Two rare fireflies discovered in India
Researchers have discovered two new species of very rare wasp-like flower flies from north-eastern India and the Western Ghats. The newly described species, Monoceromyia flavoscutata and M. nigra, belong to the Syrphidae family.
They were discovered by researchers H. Sankararaman, a Ph.D scholar from Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, Anooj S.S., an assistant professor of entomology at the Kerala Agricultural University, Padannakkad, and Ximo Mengual, a scientist from Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum, Germany. The study was recently published in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology.
Mr. Anooj told that members of the genus are extremely rare with only 12 species reported from India previously. “The new species discovery in this rare genus is happening in India after 80 years,” he said. As part of the study, surveys were done in the forests of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Arunachal Pradesh, he added.
Mr. Anooj said in addition to the two new species researchers had revised the genus and redefined seven existing species in the genus.Mr. Anooj said the discovery of such rare species with specialised habitat preferences highlighted the diversity of the Western Ghats and north-eastern India and the need for the conservation of natural vegetation in these region.
Bioenergy crops create cooling effect on cultivated areas: Study
Converting annual crops to perennial bioenergy crops can induce a cooling effect on the areas where they are cultivated, according to a new study. Large-scale bioenergy crop cultivation induces a biophysical cooling effect at the global scale, but the air temperature change has strong spatial variations and inter-annual variability.
Cultivation area under bioenergy crops occupies 3.8% ± 0.5% of the global total land area, but they exert strong regional biophysical effects, leading to a global net change in air temperature of −0.08 ~ +0.05 degrees Celsius.
Researchers found that global air temperature decreases by 0.03~0.08 °C, with strong regional contrasts and inter-annual variability, after 50 years of large-scale bioenergy crop cultivation.
The biophysical cooling or warming effects of bioenergy crop cultivation can significantly strengthen or weaken the effectiveness of bioenergy crop cultivation with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) in limiting the temperature increments, depending on the cultivation map and the bioenergy crop type.
👉 DTE
Plea in Delhi High Court alleges lone African elephant in Delhi Zoo chained for 17 hours, mistreated
The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to Central government, National Zoological Park and Central Zoo Authority on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking translocation of the lone African Elephant in Delhi who has remained in solitary captivity for nearly 17 years
A Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh also sought replies from the Delhi Government, Animal Welfare Board and Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change.
The respondents have been directed to consider the petitioner’s representation in meantime and file their responses by March 9. The plea was filed by a student Nikita Dhawan through advocates Ishma Randhawa and Dhananjay Grover and was argued by Senior Advocate Raj Panjwani.
The plea informed the Court that the Government of Zimbabwe had gifted an African elephant couple, Shankar and Bombai, to India in 1998. However, due to “unyielding environment” Bombai passed away in 2005 and since then Shankar is held captive alone at the National Zoological Park in Delhi. He is chained in both legs for nearly 17 hours a day and has no space to move around thereby being a victim of the cruelty and viciousness at the hands of the caretakers, it was claimed.
The petitioner further said that the elephant has had no olfactory, visual or vocal communication with any other member of its species and these circumstances will eventually lead to him meeting the same fate as Bombai.
Tigress Found Dead In Maha’s Chandrapur, Electrocution Suspected
The carcass of an adult tigress was found in Bhadravati tehsil in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district on Monday, a forest department official said.
The body was found along Chalbardi-Konda road and the death may have taken place due to electrocution after the big cat came in contact with a power supply line, said Bhadravati Range Forest Oficer HP Shinde.
All body parts of the tigress, around five years old, were intact and the carcass was cremated as per NTCA guidelines.
Not just Indo-Gangetic Plains, severe winter air pollution affects central India too: CSE
Severe winter pollution affects not just the Indo-Gangetic Plains of northern India but also the cities of central India. Gwalior and Singrauli are the most polluted in the region, a new analysis by Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found.
The winter air quality of Gwalior and Singrauli is in fact as bad as that of cities in the National Capital Region and Uttar Pradesh, according to the analysis.
CSE’s analysis covered 18 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations spread across 17 cities in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. These included two stations in Gwalior and one station each in Bhopal, Damoh, Dewas, Indore, Jabalpur, Katni, Maihar, Mandideep, Pithampur, Ratlam, Sagar, Satna, Singrauli, Ujjain, Bhilai and Bilaspur.
The analysis was an assessment of annual and seasonal trends in PM2.5 concentration for the period January 1, 2019 to December 12, 2021. The average air quality of Singrauli, a small town in eastern Madhya Pradesh (MP) for 2021 was found to be 81 microgram per cubic metre (μg / m3). This was followed by Gwalior and Katni with figures of 56 μg / m3 and 54 μg / m3 respectively.
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Environment India 