A hitherto unknown species of bark beetle was discovered with Czech participation near one of the palaces of the Kingdom of Bhutan
A new species of beetle that destroys wood, called the Corneyanus bark beetle (Phloeosinus corneyanus), was recently discovered near one of the palaces of the Kingdom of Bhutan (Knížek &Tshering, 2024). This discovery was reported in one of the issues of the Miami Herald that was published in March.
This press release is particularly interesting to us as it reveals the discovery of a previously unknown beetle. What makes it even more noteworthy is that the team of researchers involved in the discovery includes the researcher from the Czech Republic Ing. Miloš Knížek, Ph.D., the head of the Department of Forest Protection Service (LOS), FGMRI (VÚLHM v. v. i.). The report itself describes the discovery using the following words:
„A shiny purple (purplish brown-black to black – note by editor) creature crawled around the inside of a tree near a palace in Bhutan“. Perhaps the “stout” insect’s tree-dwelling lifestyle helped it go unnoticed. Or maybe it was the nearby palace that caught most people’s attention.
But not so much for a group of visiting scientists. They spotted an unusually looking bug— and discovered a new species. Scientists visited the Lingkana palace in Punakha in 2018 looking for wood-damaging insects, according to a study published in March 18th in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. During their visit, there were found dozens of these shiny beetles living in the tree bark, the study said. They took a closer look at the insects and realized they’d discovered a new species: Corneyanus bark beetle (Phloeosinus corneyanus).
As scientists mentioned, Corneyanus bark beetles have a “stout” and “remarkably big body,” reaching about 0.2 inches (cca 0,5 cm) in length. They have “relatively large” eyes, antennae with “club”-like ends, and dense hair scattered across their bodies.
Read more here.
Study citation: KNÍŽEK M. & TSHERING K. 2024: A new species of Phloeosinus from Bhutan (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Phloeosinini). Zootaxa 5424 (5): 589–594. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5424.5.7