Kenting darkling beetle species find reported in Japan

2015-01-23

The discovery of a new species of darkling beetle in Kenting was recently reported in a leading Japanese science journal, further underscoring the biodiversity of the southern Taiwan national park.

Published in last December’s edition of biennial Elytra, the sighting of Plesiophthalmus hsinhuiae was made in May 2014. It brings the number of endemic beetles of this genus found in Taiwan over the past few years to 19.

Lee Chi-feng, an associate researcher with Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute under the Council of Agriculture and a member of the team making the discovery, said Jan. 22 that the development is exhilarating. “It indicates there may well be more insects waiting to be unearthed in the park.”

Other members of the seven-strong Taiwan-Japan team included Japanese entomologists Katsumi Akita and Kimio Masumoto. In addition to identifying various beetle species, the team is involved in building a digitized database of the park’s insects.

According to Lee, the 1.25 centimeter-long insect was spotted in Nanren Mountain Ecological Sanctuary. “It has a distinctive bulging back and is bigger than Euhemicera nanrenensis and shihchiehi at 9 millimeters, both of which were discovered in the same place in June 2013.”

A holotype of the beetle is preserved at National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung City, along with the two other species found two years ago.

“We are confident such international cooperative research efforts will play a large part in shedding further light on the park’s array of insect species,” Lee said.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=226689&CtNode=413)