagues began studying the fossil in 2016.

The discovery marked the first time researchers have studied a nearly complete skeleton, rather than just the skull, of T. navigans. This enabled them to reconstruct how the creature would have appeared and behaved when it was alive.

"The specimen is exceptionally well-preserved, with over 90% of its skeleton and soft-tissue impressions of the head crest and the keratinous beak (a structure similar to that found in birds, named rhamphotheca)," Beccari said.

The skeleton came from the fossil-rich Crato Formation in northeastern Brazil and was dated to about 115 million years ago.

The pterosaur had a long neck and the researchers believe it spent most of its time on the ground foraging for food like seeds and fruits and likely didn't fly for long distances.

"This pterosaur was over 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) in wingspan and was 1 meter (3.3 feet) tall (40% of this is accounted for by the head crest)," Beccari said. "With such a tall head crest and a relatively long neck, this animal may have been restricted to short-distance flights."

© Courtesy Victor Beccari The fossil was discovered in limestone slabs.

However, these pterosaurs had the adaptations necessary for powered flight, including a notarium, or the bone that helped brace the chest against the forces created by the movement of its wings. The pterosaur also had a developed muscle anchoring region within its arm bones, according to the researchers.

"The skeleton shows all the adaptations for a powered flight, which the animal may have used to quickly flee predators," Beccari said.

In addition to the large head crest, T. navigans also had some flair in the form of a large crest on its chin, too. More research is needed to understand how this affected the flight of the pterosaur.

"This specimen allows us to understand more about the complete anatomy of this animal and brings insights into its ecology," he added.

Confiscated fossil turns out to be exceptional flying reptile from Brazil

Complete skeleton provides first look at entire body of Tupandactylus navigans

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Confiscated fossil turns out to be exceptional flying reptile from Brazil — IMAGE: TUPANDACTYLUS NAVIGANS (ARTIST’S RENDERING) view more
CREDIT: VICTOR BECCARI

A fossil acquired in a police raid has turned out to be one of the best-preserved flying reptiles ever found, according to a study published August 11, 2021 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Victor Beccari of the University of São Paulo and colleagues.

Tapejarids (an Early Cretaceous subgroup of flying reptiles called pterosaurs) are known for their enormous head crests and their abundance in the fossil record of Brazil, but most Brazilian tapejarid fossils preserve only partial remains. In this study, researchers describe an exceptional tapejarid specimen which includes nearly the entire body, mostly intact and even including remnants of soft tissue alongside the bones, making it the most complete tapejarid skeleton ever found in Brazil.

This fossil belongs to a species called Tupandactylus navigans, and it has a dramatic history. It is preserved across six square-cut limestone slabs which were confiscated during a police raid at Santos Harbour in São Paulo. It is now among the collections of the University of São Paulo, where researchers were able to reunite the slabs and examine the entire fossil, even CT-scanning to reveal the bones concealed within the stone. This is the first time that paleontologists have been able to study more than just the skull of this species.

The description suggests this species had a terrestrial foraging lifestyle, due to its long neck and the proportions of its limbs, as well as its large head crest that could negatively influence long-distance flight. However, the specimen possesses all the necessary adaptation for powered flight, such as the presence of a notarium and a developed muscle anchoring region in the arm bones. This specimen also has an unusually large crest on its chin, part of its already impressive skull ornamentation. Precisely how all these factors contributed to the flight performance and lifestyle of these animals will be a subject of future research, among the many other questions that can be answered through study of this exceptional fossil.

The authors add: “We described the most complete tapejarid fossil from Brazil, a partially articulated skeleton of Tupandactylus navigans with soft tissue preservation. This specimen brings new insights into the anatomy of this animal and its constraints for flight, arguing for terrestrial foraging ecology.”

CAPTION

Tupandactylus navigans GP/2E 9266. Photo of specimen (A); 3D model of specimen (B). Abbreviations: atax, atlas-axis complex; cav, caudal vertebrae; cv, cervical vertebrae; d4, digit four; dc, dentary crest; dov, dorsal vertebrae; f, femur; hu, humerus; il, ilium; isc, ischium; ma, manus; mc, metacarpal; naof, nasoantorbital fenestra; not, notarium; p, pubis; pe, pes; pmc, premaxillary crest; pt, pteroid; rad, radius; sac, sacral vertebrae; sc, scapulocoracoid; spmp, supra-premaxilar bony process; st, sternum; tar, tarsals; tf, tibiofibula; ul, ulna. Scale bar = 50 mm.

CREDIT

Victor Beccari

Citation: Beccari V, Pinheiro FL, Nunes I, Anelli LE, Mateus O, Costa FR (2021) Osteology of an exceptionally well-preserved tapejarid skeleton from Brazil: Revealing the anatomy of a curious pterodactyloid clade. PLoS ONE 16(8): e0254789. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254789

Funding: FLP is supported by grants from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq process numbers 407969/2016-0, 305758/2017-9) and Fundacão de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS process number 16/2551-0000271-1). OM is supported by grants from GeoBioTec-GeoBioSciences, GeoTechnologies and GeoEngineering NOVA [GeoBioCiências, GeoTecnologias e GeoEngenharias], grant UIDB/04035/2020 by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. FRC is supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for support (grant No. 421772/2018-2).

Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests.

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0254789

JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0254789

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

11-Aug-2021

COI STATEMENT

Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests.

Catholic Charities: Texas order on migrant transport violates religious rights

Most of the migrants who use Catholic Charities' Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, are families, many of them mothers traveling with children. Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities

Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley is trying to block enforcement of an executive order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that it says would prevent it from providing essential services at its Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen to migrants who have been processed and released by the Border Patrol after entering the country.

The executive order, which the governor says is designed to stop the spread of COVID-19, allows only law enforcement members to transport groups of migrants by ground in the state. The order also authorizes the Texas Department of Public Safety to stop, on reasonable suspicion, any vehicle that might be transporting migrants and reroute it back to its point of origin or impound it.

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Texas to permanently bar enforcement of the order. The department is asking for a preliminary injunction that would stop enforcement until the lawsuit is resolved and plans to ask for a permanent injunction if it prevails in the case.

The nonprofit Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a friend-of-the-court brief Aug. 12 on behalf of Catholic Charities that supports the request for an injunction. The brief says Executive Order GA-37 violates the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

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At the request of the Justice Department, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the executive order until Friday. A decision on the preliminary injunction request is pending.

Essential services

The respite center offers transitional care to the migrants and then staffers often drive them to a more permanent shelter or to the airport or bus station so they can reunify with family members. About 1,000 migrants are seen each day, and if they can't be moved out after they receive services, other newcomers will have to be turned away for lack of space, said Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

RELATED Supreme Court says Biden must reinstate 'Remain in Mexico' policy

The center, working city and county officials, arranges for COVID-19 testing for migrants. Those who test positive are taken to quarantine spaces provided by hotels and city and county officials.

The others are admitted to the center, where they are offered a place to rest briefly, meals, hot showers and clean clothes. Volunteer doctors and nurses assist the mothers who are pregnant or nursing, and migrants can meet with volunteer lawyers to learn more about their rights and the legal process.

Most of the migrants who use the center are families, many of them mothers traveling with children. Single men and unaccompanied minors are not served there.

RELATED Federal judge blocks Biden administration directives limiting ICE arrests

The friend-of-the-court brief says providing migrants with food, COVID-19 testing and transportation is part of Catholic Charities' ministry.

"Religious exercise is by no means limited to what happens in the four walls of a church on Sunday morning," Eric Rassbach, Becket's vice president and senior counsel, told UPI.

Public health concerns

Executive Order GA-37 alleges that busloads of migrants, an unknown number of whom are infected with COVID-19, are being transported to communities across Texas, which poses an imminent threat of disaster for all counties.

But despite the emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, President Joe Biden has thwarted the effect of a Trump administration policy that allows for the swift expulsion of migrants at the border in the interest of public health, the order alleges.

"The dramatic rise in unlawful border crossings has also led to a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases among unlawful migrants who have made their way into our state, and we must do more to protect Texans from this virus and reduce the burden on our communities," Abbott said in a news release.

Under the order, only federal, state or local law-enforcement can provide ground transportation to "a group of migrants" who have been detained by the Border Patrol for crossing the border illegally or who would have been subject to expulsion under the Trump administration policy. The order, which Abbott signed on June 28, does not say whether driving a single migrant somewhere would be a violation.

The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment.

In her declaration, which was filed with the friend-of-the-court brief, Pimentel says a Texas Department of Public Safety official met on June 28 with her and Mario Alberto Avilés, auxiliary bishop of Brownsville, and said the order was effective immediately and Catholic Charities was prohibited from transporting any migrants in vehicles of any kind to any location.

The DPS official told them that once enforcement began, a patrol car would be stationed at the center's entrance, and officers would stop any vehicle suspected of transporting migrants.

The Justice Department says in its lawsuit, which was filed on July 30 in U.S. District Court in El Paso, that federal law pre-empts the executive order. In addition, the order jeopardizes the health and safety of noncitizens in custody and law enforcement personnel and their families and exacerbates the spread of COVID-19, the suit alleges.

The Texas Attorney General's Office counters there is no pre-emption issue because the executive order's purpose is to promote public health in the state and does not prevent the United States from enforcing federal immigration law.

"Suffering from the ongoing release of migrants who may spread COVID-19, Texas was not required to sit on its hands," the state says in a brief arguing against a ban on enforcing the order.

The state's brief also says the fact that non-governmental agencies sometimes test migrants for COVID-19 after they are released from federal custody does little to protect public health. A family of migrants who went to a La Joya restaurant, where they were coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths, were sick with the virus but had been released by the Border Patrol days before, according to the brief.

The friend-of-the-court brief says Catholic Charities and the people of the Diocese of Brownsville have made a positive difference in the lives of thousands and that "they merely ask to be left to serve in peace."

"An injunction against the order would protect religious freedom and the well-being of those Catholic Charities serves," the brief says.

Scars of Papua conflict weigh on Indonesia's vaccine drive

Issued on: 26/08/2021 -

Decades of conflict, racism and human rights abuses in are fuelling Covid vaccine conspiracy theories in Papua at a time when the breakaway region is facing a renewed threat from the pandemic

Yonri Susanto Revolt AFP/File

Jayapura (Indonesia) (AFP)

"William" is refusing to take a coronavirus vaccine because he fears Indonesia's military will use the country's inoculation programme to poison him and wipe out his fellow Papuans.

Decades of conflict, racism and human rights abuses are fuelling Covid conspiracy theories among his neighbours at a time when their breakaway region is facing a renewed threat from the pandemic.

"I won't take a vaccine if it's brought here by Indonesia," William, who asked not to use his real name, told AFP.

He said that he would gladly sign up for any dose administered directly by the World Health Organization.

"But (many people) here are worried that if the jabs come through Indonesia they'll be replaced with some other chemical substance that will kill us," he added.

There is no evidence of a genocidal plan by Indonesia, which has drafted the armed forces to help run a nationwide vaccination drive, including in Papua.

But a widespread hatred of the military runs deep in the region, located on the eastern edge of the Southeast Asian archipelago nation and just north of Australia.

Security forces have been accused of committing atrocities against Papuan civilians during decades of fighting between a rebel independence movement and government troops.

Much of this conflict has centred around William's hometown of Timika, near the world's biggest gold mine -- a potent symbol for Papuans of the region's exploitation and environmental devastation.

- 'Trauma of violence' -

Indonesia, as with many countries, has found its efforts to fight the pandemic hamstrung by both limited vaccine supplies and hesitancy driven by the spread of online disinformation.

The spread of unfounded rumours in Papua mirrors a similar phenomenon across the border in Papua New Guinea, an independent nation with stronger cultural and historical ties to Papua than the rest of Indonesia.

Social media posts there falsely claimed to show evidence of locals being forcibly vaccinated in a mass medical trial, and even suggested that the vaccine campaign as part of a racial genocide plot.

Papua's long history of conflict and mistrust has created a wide audience for fearful rumours.

"The conflict has been going on for so long (that)... whatever the central government is doing will appear suspicious," said Adriana Elisabeth, a Papua expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

Appeals by local activists have done little to lift low vaccination numbers among Papuans, which stand at fewer than 30,000 -- less than one percent of the region's population.

Papua has sailed through earlier waves of the pandemic relatively unscathed, with its 40,000 confirmed infections a tiny fraction of Indonesia's total.

But it is now threatened by the highly contagious Delta variant that has wreaked havoc elsewhere in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, and its underfunded health system is ill-equipped to navigate a crisis.

Authorities have blamed low take-up rates on social media hoaxes and say Papuan church leaders have also stoked doubts over the seriousness of the pandemic and staged mask-burning demonstrations.

Papua's largely Christian and ethnic Melanesian population shares few cultural ties with the rest of Muslim-majority Indonesia, and the region has been the site of decades of separatist conflict

Yonri Susanto Revolt AFP/File

"The military is just an excuse," said Aaron Rumainum, head of the illness prevention division at Papua's health agency, adding that it was mostly civilians handling vaccinations.

"But we are not giving up. We'll focus on those who are keen instead of the ones who reject vaccines."

- 'You'll become weak' -

Jakarta took control of Papua in the 1960s after a UN-sponsored vote to incorporate the former Dutch colony into Indonesia -- a ballot widely viewed as rigged.

That set off decades of conflict in Papua, where the largely Christian and ethnic Melanesian population shares few cultural ties with the rest of Muslim-majority Indonesia.

Papuans routinely face anti-black discrimination in the rest of the archipelago.

Two years ago, the arrest of young Papuans studying in the city of Surabaya sparked riots that left dozens dead in the remote region.

The region has also been on tenterhooks since rebels assassinated Indonesia's top intelligence chief there in April, prompting a crackdown and the designation of local separatists as "terrorists".

Protests have broken out this month against the vaccination programme and broader anger over Papua's subservient status. Security forces responded by arresting and beating civilians, according to local media reports and rights groups.

The heavy troop presence on the streets was driving rumours that it was meant to limit independence-seeking Papuans' movements rather than reduce infections.

"There are soldiers and police everywhere," said Marcus Dogopia, a resident of provincial capital Jayapura who has also resolved not to seek a Covid vaccine.

"The jabs aren't safe for us. When you get vaccinated you'll become weak and won't be able to move around," he added.

© 2021 AFP

FRESH KILLS

The New York landfill site home to 9/11 debris, human remains

Issued on: 26/08/2021 -

Dennis Diggins shows images of debris removal after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island

Angela Weiss AFP

New York (AFP)

For some, the hill represents New York's resilience; for others it's a gaping wound. Beneath it lies debris, mixed with human remains, from the 9/11 attacks.

The site at Fresh Kills on Staten Island was the largest open-air dump in the world until it closed in March 2001. Today it's a source of consternation for some victims' families.

After al-Qaeda hijackers reduced the Twin Towers to piles of steel and concrete, the site was reopened so that rubble from the World Trade Center could be sent there.

The first trucks arrived the night of September 11, 2001 itself and for ten months, Dennis Diggins led efforts to sift through 600,000 tons of debris from "Ground Zero."

"I don't know what it would be like if I had a family member. But I can tell you that the material has been treated with the utmost respect," he recalls 20 years later.

"It's not co-mingled with garbage, there's a separation" ever since it arrived, he adds from the top of the hill which overlooks Lower Manhattan.

The area became like a small town with some thousand sanitation employees, police, FBI, and Secret Service agents. They combed the site for clues, valuables and remains that would help identify victims.

Diane and Kurt Horning, who lost their son Matthew in the 9/11 attacks, are seen at the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial in Jersey City, New Jersey Angela Weiss AFP

Kurt and Diane Horning were among victims' families to quickly visit the area. Their son Matthew was a database administrator who died when the North Tower fell an hour and 42 minutes after it was struck by a hijacked airliner.

They tensed up as soon as they arrived: Mud and seagulls pervaded the site. They came across a credit card, a shoe, a watch.

A worker told them that during the first 45 days, due to lack of equipment, they worked with rakes and shovels.

"The whole idea was get it done under budget, get in time fast, get something new up. We're going to show our resilience and we're not going to dwell on the dead, and that's what they did," says Diane.

Diggins assures that he and his workers never treated the area like a normal landfill site and operated "with respect."

Diane and Kurt Horning display items found at the Fresh Kills landfill site for Ground Zero debris

Angela Weiss AFP

"You always knew that there were human remains. That never left you," he says, getting visibly emotional.

Once all the trucks left, Diggins said he even hired divers to search the surrounding wharf to make sure nothing had escaped his men.

- 'Garbage dump' -

Between the start and the end of the operation, the hill, which offers a breathtaking view of lower Manhattan, where the Towers stood, rose more than 80 feet (25 meters).

Separated from the rest of the hill by an insulating layer, the pile of debris was covered by a protective layer of film.

The Hornings believe some of Matthew's remains are buried there. To this day, only a bone fragment from their son has been recovered. Their attempts to have all remains removed were rebuffed by then mayor Michael Bloomberg's city government.

"It was a double loss, because, yes, some fanatics decided that this was a good idea and blew up my child. But then my own government decided he wasn't good enough to bury. So I had a double loss," says Diane.

Horning and other families proposed that the remains be sent to other sites in Fresh Kills that had never housed any trash but they got nowhere.

Dennis Diggins is seen at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island

Angela Weiss AFP

In 2005, 17 of them started legal action. They tried to take it to the Supreme Court but justices refused to examine it.

"I crashed and I felt personally responsible for having dragged the families in. Now they have no hope and I had to live with that," said Diane.

The site still lets out more than 40,000 cubic meters of methane per day from the decomposing trash brought there over many decades. Once it is safe, New York authorities plan to open a memorial park on the site in 2035.

But the Hornings are not interested.

"It's a garbage dump," says Diane. "It's like if on Christmas morning, you handed your child a beautifully wrapped package and when your child opened it, there was garbage in it."

© 2021 AFP

#NOPASARAN

Paris honours the forgotten Spanish fighters who liberated the French capital

Issued on: 25/08/2021 -

La Nueve was the first company to enter Paris on 24 August 1944

Text by:Alison Hird

Paris was officially freed from Nazi occupation on 25 August, 77 years ago. "Paris is liberated by itself, by its people," General Charles de Gaulle declared the following day. But the first Allied vehicles to drive into the city belonged to the 9th company known as La Nueve, and the vast majority of its members were Spanish Republican fighters.

"You cannot commemorate the liberation of Paris unless you start with the story of the men of La Neuve, and with this ceremony of 24 August," said the city's mayor Anne Hidalgo on Wednesday.

The Spanish-born mayor hosted the now-annual ceremony in City Hall's "Jardin des Combattants de la Nueve" (Garden of the Ninth Company Fighters), alongside a representative of the Spanish government and descendents of those who fought.

The story of La Neuve is little known in French history and it was only in 2004 that Paris officially recognised the company's contribution to its liberation.

Official photo of La Nueve taken at Dalton Hall, England, in the spring of 1944

A.H.C.C La nueve

La Nueve (meaning ninth in Spanish) was the 9th company of the Régiment de Marche du Tchad, part of the 2nd Armoured Division (2DB) commanded by General Philippe Leclerc.

The vast majority, 146 of the 160-strong unit, were republicans: communists and anarchists who had cut their teeth fighting against Franco's dictatorship.

Trained in guerilla warware, they proved invaluable fighters, serving under the command of Captain Raymond Dronne.

"Some of them were even anti-militarists, but they were good soldiers, courageous and experienced warriors," said Dronne.

Whilst they were part of the French army, the company was allowed to stich the red, yellow and purple flag of Spain's second republic on their uniforms.

They even painted the flag on their half-track armoured vehicles which bore names reminiscent of home . . . Madrid, Teruel, Guernica, Guadalajara and Ebro.

Captain Raymond Dronne (centre) discusses plans for attacking a telecommunications centre with Amado Granell (right), on 25 August 1944

Triumphant entry

The company, led by Spanish Lieutenant Amado Granell, was the first to enter Paris on 24 August through the Porte d'Italie, south of the city.

While waiting for Dietrich von Choltitz (the Nazi military governor of Paris) to surrender, La Nueve was sent on a scouting mission to approach the city.

"Ebro" was the first tank to reach City Hall at around 9:30 pm, firing shots against a German machine-gun nest.

(EBRO WAS A FAMOUS BATTLE IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR)

"They were welcomed as liberators, the bells rang out, but Parisiens took them for Americans because all the equipment was American," says Juan Chica Ventura, grandson of a Nueve anarchist fighter.

On 25 August, the bulk of the allied troops, led by General de Gaulle, entered Paris in triumph and La Neuve escorted the general during his famous parade down the Champs-Elysées.

While more than 50 of the company's members received the Croix de Guerre for bravery, the fighters did not feature in de Gaulle's victory speech.

"Paris is outraged. Paris is destroyed. Paris is martyred," he said. "But Paris is liberated! Liberated by itself, liberated by its people with the help of the armies of France."

Mar y Luz Carina Lopez holds the flag of the Spanish Republic next to a portrait of the late Colette Dronne. The daughter of Captain Dronne considered La Nueve as "her family". © RFI/A.Hird

Long forgotten

For years La Nueve's contribution to the liberation of Paris was ignored and the ending of Nazi occupation presented as an altogether French triumph.

There were political reasons for this at the time.

"France had resisted but had also been collaborationist," Anne Hidalgo said during the ceremony. "At the end of the war there was a risk that France wouldn’t be recognised as a power in the same way as the Allies. General de Gaulle understood that risk."

Eye on France: A dark chapter of Franco-Spanish history

The fighters themselves did not seek the limelight.

"They didn’t push that forward, didn’t dare make it known," says Mar y Luz Carina Lopez whose father Angel Carina Lopez was a gunner on the "Guernica" half-track armoured vehicle.

"My father said nothing to me about what happened. I discovered more in 2010 when the Spanish port of Carino where he was born paid tribute to him. Lots of republican fighters didn't talk about it."

After fleeing Spain in 1939, Angel Cariña Lopez was interned in a camp in north Africa. He escaped by joining the French Foreign Legion then deserted in 1943 to join La Nueve and continue the fight against fascism. He died in France in 1979, three years after Franco, and like many of his Spanish republican comrades never returned to Spain.

© Mar y Luz Cariña Lopez

In August 2004, spurred on by Hidalgo, who was then deputy-mayor, Paris officially paid tribute to the division, inaugurating a plaque "To the Spanish Republicans, main component of the Dronne column".

In February 2010, the city awarded the Grande Médaille de Vermeil to the company's survivors: Manuel Fernandez, Luis Royo Ibanez and Raphael Gomez Nieto.

Gomez, the last remaining survivor, died in 2020 after contracting Covid-19 in a hospital in Strasbourg. He was 99.

Rafael Gómez Nieto at a ceremony paying hommage to La Nueve on 20 April 2017 in Madrid. AFP

The work of remembrance

With no surviving members, it is all the more important to bring the story of La Nueve to the fore for future generations.

That memorial work is being actively done by the 24 August association "so that people know that there was opposition to fascism both inside and outside the country," says Juan Chica Ventura.

"There are now 12 plaques around the city tracing the route La Nueve took from Porte d'Italie through to City Hall, via rue Esquirol."

Chica Ventura's street art in rue Esquirol, 13th district, traces La Nueve's three epic days. RFI/Angélica Pérez

In 2019 Ventura painted a 20m high fresco on the wall in that street tracing the three days of the liberation of Paris from 24 to 26 August "to update the story of these forgotten soldiers".

He says the association is "also working hard to get the story of La Nueve into school text books so that the younger generation understands that Spain wasn't just a dictatorship but that people were also fighting against it, from abroad."

Asked whether her father would have appreciated the 24 August commemoration, Mar y Luz says: "What matters to me is these men defended certain values — freedom, anti-fascism, reconciling people.

"The commemoration allows us to bring those values to the fore. It’s important, and all the more important today when you see the rise of certain ideologies."

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment