An entomologist has announced the discovery a new species of longhorn beetle in the Ligavon Forest Way in Beinan Township (卑南), Taitung County.
Chou Wen-yi (周文一) has named the beetle the “Puyuma smallflower longhorn beetle” (普悠瑪細花天牛) because the area he found it in has traditionally belonged to the Puyuma Aboriginal community.
Chou said he has collected more than 800 species of longhorn beetles from various parts of the nation, including 100 varieties from Pingtung County and the Lalashan area on the border of Taoyuan County and New Taipei City (新北市), before settling down in Taitung several years ago.
Photo: CNA
Chou said he discovered the beetle two years ago and later confirmed it as a new species.
Flower longhorn beetles can usually be found visiting flowers, Chou said. However, while the new species often appears near flowering plants, it is not easy to find, and he had to visit mountainous parts of the area up to three times a week for a number of years before he was able to discover its habitat.
The beetle is endemic to Taiwan. It measures 1.6cm to 1.8cm in length, and has a black stripe running down the middle of its body and four black stripes on its wing cases, Chou said.
He said a report on his discovery has been published in the Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS