AUSTRALIA

Devilishly distinctive new bee species discovered in WA Goldfields

Pensoft Publishers

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Megachile lucifer, female

view more 

Credit: Prendergast and Campbell

A new native bee species with tiny devil-like “horns” named Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer has been discovered in Western Australia’s Goldfields, highlighting how much remains unknown about Australia’s native pollinators.

The striking new bee was found during surveys of a critically endangered wildflower Marianthus aquilonarius that grows only in the Bremer Range region, which is between the towns of Norseman and Hyden.

Lead author Curtin Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Kit Prendergast, from the Curtin School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said the female bee’s unusual horned face inspired its name lucifer – Latin for “light-bringer,” but also a playful nod to the devilish look.

“I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields and noticed this bee visiting both the endangered wildflower and a nearby mallee tree,” Dr Prendergast said.

“The female had these incredible little horns on her face. When writing up the new species description I was watching the Netflix show Lucifer at the time, and the name just fit perfectly. I am also a huge fan of the Netflix character Lucifer so it was a no-brainer.

“DNA barcoding confirmed the male and female were the same species and that it didn’t match any known bees in DNA databases, nor did the specimens I had collected morphologically match any in museum collections.

“It’s the first new member of this bee group to be described in more than 20 years, which really shows how much life we still have to discover – including in areas that are at risk of mining, such as the Goldfields.”

Dr Prendergast said the discovery highlighted the importance of understanding native bees before their habitats are disturbed.

“Because the new species was found in the same small area as the endangered wildflower, both could be at risk from habitat disturbance and other threatening processes like climate change,” Dr Prendergast said.

“Many mining companies still don’t survey for native bees, so we may be missing undescribed species, including those that play crucial roles in supporting threatened plants and ecosystems.

“Without knowing which native bees exist and what plants they depend on, we risk losing both before we even realise they’re there.”

The publication of the research coincides with Australian Pollinator Week, an annual celebration of the crucial role bees, butterflies and other insects play in maintaining healthy ecosystems and food production.

The research was supported by the Atlas of Living Australia, the Goldfields Environmental Management Group and the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Published in the ‘Journal of Hymenoptera Research’, the full paper, ‘Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), a new megachilid with demon-like horns that visits the Critically Endangered Marianthus aquilonaris (Pittosporaceae)’, is available here: doi.org/10.3897/jhr.98.166350

Megachile lucifer 

Credit

Prendergast and Campbell

---

Journal

Journal of Hymenoptera Research

DOI

10.3897/jhr.98.166350 

Article Title

Edit Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae), a new megachilid with demon-like horns that visits the Critically Endangered Marianthus aquilonaris (Pittosporaceae)

Article Publication Date

11-Nov-2025

Identification of the sex-determination gene in bees and ants

Uppsala University

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Matthew Webster, Professor at Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology

view more 

Credit: Demetris Taliadoros

Most species on Earth exist as two biological sexes, and the exchange of genes between males and females is vital for their survival. Yet, what actually determines whether an individual develops into a male or female varies widely across species.

In humans, sex is determined by the X and Y chromosomes: individuals with XY become male, while those with XX become female. A single gene on the Y chromosome, SRY, acts as the switch that triggers male development.

However, for many other species, the mechanism is completely different. Among insects such as bees, wasps, and ants, sex is determined through a system known as haplodiploidy, which is found in around 12% of animal species. In this mechanism of sex determination, females develop from fertilized eggs and have two sets of chromosomes, while males develop from unfertilized eggs and possess only one set.

In honeybees, researchers discovered more than two decades ago that a gene called csd controls this remarkable process. Individuals carrying two different versions of csd develop into females, whereas those with only one version become males. Yet until now, it was unclear whether the other 20,000 species of bee use the same genetic switch.

To uncover this mystery, Matthew Webster's research group at Uppsala University sequenced the entire genome of the red mason bee (Osmia bicornis), a common species frequently found in bee hotels in gardens across Europe. They carefully screened hundreds of nests to identify unusually large males—rare individuals that carry two identical copies of the sex-determining gene. By comparing their genomes, they were able to pinpoint the exact location of the gene responsible for sex determination in this species. Their findings are published this week in the journal PLoS Biology.

They were surprised to find that the gene identified, ANTSR, is the same one that was recently shown to control sex in a species of ant. ANTSR is a long-noncoding RNA gene, which means it is not converted into a protein. Depending on the number of copies present, it acts as a switch to initiate the developmental process towards male or female. The finding that this gene has a conserved function in bees and ants suggests that it has been working as a sex-determination gene for more than 150 million years.

"This is really suprising because it means ANTSR could be the main sex-determining gene used by more than 150,000 species of bees, wasps and ants" said Matthew Webster, senior author of the study. "We still don't understand how variation in this gene generates the signal triggering male or female development. The reason why honeybees use a different sex-determining gene is also still a mystery."

This discovery brings researchers a major step closer to understanding how sex-determination systems evolved across bees and ants, and the molecular mechanisms underpinning the haplodiploid system of sex determination. This is relevant for understanding how genetic diversity within these systems helps maintain healthy populations. The findings may also have implications for bee conservation and breeding programs, as they provide key insights into the genetics underlying reproduction in these essential pollinators.

A male and female red mason bee mating. 

Credit

Photo by Marie Louise Huskens.

Red mason bee in flight.

Credit

Photo by Gilles San Martin

Red mason bee

Credit

Photo by Tim Worfolk.

Journal

PLOS Biology

DOI

10.1371/journal.pbio.3003458 

Article Title

Genetic mapping in the red mason bee implicates ANTSR as an ancient sex-determining locus in bees and ants

Article Publication Date

7-Nov-2025

MODERN YEZIDISM

http://kurdistanica.com/yezidism/


The followers of the Yezidi religion, who have variously referred to themselves also as the Yazidi, Yazdâni, Izadi, and Dasna’i, have often been pejoratively referred to by outsiders as “devil worshippers.” They constitute less than 5% of the Kurdish population. At present they live in fragmented pockets, primarily in northwest and northeast Syria, the Caucasus, southeast Turkey, in the Jabal Sanjâr highlands on the Iraqi-Syrian border, and regions north of the Iraqi city of Mosul.

As a branch of the Cult of Angels, Yezidism places a special emphasis on the angels. The name Yezidi is derived from the Old and Middle Iranic term yazata or yezad, for ,1 angel,” rendering it to mean “angelicans.” Among these angels, the Yezidis include also Lucifer, who is referred to as Malak Tâwus (“Peacock Angel”). Far from being the prince of darkness and evil, Lucifer is of the same nature as other archangels, albeit with far more authority and power over worldly affairs. In fact, it is Malak Tâwus who creates the material world using the dismembered pieces of the original cosmic egg, or pearl, in which the Spirit once resided.

Despite the publication of (reportedly) all major Yezidi religious scriptures, and the availability of their translations, the most basic questions regarding the Yezidi cosmogony are left to speculation. For example, it is left to deductive reasoning to figure out in which epoch of the universal life Lucifer belongs, or what his exact station is. He naturally cannot be the same as the Universal Spirit, as the Spirit does not enter into the act of creation. In Yârsânism and Alevism it is Khâwandagâr, the “Lord God,” who as the first avatar of the Spirit undertakes the task of Sâjnâri-world genesis. It is tempting to concluded that Lucifer replaces Khâwandagâr himself in the Yezidi cosmogony. Two Yezidi holy scriptures, Jilwa and Mes’haf, both discussed later, substantiate this conclusion. The following translations of these texts are adopted almost entirely from Guest (1987). Jilwa reads, “Malak Tâwus existed before all creatures,” and “1 (Malak Tâwus) was, and am now, and will continue unto eternity, ruling over all creatures …. Neither is there any place void of me where i am not present. Every Epoch has an Avatar, and this by my counsel. Every generation changes with the Chief of this world, so that each one of the chiefs in his turn and cycle fulfills his charge. The other angels may not interfere in my deeds and work: Whatsoever I determine, that is.” The implied attributes are all those of Khâwandagâr in Yârsânism and Alevism. Mes’haf asserts> “In the beginning God [which must mean the Universal Spirit] created the White Pearl out of his most precious Essence; and He created a bird named Anfar. And he placed the pearl upon its back, and dwelt thereon forty thousand years. On the first day [of Creation], Sunday, He created an angel named ‘Azâzil, which is Malak Tâwus, the chief of all….” Mes’haf goes on to name six other angels, each created in the following days of this first week of creation in the First Epoch. The names of these angels closely match those of Yârsânism and Alevism, as given in Table 6. The problem is that there are seven rather than six avatars, leaving out, therefore, the Spirit himself from the world affairs. This is, however, the result of the later corruption of the original cosmogony, perhaps under Judeo-Christian influence. The rest of the opening chapter of the Mes’haf provides a version of human origin close to the Judeo-Christian story of Adam and Eve, and their interaction with Satan, even though Satan, here Lucifer, serves them only as an honest councillor and educator. Thereafter, he is left in charge of all creatures of the world.

The real story of the First Epoch however surfaces rather inconspicuously, in a single sentence at the end of the Mes’hafs first chapter. As it turns out, the sentence is very much in agreement with the basic tenets of the Cult of Angels. It reads, “From his essence and light He created six Avatars, whose creation was as one lighten a lamp from another lamp.” It is then safe to assume that the original Yezidi belief was that Lucifer was the primary avatar of the Universal Spirit in the First Epoch, and the rest of the cosmogony of the Cult of Angels remains more or less intact. Lucifer himself, in the form of Malak Tawus, “Peacock Angel,” is represented by a sculptured bronze bird. This icon, called Anzal “the Ancient One,” is presented to worshippers annually at the major jam at Lâlish.

Lâlish and its environs are also the burial site of Shaykh Adi, the most important personage of the Yezidi religion. Adi’s role in Yezidism is similar to those played by Sahâk in Yârsânism and Ali in Alevism. To the Yezidis, Shaykh Adi is the most important avatar of the Universal Spirit of the epochs following the First Epoch. Adi being a primary avatar, he is therefore a reincarnation of Malak Tawus himself. In its modern, garbled form, Adi is assigned a founding role in Yezidism, and interestingly is believed to have lived at about the same time in history, as Sultan Sahâk is believed by the modern Yârsâns, i.e., sometime in the 12-13th centuries. (This is about the same time that Bektâsh of Alevism is believed to have lived and founded that branch of the Cult.) Both Adi and Sahâk are believed to have lived well in excess of a century.

In addition to the main sculptured bird icon Anzal, there are six other similar relics of the Peacock Angel. These are called the sanj’aqs, meaning “dioceses” (of the Yezidi community), and each is assigned to a different diocese of Yezidi concentration. Each year these are brought forth for worship to the dioceses of Syria, Zozan (i.e., Sasoon/Sasun or western and northern Kurdistan in Anatolia), Sanjâr, Shaykhân (of the Greater Zâb basin), Tabriz (Azerbaijan), and Musquf (Moscow, i.e., ex-Soviet Caucasus). The sanjaqs of Tabriz and Musquf no longer circulate, since there are not many Yezidis left in Azerbaijan, and the anti-religious Soviet government did not permit the icon to enter the bustling Yezidi community of the Caucasus.

Like other branches of the Cult of Angels’, Yezidism lacks a holy book of divine origin. There are however many sacred works that contain the body of their beliefs. There is a very short volume (about 500 words) of Arabic-language hymns, ascribed to Shaykh Adi himself and named lilwa, or “Revelation.” Another, more detailed book is the Mes’haf i Resh, “the Black Book” in Kurdish, which has been credited to Adi’s son, Shaykh Hasan ibn Adi (b. ca. AD II 95), a great-grandnephew of Adi.

Mes’haf is the most informative of the Yezidi scriptures, as it contains the body of the religion’s cosmogony, catechises, eschatology, and liturgy, despite many contradictions and vagaries (far more than in the works of the Yârsâns). The Mes’haf may in fact date back to the 13th century. Mes’haf was written in an old form of Kurmânji Kurdish. Kurmânji in the 13th century was primarily restricted to its stronghold in the ultra-rugged Hakkâri highlands (see Kurmânji) . But Hakkâri is in fact exactly were the most ardent followers of Adi and Hasan arose. Adi himself, despite the Yezidi’s belief that he was born in Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, came to be called Adi al-Hakkâri (“Adi of Hakkâri”).

Of the Yezidis’ four major annual celebrations, two are of special interest here, the Jam and the feast of Yezid.

The most important Yezidi feast is the seven-day-long feast of lam, when the bird icon of Anzal is presented to the worshippers. It occurs between the 6th and 13th of October, which is obligatory to all believers to attend, and is held at Lâlish, north of Mosul, the burial site of Adi and other important Yezidi holy figures, including Hasan. It coincides with the great ancient Aryan feast of Mithrâkân (Zoroastrian Mihragân, Nusayri Mihrajân; see Alevism), held customarily around the middle of October. Ancient Mithrâkân celebrated the act of world creation by the sun god Mithras, who killing the bull of heaven, used its dismembered body to create the material world. On the occasion of the feast at Lâlish, riding men pretend to capture a bull, with which they then circumambulate the Lâlish shrine of Shams al-Din (the “Sun of the Faith”), before sacrificing the bull and distributing its flesh to the pilgrims.

Yezid, a puzzling personage, is venerated by the Yezidis in a somewhat confused fashion. Yezid is credited with founding Yezidism (the religion, obviously, shares his name), or to have been the most important avatar of the Spirit after Malak Tâwus (some even claiming he is the same as Malak Tâwus). He is occasionally identified by the Yezidis as the Umayyad caliph, Yazid ibn Mu’awiyya (r. AD 680-683), the arch-villain to Shi’ite Muslims. This faulty identification is encouraged by the Syrian and Iraqi governments (who hopc thus to detach the Yezidis from other Kurds, and to connect them instead with the Umayyads, hencc the Arabs). It has also prompted the leading Yezidi family, the chols, to adopt Arabic costumes and Umayyad caliphate names. Yet, far from being the ‘Umayyad caliph, the name is certainly derived from yezad, “angel,” and judging by its importance, he must be the angel of the Yezidis. This comical confusion, which permeates the Yezidi leadership to the extent that they doubt their own ethnic identity, is not unexpected, given the intensity of their persecution in the past, and the destruction of whatever religious and historical literature Yezidism may have had in the past, in addition to the little that remains today.

Is it possible that Malak Tâwus, who created the material world in Yezidi cosmogony by utilizing a piece of the original cosmic egg or pearl that he had dismembered earlier, originally represented Mithras in early Yezidism, and only later Lucifer? The second most important Yezidi celebration points toward this possibility. It is held between middle and late December and commemorates the birth of Yezid. His birthday at or near the winter solstice, links him to Mithras. (Mithraism did after all expand into the Roman Empire from this general geographical area in the course of the first century BC, and Mithras’ mythical birth was celebrated on December 25 as already has . been discussed.)

The celebration parallels in importance the major jam ceremony in October. It is commemorated with three days of fasting before the jubilees.

In the Yezidi version of world creation, birds play a central role in all major events too numerous in fact to permit summary here. The reverence of the Yezidis for divine manifestations in the form of a bird, the Peacock Angel, and the sacredness of roosters are just two better-known examples. What is fascinating, but less known, is that within 30 miles of the shrines of Lâlish are the Shanidar-Zawi Chami archaeological sites of central Kurdistan, where the archaeologist Solecki has unearthed the remains of shrines and large bird wings, particularly those of the great bustards, dated to 10,800±300 years ago. The remains are indicative of a religious ritual that involved birds and employed their wings, possibly as part of the priestly costume (Solecki 1977).

The representation of bird wings on gods was later to become common in Mesopotamian art, and particularly in the royal rock carvings of the Assyrians, whose capital Nineveh can literally be seen on the horizon from Lalish. The artistic combination of wings and non-flying beings like humans (to form gods), lions (to form sphinxes), bulls (to form royal symbols), and horses (to form the Pegasus), as well as wing-like adornments to priestly costumes, are common in many cultures, but the representation of the supreme deity as a full-fledged bird is peculiarly Yezidi. The evidence of sacrificial rites practised at ancient Zawi Chami may substantiate an indigenous precursor to modern Yezidi practice.

The bird icon of Lâlish has always been readily identified, as the name implies, as a peacock. However, there are no peacocks native to Kurdistan or this part of Asia. In light of the discoveries at Zawi Chami, the great bustard is a much more likely the bird of the Yezidi icon. The great bustard (Kurdish shawtlt) is native to Kurdistan. It too possesses a colorful tail, similar to that of a turkey (similar to, though much smaller than, that of a peacock, which is seen on the icon). The great bustard far more logically suits the archaic tradition of the Yezidis than does the peacock, a native bird of India.

The practice of bowing three times before the rising sun and chanting hymns for the occasion is practiced by the Yezidis, as among the traditional Alevis (Nikitine 1956). The Yezidis also practice the rite of embracing the “very body of the sun,” by kissing its beams as they first fall on the trunks of the trees at the dawn (Kamurân Ali Badir-Khân 1934).

Another Alevi hallmark, the representation of the deity in the shape of a sword or dagger stuck into the ground, is also found among the Yezidis, albeit not for worship but to take oaths upon it (Alexander 1928, Bellino 1816).

In addition to an entrenched aristocracy, the social class system of the Yezidis shows interesting similarities to the rigid social stratification of the Zoroastrian Sasanian Empire. Zoroastrian priests forbade anyone who did not belong to the priestly or princely class to gain literacy, and traditionally Yezidism barred such luxury altogether. (Some Yarsans also believe that this should be so, and also practice it.) In fact, it has been asserted that until the beginning of this century only one man among the Yezidis, the custodian of the Jilwa, knew how to read (Guest 1987, 33). This ban is largely gone now, although through force of habit the Yezidi commoners are still not keen on literacy.

Interestingly, the wealthier Yezidi shaykhs and mullahs wear Arab Bedouin clothes and headdress, speak both Arabic and Kurdish, and usually have Arabic names. The poorer Yezidi social and religious leaders, on the other hand, have Kurdish names, speak only Kurdish, and wear Kurdish traditional clothes and headgear (Lescot 1938).

Leadership of the Yezidi community has traditionally rested with one of the old Kurdish princely houses, the Chols, who took over in the 17th century. They replaced the line of rulers who claimed descent from Shaykh Hasan, the author of Mes’haf. They are supported financially and otherwise by every Yezidi. The priestly duties reside, as in Yârsânism, with the members of the seven hereditary priestly houses, which include the Chols.

The relative smallness of the current Yezidi community can be misleading. At the time of Saladin’s conquest of Antioch, the Yezidis were dominant in the neighboring valleys in the Amanus coastal mountains, and by the 13th and 14th centuries Yezidis had expanded their domains by converting many Muslims and Christians to their faith, from Antioch to Urmiâ, and from Sivâs to Kirkuk. They also mustered a good deal of political and military power. In this period, the emirs of the Jazira region (upper Mesopotamia) were Yezidis, as was one of the emirs of Damascus. A Yezidi preacher, Zayn al-Din Yusuf, established Yezidi communities of converts in Damascus and Cairo, where he died in 1297. His imposing tomb in Cairo remains to this day. Of 30 major tribal confederacies enumerated by the Kurdish historian Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in Sharafntlma (1596), he contends seven were fully Yezidi in times past. Among these tribes was the historic and populous Buhtans (the Bokhtanoi of Herodotus).

An early Muslim encyclopedist, Shahâb al-Din Fadlullâh al-‘Umari, declares as Yezidi in AD 1338 also the Dunbuli/Dumbuli. This reference carries a very important piece of information, which can be the only known reference to the Cult of Angels before its fragmentation into its present state and the loss of its common name. Since the Dunbuli were a well-known branch of the Alevi Daylamites, and since the reporting by al-‘Umari is normally astute, the declaration of this tribe as Yezidi may indicate that at the time the appellation Yazidi (“angelicans’) was that of the Cult of Angels in general. (The historical designation Yazdtlni here for the Cult of Angels has been used to avoid confusion with the modern Yezidism.)

There have been persistent attempts by their Muslim and Christian neighbors to convert the Yezidis, peacefully or otherwise. The Ottoman government and military schools recruited many Yezidis, who were then converted to Sunni Islam, while in the mountains the Yezidis maintained their faith. A petition submitted in 1872 to the Ottoman authorities to exempt the Yezidis from military service has become the locus classicus on the subject of Yezidi religious codes and beliefs (for the English translation of the text, see Driver 1921-23).

Failing peaceful conversion, the Ottomans carried out massacres against the Yezidis in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. The massacres recurred in Ottoman domains in the middle of the 19th century, resulting in a great migration of Ottoman Yezidis into the Russian territories in the Caucasus. Twenty major massacres between 1640 and 1910 were counted by Lescot (see Deportations & Forced Resettlements).

Many Yezidis escaped into the forbidding mountain areas, but others converted, at least nominally, to Sunni Islam. The Ottoman Land Registration Law of 1859 particularly pressed for conversion by refusing to honor ownership claims of Yezidis. Many Yezidi shaykhs, who were the primary property owners, maintained their lands and property by converting. The Yezidi leaders whose holdings were in the inaccessible higher mountains were spared the need for conversion, and so were the landless sharecroppers or herders. Before 1858, the Yezidis in the Antioch-Amanus region on the Mediterranean littoral numbered 200,000, constituting the majority of the inhabitants. In 1938, Lescot counted only 60,000-a small minority.

Even today the Yezidis are still subject to great pressure for conversion. There is now also a movement to strip the Yezidis of their Kurdish identity by either declaring them an independent ethnic group apart from the Kurds or by attaching them to the Arabs. Hence, the Yezidis are now called “Umayyad Arabs” by the governments of Iraq and Syria, capitalizing on the aforementioned confusion that exists among the Yezidis with respect to the irrelevant Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu’awiyya.

Most Yezidis are now in Syria, in the Jazira region and the Jabal Sanjar heights, and in the Afrin region Northwest of Aleppo. The next largest population of Yezidis is found in the Caucasus, where up to half the Kurds are followers of Yezidism. In Iraq, where the holiest Yezidi shrines of Lâlish are located, they are found in a band from eastern Jabal Sanjâr toward Dohuk and to Lâlish, northeast of Mosul. There used to be a large number of Yezidis in Anatolia, prior to the massacres of the last century. Those who now live within the borders of Turkey are thinly spread from Mardin to Siirt, and from Antioch and Antep to Urfâ. There are also a relatively small number of Yezidis in Iran, particularly between the towns of Quchdn and Dughâ’i in the Khurâsâni enclave, and in Azerbaijan province.

Further Readings and Bibliography: R.H.W. Empson, The Cult of the Peacock Angel (London, 1928); E.S. Drower, Peacock Angel (London, 1941); G.R. Driver, “The Religion of the Kurds,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and Studies 11 (1921-23); John S. Guest, The Yezidis (New York: KPI, 1987); Isya Joseph, Devil Worship (Boston, 1919); Alphonse Mingana, “Devil-worshippers: Their Beliefs and their Sacred Books,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1916); R.C. Zaehner, Zurv4n: A Zoroastrian Dilemma (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955); R. Lescot, Enquete 5ur les Yezidis de Syrie et du Djebel Sindjar, Memoires de L’Institut Francais de Damas, vol. 5 (Beirut, 1938); Hugo Makas, Kurdische Studien, vol. 3, Jezidengebete (Heidelberg, 1900); Ralph Solecki, “Predatory Bird Rituals at Zawi Chemi Shanidar,” Sumer XXXIII.L (1977); Rose Solecki, “Zawi Chemi Shanidar, a Post-Pleistocene Village Site in Northern Iraq,” Report of the VI International Congress on Quaternary (1964); Sami Said Ahmed, The Yazidis: Their Life and Beliefs, cd. Henry Field (Nfiami: Field Research Projects, 1975); E.S. Drower, Peacock Angel: Being Some Account of Votaries of a Secret Cult and Their Sanctuaries. (London, 1941); Cecil 1. Edmonds, A Pikdmage to Lalish (London: The Royal Asiatic Society, 1967); Thcodor Menzel, “Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der jeziden,” in Hugo Grother, cd., Meine Vorderasienexpedition 1906 und 1907. Vol. 1. (Leipzig, 191 1); Basile Nikitine, Le5 Kurde5, etude 5ociologique et hi5torique (Paris, 1956); KamurAn Ali Badir Khdn, “Les soleil chez les Kurdes,” Atlantis 54, vii-viii (Paris, 1934); Constance Alexander, Baghdad in Bygone Days, from the Journals of the Correspondence of Claudius Rich… 1808-1821 (London, 1928); Charles Bellino letter, 16 May 1816, to Hammer, included in Fundgruben des Orients 5 (1816).

Sources: The Kurds, A Concise Handbook, By Dr. Mehrdad R. Izady, Dep. of Near Easter Languages and Civilization Harvard University, USA, 1992

LUCIFER RISING 

Is Europe's 48C heatwave heading to Scotland?

Met Office predict path of 'Lucifer'

Could the sizzling European heatwave, nicknamed 'Lucifer', make its way to the UK?


By Sophie LawAdvance Content Writer

16 AUG 2021

European holiday destinations are suffering in an extreme heatwave as air from the Sahara creates a "heat dome" over the Mediterranean.

The catastrophic heatwave raging in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal is causing devastating wildfires and potentially the hottest temperatures ever seen on the continent.

It comes as a town on the Italian island of Sicily may have recorded the highest temperature ever reached in Europe as the mercury soared to 48.8C last week.

If the readings are approved, it will beat the record of 48C recorded in Athens, Greece, in 1977, as set out by the World Meteorological Organisation.

But could this heatwave, nicknamed 'Lucifer', make its way to the UK?

The heatwave is baking Europe

The extreme heatwave which may have registered Europe’s hottest ever temperature is being caused by an anticyclone nicknamed ‘Lucifer’.

An anticyclone is an area of high atmospheric pressure where the air is sinking.

Clouds tend not to form during an anticyclone because the air is descending, bringing hotter temperatures to the earth’s surface.

However, the anticyclone is not expected to come to the UK in the next few weeks.

BBC weather forecaster Ben Rich told Countryfile viewers last night there is "no chance" of that heat coming to the UK due to 'two main players' battling it out in the atmosphere.

Italy may have recorded the highest temperature ever reached in Europe (Image: Getty Images)

He explained that a north-westerly wind off the Atlantic is actually pushing the heat from the south away from us.

This wind will bring cool weather, cloud, showery rain and "below-par" temperatures this week - although it will be quite dry.

The Met Office has responded to claims of another 'heatwave' and theories on what might happened towards the end of the month.

A spokesman said: "There is no indication in our forecast of any heatwave in the UK and certainly no indication that the heatwave impacting parts of Europe is going to impact the UK."

"There's been a lot of hyped up media coverage but there's nothing in the forecast to suggest anything more than average or potentially slightly above average temperatures."

The Met Office long forecast for September says there is a chance of 'warmer than average conditions' but also risk of 'thunder showers and rain'.

It's bad news for Scotland, which will likely experience more 'unsettled conditions'.

Hundreds of firefighters tackle wildfire in southern France

Issued on: 16/08/2021 

A major fire has broken out in the Var region of southern France. © SDIS83

France dispatched hundreds of firefighters to battle a wildfire that broke out in the Var region of southern France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday.

Much of the Mediterranean region has faced bouts of extremely hot weather in recent weeks but southern France had hitherto escaped any big blazes.

Darmanin said 650 firefighters had been deployed to protect residents in the area. Multiple water-bombing aircraft were also involved in the operation to contain the fire that has already burned several hundred hectares (acres), local authorities said.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin

"Weather conditions are highly unfavourable," Darmanin said on Twitter.

The fire was burning near the village of Gonfaron, about 50 km (30 miles) west of the Riviera town of Saint Tropez. Locals were told to stay well away from the blazeADVERTISI

Elsewhere in Europe, two wildfires, fanned by strong winds, raged out of control near Athens on Monday, forcing the evacuation of villages.

(REUTERS)

Firefighters battle second day of blazes near Jerusalem

Issued on: 16/08/2021 - 

Ten firefighting planes and a helicopter along with hundreds of firefighters are battling blazes in the Jerusalem hills Ahmad GHARABLI AFP

Jerusalem (AFP)

Fires tore through the hills west of Jerusalem for a second day on Monday as firefighters struggled to contain an expanding blaze, Israeli police and the fire service said.

Police and local officials "began evacuating hundreds of families" from communities on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, police said in a statement.

Ten firefighting planes and a helicopter supported hundreds of firefighters, the National Fire and Rescue Authority said in a statement.


"The rate of fire progress is extremely fast," it said, adding that in some areas, firefighters were able to contain the blazes but not overcome them.

Fire and Rescue Commissioner Dedi Simchi announced he was calling all fire and rescue personnel to help battle the "huge" blaze.

The fires had broken out in the wooded hills east of Jerusalem on Sunday, sending acrid-smelling clouds of smoke that hung over the holy city and its iconic Dome of the Rock and forcing the evacuation of a psychiatric hospital.

Firefighters managed to contain the blaze before strong winds sent flames racing through the trees again on Monday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the Fire and Rescue Authority told AFP three communities had been evacuated so far.

Police said the cause of the fire was not clear.

Fires have flared this summer around the Mediterranean basin, including in Greece, Turkey, Algeria and Morocco.

Israel experienced a week-long heatwave in early August.

Fresh fires force evacuations in Greek villages

Issued on: 16/08/2021 

Scores of firefighters battled fresh blazes in Greece Monday, including near the village of Markati, near Athens Angelos Tzortzinis AFP


Athens (AFP)

Greek firefighters battled to control two new fires around Athens on Monday, forcing the evacuation of several villages after blistering blazes scorched swathes of land in the country.

Greece's prime minister has linked the devastating blazes to the "climate crisis", speaking last week as wildfires swept across the Mediterranean, engulfing parts of Greece, Italy and Spain.

Scores of firefighters battled fresh blazes Monday near the Greek port city of Lavrio, as helicopters and planes dropped water from the air, a firefighting official told AFP.

Locals from three nearby villages southeast of Athens were ordered to evacuate.

"The fire front is large and the winds in the area are very strong," Thanasis Avgerinos, the deputy regional governor of East Attica told AFP.

"This is a very flammable pine-covered area."

Meanwhile, another forest fire broke out in Vilia, Attica, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) northwest of Athens, prompting the mobilisation of air and ground forces.

Authorities have called for the evacuation of two nearby villages, while another 40 firefighters were battling the blazes, according to a firefighting official.

The fires come on the heels of blazes in recent weeks that have destroyed homes, properties, pine forests, beehives and livestock across more than 100,000 hectares of affected land.

The island of Evia, 200 kilometres northeast of Athens, has paid the heaviest price with more than half of the hectares burned there.

The Peloponnese peninsula, 300 kilometres west of Athens, but also the northern suburbs of the capital, were also heavily affected by some 600 fires.

The blazes were finally brought under control Friday.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said the fires offered a dire warning.

"The climate crisis tells us everything must change," he said.

As global temperatures rise, heatwaves are predicted to become more frequent and intense, and their impacts more widespread, scientists say.

© 2021 AFP