🐞 CLOUD OF BEETLES INVADES CITY AT BRAZIL

AMAPA STATE, BRAZIL. Sunday (7) and Monday (January 8, 2024) a cloud of beetles took over the at Amapa city's streets and residences. Amapa is a small city located in northern Brazil having around 10 thousands of inhabitants.

The phenomenon scared residents who recorded the occurrence while using shovels to remove the insects from their homes and streets.

According to the Institute for Scientific and Technological Research (Iepa), the main factor for the beetles invasion is the transition from the period of severe drought to the Amazonian winter, with a greater concentration of clouds and rain.

Iepa researcher Alexandre Jordão, entomologist, insect specialist, explains that the phenomenon is not common for this class of beetles, with there being no reports of this magnitude in the state and few records in Brazil. According to Jordão, the change in climate season altered the temperature and the incidence of light, causing the infestation.

Because they have chewing mouthparts, this species of beetle does not transmit diseases to humans. In sensitive people, there is the possibility of small allergies due but there haven't been no reports of this kind of occurrence. 

Iepa is carring out taxonomic identification of the species with sample collect and analysis.

THERE ISN'T DAMAGE TO AGRICULTURE

According to Adriano Luz, a technician at the Institute of Extension, Assistance and Rural Development (Rurap), who works and lives in the municipality of Amapá, the infestation should not be considered a pest capable of causing damage to plantations.

“This incidence of beetles usually happens at the beginning of winter. This year's occurrence was greater than in previous years, but it is something that will not last long. We had no reports of losses in work areas", explains Luz.

SOURCE

https://agromais.uol.com.br/conteudo/infestacao-de-besouros-entenda-fenomeno-raro-que-atingiu-municipio-de-amapa

The past encaged on a crystalline stone

PERU – In Chiclayo (a town located at northwest of Peru, capital of Lambayeque region, one of the 25 political divisions of the country) scientists found several examples of small insects preserved in amber stones. Researchers believe that these tiny specimens lived around 20 millions of years ago. Were – therefore, contemporary of the dinosaurs and, they passed, at least, for a glaciation.

In the stones of amber insects like Psocoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and spiders, as well as spores, pollen fossils, and even a drop of blood and hair of rodents, all of these fragments of the past remained preserved.

The discovery was made ​​on a beach in far north of Peru by paleontologists from the Paleontological Museum Meyer-Honningen. The team found more than a hundred stones, among the river sediments, but still could not identify the majority. Some of the insects are nor even known, like the , long-legged mosquito Zancudo or a wasp, that has the stinger in the front of its body. These are possibly species already extinct that indicate changes in the flora and fauna of the area.

However, the Peruvian museum has invited Austrian scientists to assist in the study of fossils and new expedition will be made in the Santiago River, for try to uncover new clues about the evolution of the Amazon.

SOURCE: Âmbar alberga fósseis de insectos extintos.
IN Ciência Hoje/Pt, published in 04/21/2011
[http://www.cienciahoje.pt/index.php?oid=48649&op=all]