Cremastra saprophytica: A new species of semi-mycoheterotrophic Orchid from Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

Whilst Plants are primarily photosynthetic organisms, a lifestyle retained by the vast majority of species, a few, particularly those living in dark places, have lost this ability, and instead have become parasitic, obtaining nutrients from other organisms. The overwhelming majority of Parasitic Plants are mycoheterotrophs, Plants which parasitise the Mycorrhizal Fungi of other Plants, obtaining nutrients from the Fungi (including those nutrients the Fungi have themselves obtained from other Plants), but not providing the Fungi with anything in return. The evolution of such mycoheterotrophial systems is of great interest to botanists, making Plant groups in which this trait appears to be evolving a focus of study. One such group is the Orchid genus Cremastra, found in the dark understories of temperate forests in the Himalayas and East Asia. The genus Cremastra currently contains five species of Orchid, four of which are leafy, photosynthetic Plants, while the fifth, Cremastra aphylla, from Hokkaido Island, Japan, is a mycoheterotroph which lacks leaves and produces no chlorophyll.

In a paper published in the journal Phytotaxa on 30 November 2021, Kenji Suetsugu of the Department of Biology at Kobe University, describes a new species of Cremastra from Gifu Prefecture in central Honshu, Japan.

The new species is named Cremastra saprophytica, as it is associated with the saprotrophic Fungus Coprinellus disseminates, which obtains nutrients from decaying wood rather than mycorrhizal associations with Plants, apparently making the new species an indirect saprotroph via parasitism of this Fungus.

 

Cremastra saprophytica from the type locality. (A)–(C) Flowering plant. (D) Flower, dorsal view. (E) Flower, lateral view. (F) Flower, front view. Central arrow points to a small smooth callus of lip positioned at the base of midlobe, whereas the other arrows point to the inconspicuous lateral lobes. (G) Fruiting plants. (H) Fruiting body of Coprinellus disseminates, one of the associated fungi of Cremastra saprophytica. Suetsugu (2021).

Unlike Cremastra aphylla, Cremastra saprophytica does produce chlorophyll, although it lacks leaves, and the majority of its nutrition appears to be obtained mycoheterotrophicly. The Plants reach between 28 and 48 cm tall, and produce dark purple, tubular flowers in May and June, followed by green fruiting bodies between June and October. The flowers appear to be entirely self-pollenating, which is a common adaptation in forest understory plants, whose habitat contains few potential pollinators.

 

Cremastra aphylla from Hokkaido. (A) Flowering plant. (B) Flowers; central arrow points to a large verruculose callus of lip positioned at the base of midlobe, whereas the other arrows point to the conspicuous lateral lobes. (C) Close-up of the upper part of the lip and column, lateral view. (D) Close-up of the upper part of the lip, dorsal view. (E) Close-up of the upper part of column and anther cap (lateral and ventral views); arrow points to a large, folded viscidium attached to pollinia. Suetsugu (2021).

Cremastra saprophytica is currently known only from a single location, near the town of Ibigawa in Ibi County.  It can be difficult to determine the distribution or range of Parasitic Plants, as they tend o be small and inconspicuous, and are typically found in dark forest understories or other dimly lit places, producing flowers and fruiting bodies at certain times of year. However, the relatively large size and conspicuous flowers of Cremastra saprophytica make it unlikely that it could be very widespread and have remained overlooked.

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Magnitude 7.5 Earthquake beneath Departamento de Loreto, northern Peru.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 7.5 Earthquake at a depth of 112.5 km, beneath Departamento de Loreto, Peru, slightly after 5.50 pm local time (slightly before 10.50 pm GMT) on Sunday 28 November 2021. There are no reports of any casualties associated with this event, although it is reported to have destroyed 75 homes, and was felt across northern Peru, as well as parts of southern Colombia and western Brazil. This is common with large deep Earthquakes, with the event being felt over a wide area, but relatively little damage, as the energy of the quake is dissipated over a wide area before it reaches the surface.

 

Damage caused by an Earthquake in northern Peru on 28 November 2021. Peru Presidency/Reuters.

Peru is on the west coast of South America and the western margin of the South American Plate, close to where the Nazca Plate, which underlies part of the east Pacific, is being subducted along the Peru-Chile Trench. The Nazca Plate passes under the South American Plate as it sinks into the Earth, this is not a smooth process and the plates repeatedly stick together then break apart as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes. As the Nazca Plate sinks further it is partially melted by the friction and the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of this melted material then rises through the overlying South American Plate, fuelling the volcanoes of Peru and neighbouring countries.

 

The approximate location of the 28 November  2021 Departamento de Loreto Earthquake. USGS.

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Fireball meteor over southern California.

The American Meteor Society has received reports of a bright fireball meteor being seen over southern California slightly after 8.10 pm on Wednesday 24 November 2021 Pacific Time (slightly after 4.10 am on Thursday 25 November GMT). Most of the reports came from the California, but sightings were also reported from Arizona. A fireball is defined as a meteor (shooting star) brighter than the planet Venus. These are typically caused by pieces of rock burning up in the atmosphere, but can be the result of man-made space-junk burning up on re-entry.

 

The 24 November 2021 southern California fireball seen from the city of Corona in Riverside County, California. Tom Harkins/American Meteor Society.

 

Objects of this size probably enter the Earth's atmosphere several times a year, though unless they do so over populated areas they are unlikely to be noticed. They are officially described as fireballs if they produce a light brighter than the planet Venus. The brightness of a meteor is caused by friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is typically far greater than that caused by simple falling, due to the initial trajectory of the object. Such objects typically eventually explode in an airburst called by the friction, causing them to vanish as an luminous object. However, this is not the end of the story as such explosions result in the production of a number of smaller objects, which fall to the ground under the influence of gravity (which does not cause the luminescence associated with friction-induced heating).

 

Heat map showing areas where sightings of the meteor were reported (warmer colours indicate more sightings), and the apparent path of the object (blue arrow). American Meteor Society.

 

These 'dark objects' do not continue along the path of the original bolide, but neither do they fall directly to the ground, but rather follow a course determined by the atmospheric currents (winds) through which the objects pass. Scientists are able to calculate potential trajectories for hypothetical dark objects derived from meteors using data from weather monitoring services.

 

Witness reports can help astronomers to understand these events. If you witness a fireball-type meteor over the US you can report it to the American Meteor Society here.

 

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Two tourists killed by landslide on Bali.

Two tourists have died following a landslide near the village of Kedewatan on southern Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday 25 November 2021. The pair, identified as Nuryanti, 36, and Julius Hans Wijaya, 10, both Indonesian nationals, were part of a group of Indonesian and Swedish tourists who had just taken part in a white-water rafting event, when the landslide hit. Both the victims were trapped beneath debris in soft mud; a third victim, 8-year-old Marvel Sanjaya, initially reported missing and feared to have also died, was later found safe. 

 

Rescue workers searching for victims following a landslide on Bali on 25 November 2021. Basarnas Bali/Coconuts.

The event is reported to have happened following a sudden heavy downpour. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. November marks the onset of the rainy season on Bali, which lasts until April each year, driven by water laden winds from the South China Sea, associated with the Northeast Monsoon in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

 

The winds that drive the Northeast and Southwest Monsoons in Southeast Asia. Mynewshub.

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Asteroid 2021 WP passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2021 WP passed by the Earth at a distance of about 155 600 km (0.48 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 0.10% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly after 2.00 pm GMT on Sunday 21 November 2021. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, though were it to do so it would not have presented a significant threat. 2021 WP has an estimated equivalent diameter of 5-15 m (i.e. it is estimated that a spherical object with the same volume would be 5-15 m in diameter), and an object of this size would be expected to explode in an airburst (an explosion caused by superheating from friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is greater than that caused by simply falling, due to the orbital momentum of the asteroid) between 40 and 26 km above the ground, with only fragmentary material reaching the Earth's surface.

 

The relative positions of 2021 WP and the Earth on 21 November 2021. JPL Small Body Database.

2021 WP was discovered on 24 November 2021 (three days after its closest approach to the Earth) by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program's HKO Telescope on Mount Haleakala, Hawai'i.  The designation 2021 WP implies it was the fifteenth asteroid (asteroid P; in numbering asteroids the letters A-Z excluding I, are assigned numbers from 1 to 25, with a number added to the end each time the alphabet is ended, so that A = 1, A1 = 26, A2 = 51, etc., which means that P = 15) discovered in the second half of November 2021 (period 2021 W; the year being split into 24 half-months represented by the letters A-Y, with I being excluded).

 

The orbit and current position of 2021 WP. The Sky Live 3D Solar System Simulator.

2021 WP has a 424 day (1.26 year) orbital period, with an elliptical orbit tilted at an angle of 3.81° to the plain of the Solar System which takes in to 0.93 AU from the Sun (93% of the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, and slightly inside the orbit of the planet Venus) and out to 1.27 AU (127% of the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer). Asteroid 2021 WP is calculated to have last passed the Earth in June this year, is predicted to make another close pass of the Earth in January 2029.

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