Sinkhole swallows taxi in Ningxia Province, China.

A taxi driver had to abandon his vehicle and scramble to safety after it was swallowed by a sinkhole on Monday 9 September 2019. The incident happened in the city of Guyuan in Ningxia Province, China, when a hole roughly 60 m² opened up beneath the taxi shortly after the driver dropped of a passenger. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

A sinkhole that opened up in the city of Guyuan in Ningxia Province, China, on Monday 9 September 2019. AsiaWire.

Sinkholes are generally caused by water eroding soft limestone or unconsolidated deposits from beneath, causing a hole that works its way upwards and eventually opening spectacularly at the surface. Where there are unconsolidated deposits at the surface they can infill from the sides, apparently swallowing objects at the surface, including people, without trace.

On this occasion the incident happened when heavy rain in the area caused a drainage pipe beneath the road to rupture, allowing water to wash away soft sediments beneath the road, leading to the collapse.

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Lingwulong shenqi: A new species of Diplodocoid Sauropod Dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China.

Sauropod dinosaurs were massive, long-necked, long-tailed creatures that have long been regarded as the largest land animals ever to have lived. They reached their most diverse in the Late Jurassic, when the break-up of the supercontinent of Pangea facilitated the splitting of the group into several regional subgroups, each of which underwent an evolutionary radiation in their local environment.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications on 24 July 2018, Xing Xu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Paul Upchurch of the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London, Philip Mannion of the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, Paul Barrett of the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum, Omar Regalado-Fernandez, also of the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London, Jinyou Mo of the Natural History Museum of Guangxi, Jinfu Ma of the Lingwu National Geopark Administration, and Hongan Liu of the Lingwu Historic Relic Administration, describe a new species of Diplodocoid Sauropod Dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China.

The new species is named Lingwulong shenqi, where 'Lingwulong' means 'Drangon of Lingwu', in reference to the Lingwu National Geopark, where the specimen from which it is described was found, and 'shenqi' means 'amazing'. Lingwulong shenqi is described from a partial skull and partial skeleton from the Middle Jurassic Yanan Formation; these were recovered from the same location, and probably come from the same individual, though this cannot be stated with absolute confidence. A number of other partial skeletons from the same location also thought to belong to the same species. 

Skeletal reconstruction and exemplar skeletal remains of Lingwulong shenqi. Silhouette showing preserved elements (a); middle cervical vertebra in left lateral (b) and anterior (c) views; anterior dorsal vertebra in left lateral (d) and anterior (e) views; posterior dorsal vertebra in lateral view (f); sacrum and ilium in left lateral view (g); anterior caudal vertebra in left lateral (h) and anterior (i) views; right scapulocoracoid in lateral view (j); right humerus in anterior view (k); left pubis in lateral view (l); right ischium in lateral (m) views; right femur in posterior view (n); and right tibia in lateral view (o). Abbreviations: ap, ambiens process; ar, acromial ridge; ip, iliac peduncle; naf, notch anterior to glenoid; np, neural spine; podl, postzygodiapophyseal lamina; ppr, prezygapophyseal process ridge; prp, prezygapophysis; pvf, posteroventral fossa; slf, shallow lateral fossa; spol, spinopostzygapophyseal lamina; sprl, spinoprezygapophyseal lamina; wls, wing-like structure. Scale bars are100 cm for (a) and 5 cm for (b)–(o). Xu et al. (2018).

Lingwulong shenqi has a number of features which lead Xu et al. to conclude that it should unequivocally be placed within the Diplodocoidea, a group previously thought to have been excluded from East Asia by the break-up of Pangea. The presence of a Diplodocoid  in this area implies that (1) either the supercontinent did not break up as soon as is currently thought, a timeline based upon numerous lines of evidence and considered to be highly robust, or that Diplodocoids, and by extension Neosuaropods (the group that includes Diplodocoids and Titanosaurs) first appeared at least 15 million years earlier than previously supposed.

Paleogeographic maps showing the formation and disappearance of an epicontinental seaway between Europe and Central Asia during the Middle Jurassic through Early Cretaceous. (a) Middle Jurassic, 170 million years ago; (b) Late Jurassic, 160 million years ago; (c) Early Cretaceous, 138 million years ago. Green indicates land, light blue shallow sea, and deep blue ocean. Abbreviations: R, Russian Platform Sea; T, Turgai Sea. Xu et al. (2018).

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Endocarpon deserticola & Endocarpon unifoliatum: Two new species of Lichen-forming Fungi from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northern China.

Biological soil crusts are communities of Mosses, Cyanobacteria, Lichens and other organisms that bind together the upper layer of soil in many areas lacking extensive plant cover. These crusts cover about 40% of the Earth's land surfaces, and help to prevent soil erosion in many desert and semi-desert ecosystems. Members of the Lichen forming Fungus genus Endocarpon are often dominant in such ecosystems, forming squamulose thalluses that bind together soil particles beneath them.

In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports on 3 August 2017, Tao Zhang, Meng Liu, and Yan-Yan Wang of the State Key Laboratory of Mycology at the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhi-Jun Wang, also of the State Key Laboratory of Mycology at the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and of the College of Life Science at the Southwest Forestry University, Xin-Li Wei, again of the State Key Laboratory of Mycology at the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Jiang-Chun Wei, once again of the State Key Laboratory of Mycology at the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, describe two new species of Endocarpon from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northern China.

The first new species is named Endocarpon deserticola, where 'deserticola' means 'desert-dweller'. This species was found forming dark brown or black thaluses up to 4 mm across on calcareous sands, and is distinguished by the production of numerous perithecia (spore-producing bodies).

Endocarpon deserticola: (A) Upper surface of squamae with abundant perithecia, scale bar is 1 mm; (B) an ascus containing two ascospores, scale bar is 10 μm. Zhang et al. (2017).

The second new species is named Endocarpon unifoliatum, where 'unifoliatum' means 'single thalus'. The thaluses of this species are concave, with a white or light grey centre and a black or dark brown rim. This species also reaches about 4 mm across, and grows on calcareous sands.

Endocarpon unifoliatum: (C) upper surface of unifoliate squama with slightly upturned margins, the arrow pointing to white portion of thallus, scale bar is 0.5 mm; (D) muriform ascospores, scale bar is 10 μm. Zhang et al. (2017).

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A fossil Cockroach from the earliest Late Carboniferous of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwestern China.

Cockroaches (Blattodea or Blattida) are highly successful non-metamorphic Insects (i.e. their young resemble the adults, there is no distinctive larval stage with a separate morphology) related to Termites and Mantises. Cockroaches are found across the globe, but are most numerous and diverse in the tropics. They are large Insects, with few species reaching sexual maturity while less than a centimeter in length, and some large tropical species reaching around 10 cm in length. The forewings of Cockroaches are modified to provide a protective covering for their hindwings and bodies. The earliest Cockroaches appear in the fossil in the Late Carboniferous, becoming abundant by the end of the period. 

In a paper published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology on 11 December 2012, Zhijun Zhang of the Department of Palaeontology at the Geological Museum of China, Joerg Schneider of the Department of Palaeontology at the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg and Youchong Hong of the Beijing Museum of Natural History describe a new species of fossil Cockroach from the earliest Late Carboniferous of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwestern China.

The new species is named Qilianiblatta namurensis, where 'Qilianiblatta' means Cockroach from the Qilianshan Mountains and 'namurensis' means 'from the Namurian' the earliest Stage of the Late Carboniferous (overlapping the latest Mississippian and earliest Pennsylvanian in American reckoning). The species is described from one whole and one partial right forewing, the intact specimen being about 25 mm in length. Wings, particularly forewings, are typically considered to be enough for taxonomic assignment in palaeoentomology, as wing venation is highly distinctive in Insects. 

Qilianiblatta namurensis, right forewing. Photograph (A) and line drawing (B). Zhang et al. (2012).

The specimens come from the Xiaheyan Village Insect Site, in Zhongwei County in the Qilianshan Mountains, close to the Great Wall of China. This site has produced over 3000 Insect specimens from seven different orders, and is one of the oldest significant Insect producing fossil sites known.

The approximate location of the Xiaheyan Village Insect Site.  Zhang et al. (2012).

See also A fossil Cockroach from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China, A new species of Soldierless Termite from the Caribbean, Central and South America, A new species of Stick Insect from southern Spain, New species of Mantis from Brazil and A fossil termite from the Late Oligocene of northern Ethiopia.

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A Cnemidolestodean Insect from the Late Carboniferous of Ningxia Province, China.

The modern Insect Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets and Katydids etc.) appeared in the fossil record in the Late Carboniferous. It is placed by Palaeoentomologists in the Superorder Archaeorthoptera, which comprises both the Orthopterans and related groups known from the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic, but which cannot be assigned to any modern Orthopteran Family, and which are not thought to have any modern descendants. The relationships between these extinct groups and modern Orthopterans is not entirely clear.

In a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica available online from 7 January 2013, Jun-Jie Gu of the College of Biological Science and Engineering at the North University of Nationalities and the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy at the Nanjing Institute of

Geology and Palaeontology, Olivier Béthoux of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris and Dong Ren of the Key Laboratory of Insect Evolution and Environmental Changes at Capital Normal University in Beijing, describe a new Insect species from the Late Carboniferous Xiaheyan Locality  in Ningxia Province, northern China, which is placed in the Order Cnemidolestodea, an order of Archaeorthopterans known only from the Palaeozoic.

The new species is named Xixia huban, where 'Xixia' is an ancient name for the area where the fossils were found and 'huban' is a chinese word for the stripes of a Tiger, a reference to the patterning on the forewings of the Insect. The species is described from a single specimen with both pairs of wings preserved in some detail but very little preservation of the body, plus eleven further specimens comprising individual wings or fragments thereof.

Late Carboniferous Cnemidolestodean Insect Xixia huban, drawing (coloration omitted; asterisk indicates a cross-vein, open circle the anterior branch of MA fusing with RP) and photograph (LFW, RFW and LHW as positive imprints, RHW as negative imprint). Gu et al. (2013).

See also A fossil Grasshopper from the McKittrick Asphalt Deposits of Kern County, California, Two new species of Mole Cricket from Columbia, A fossil Cricket in Miocene amber, Four new species of Katydid from Singapore and Malaysia and New species of Bush Cricket from the Eastern Carpathian Mountains.

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Two new species of Soldier Fly from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China

Soldier Flies are smallish (2-30 mm), often brightly coloured metallic or wasp-mimicking flies related to the Horse Flies and Snipe Flies. They have membranous wings which are kept folded back over their bodies. The larvae can be aquatic or terrestrial; terrestrial larvae tend to be generalist scavengers, whereas the aquatic forms are often specialist algae feeders. The adults tend to be rather inactive, and seldom move far away from the spawning areas.

In a paper published in the journal Zookeys on 30 May 2012, Yang Zai-Hua and Yu Jin-Yong of the Guizhou Academy of Forestry and Yang Mao-Fa of the Institute of Entomology at Guizhou University, describe two new species of Soldier Flies from the Liupanshan Nature Reserve in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China. 

The first species is named as Oxycera ningxiaensis, the Ningxia Soldier Fly, after the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where it was found. It is a shiny black fly roughly 5 mm in length, slender, with an enlarged head and eyes. It is described from three adult male specimens, the female being unknown.

Oxycera ningxiaensis, dorsal view. Yang et al. (2012).

The second species is named Oxycera rozkosnyi, in honor of Rudolf Rozkošný of Masaryk University, an entomologist and expert on flies. It is described from a single female specimen, the male being unknown. O. rozkosnyi is a 6.3 mm black fly with yellow markings on the head, abdomen and thorax.

Oxycera rozkosnyi, dorsal view. Yang et al. (2012).

See also Two new species of True Bug from the Mesozoic of China, New species of Leaf-Mining Moth from northern Chile, An Assassin Bug from the Palaeocene of Spitsbergen Island, New species of moth from Yunnan Province and New species of Owlfly from Morocco.

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