A new species of Longhorn Beetle from Southeast Asia.

Longhorn Beetles (Cerambycidae) are a widespread and diverse group, noted for their elongated antennae, which are often longer than their bodies (though some species lack these). Their larvae are wood-boring grubs, which can be destructive to timber, and many species are considered pests, both in the forestry industry and in human dwellings as woodworm. Some of the largest species of Beetle are Longhorns, including the 16 cm Titan Beetle (Titanus giganteus) of South America.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 16 April 2013, Mei-Ying Lin of the Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Carolus Holzschuh of Villach in Austria describe a new species of Longhorn Beetle from China, Vietnam and Laos.

The new species is named Blamada rubripronota, where 'Blamada' is 'an arbitrary combination of letters' and 'rubripronota' refers to to the orangey-red pronotum (top of the thorax) of the Beetles. Blamada rubripronota is a 9.7-13.1 mm elongate black Beetle with an orangey-red head and protonum. The females are slightly larger than the males. The species was found living in Hua Phan in Laos, Vinh phu Province in Vietnam and Guangxi Province in China.

Blamada rubripronota. (1) Male from Laos, (2) male from Laos, (3) female from Laos, (4) male from Vietnam, (5) female from Vietnam and (6) male from China. Lin & Holzschuh (2013).

See also A new species of Marsh Rove Beetle from Japan, A new species of Chrysomeline Leaf Beetle from Ireland, England and Tasmania, A new species of Diving Beetle from New Guinea, A new species of Skin Beetle from Yunnan Province, China and A blind, cave dwelling, Ground Beetle from Anatolian Turkey.

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Eruptions on Santa María Volcano, Guatemala.

The  Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia in Guatemala reported lava being extruded in the crater of Santa María, a volcano in the southwest of the country, on Tuesday 22 August 2013, followed at 5.45 pm local time (11.45 pm GMT) by the collapse of the southeast part of the crater rim, resulting in a pyroclastic flow (avalanche of hot rock, ash and gas), which reached the base of the volcano on the south and southeastern sides. This was accompanied by bombs (incandescent rocks or lava) being thrown up to 500 m from the crater and a 4 km high ash column. On 23 August a smaller eruption generated a 600 m ash column, and ashfalls were reported in Palajunoj. At 8.15 am local time (1.45 pm GMT) on 24 August an explosion in the crater was heard 20 km away, accompanied by further collapse of the southeast portion of the crater rim and more pyroclastic flow. This was followed by a similar explosion at 10.15 pm local time, again accompanied by a partial rim collapse and pyroclastic flows, and a 4 km high ash column that drifted to the southwest. This was followed by several more explosions and pyroclastic flows on 25 August, and an explosive eruption at 3.25 am local time on 27 August that produced a 1.3 km ash column and a pyroclastic flow to the southwest.

A pyroclastic flow on Santa María on 22 August 2013. Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia.

The volcanoes of Guatemala, and Central America in general, are fed by the subduction of the Cocos Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Middle American Trench, which runs roughly parallel to the southwest coast of the isthmus. As the Cocos Plate sinks into the Earth, it passes under Central America, which lies on the western margin of the Caribbean Plate. As this happens it is heated by the friction and the heat of the planet's interior, causing the sinking plate to partially melt. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Caribbean Plate as magma, fueling the volcanoes of Central America.

See also Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake beneath Guatemala, Eruption on Mount Pacaya and Earthquake off the coast of Guatemala.

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Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake in the Aleutian Islands.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake at a depth of 33.5 km to the south of the Andreanof Islands in the southern Aleutians at 4.25 am local time (4.25 pm GMT) on Friday 30 August 2013. This is a large quake and could potentially have been very dangerous in a more settled area, though this was in a very remote location, and there are no reports of any damage or casualties, though the quake was felt on Atka Island.

The approximate location of the 30 August 2013 Andreanof Islands Earthquake. Google Maps.

Alaska lies on the North American Plate, with the Pacific Plate underlying the ocean to the south. The Aleutian Trench runs along much of the south coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, with the Pacific Plate being subducted beneath this and passing under Alaska as it sinks into the Earth. This is not a smooth process, and the plates frequently stick together, then break apart as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes.

Witness accounts of quakes can help geologists to understand these events and the rock structures that cause them. If you felt this quake (or if you were in the area but did not, which is also useful information) you can report it to the USGS here.

See also Eruption on Mount Veniaminof, Further eruptions on Mount Pavlof, Volcanic activity on Mount Veniaminof, Eruption on Mount Pavlof and Eruption on Mount Cleveland.

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An Ichthyodectiform Fish from the Early Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia.

Ichthyodectiforms were large, predatory Fish from the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous, distantly related to modern Mooneyes, Elephantfish, Featherbacks, Arowanas and Butterflyfish. The typically reached between one and five meters in length, though some species exceeded six meters. Unlike their modern relatives, which are found in freshwater in Africa, Australia, South America and parts of Asia, the Ichthyodectiforms were predominantly marine, though several of their modern relatives still grow very large, including the Arapaima (Arapaima gigas), a South American freshwater species which sometimes grows over 2.5 m in length.

In a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica available online since 17 June 2013, Rodney Berrell or the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland, Jesús Alvarado-Ortega of the Departamento de Paleontología at the Instituto de Geología at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Yoshitaka Yabumoto of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History and Steven Salisbury, also of the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland, describe a new species of Ichthyodectiform Fish from the Early Cretaceous of Queensland.

The new species is placed in the genus Cladocyclus, which has previously been described from the Cretaceous of Brazil and Morocco, and given the specific name Cladocyclus geddesi, in honour of Kerry Geddes, who discovered the fossil specimen from which the species is described during a University of Queensland expedition to Isisford, central-western Queensland, in 2005. It was preserved in a sandstone nodule derived from the Winton Formation, which outcrops across a large area of western Queensland, northeastern South Australia and north-western New South Wales, and which is interpreted as having been laid down in a freshwater fluvial-lacustrine environment deposited on a broad coastal plain as the epicontinental Eromanga Sea withdrew, between 103 and 93.9 million years ago.

Cladocyclus geddesi in lateral view. Photograph (A) and interpretive drawing (B). Abbreviations: ang, angular; bsc, basal sclerotic bone; cl, cleithrum; cor, coracoid; den, dentary; epi, epioccipital bone; epn, epineural; gr, gill rakers; hym, hyomandibular; io1- 4, infraorbital bones (numbered anterior to posterior); iop, interopercle; mpa, mesoparietal (= fused parietals); mx, maxilla; pcl, postcleithrum; pmx, premaxilla; pop, preopercle; rode, rostrodermethmoid bone; sma, supramaxilla anterior; smp, supramaxilla posterior; soc, supraoccipital; sop, subopercle; stt, supratemporal. Berrell et al. (2013).

The species is described from the skull, pectoral girdle and first 19 vertebrae of a Fish preserved as part and counterpart on a split sandstone nodule. The specimen being approximately 270 mm in length, and the living fish is estimated to have been 600-1050 mm long.

See also The bite of the Megapiranha, A new species of Lungfish from the Late Devonian of northwest Australia, New species of Devonian Tetrapod from the northeast of Greenland, A Flying Fish from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, China and New species of Ginglymodian Fish from the Late Jurassic of northeast Thailand.

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A basal Tetanuran Dinosaur tooth from the Late Jurassic of the Czech Republic.

The Tetanurans are a large subgroup of the Theropod Dinosaurs, including the Spinosaurs, Tyranosaurs, Ornithomimids, Maniraptors, Therizinosaurs, Oviraptors, Birds, Troodontids, Dromeosaurs, Allosaurs, Raptors and other groups. They appeared in the Middle Jurassic and different groups have flourished ever since, though only one group, the Birds, survived the end-Cretaceous extinction.

In a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, available online since 4 February 2013, Daniel Madzia of the Institute of Geological Sciences at Masaryk University describes a basal Tetanuran tooth from the Late Jurassic carbonate rocks of Švédské šance on the southeastern margin of the Bohemian Massif.

Basal Tetanuran Dinosaur tooth from the Late Jurasic of Švédské šance in the Czech Republic. Madzia (2012).

The specimen was apparently transfered to the Institute of Geological Sciences at Masaryk University from the collection of the German Technical University in Brno when that institution closed in 1945 in the aftermath of World War II, and had a label in German identifying it as a tooth of Teleosaurus, a Jurassic marine Crocodile, which it does not closely resemble. Madzia (wisely) does not attempt to identify the tooth to any group more specific than the Tetanurans. Tetanuran Dinosaurs, particularly Allosaurs and Spinosaurs, were abundant across much of Europe by the Late Jurassic, but this is the first such material known from the Czech Republic.

See also An Abelisauroid from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil, Dental pathology in a Jurassic Theropod Dinosaur, The stomach contents of two Early Cretaceous Compsognathid Dinosaurs, A new Ceratosaurian Theropod from the Early Cretaceous of Spain and A giant feathered dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China.

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Three dead as Tropical Storm Kong-Rey batters Taiwan.

Three people have died as Tropical Storm Kong-Rey crossed the populous south and west of Taiwan on Thursday 29 August 2013. A man drowned after falling from a motorbike in Pingtung County in the south of the country, and two women died in Yunlin County, one drowning wjile trying to get to work and one by electrocution in her home. Over 500 mm of rain fell across much of the affected area, leading to widespread flooding. Around 3600 people had to be evacuated from their homes and many public transport services were not running. It is thought that there was also severe damage to many crops in the area. The storm is currently moving towards Japan, but has lost much of its energy and is not thought likely to cause severe problems there.

A woman sits in front of her flooded home in Tainan, southwest Taiwan on Thursday 29 August 2013. AFP. 

Tropical storms are caused by solar energy heating the air above the oceans, which causes the air to rise leading to an inrush of air. If this happens over a large enough area the inrushing air will start to circulate, as the rotation of the Earth causes the winds closer to the equator to move eastwards compared to those further away (the Coriolis Effect). This leads to tropical storms rotating clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere.These storms tend to grow in strength as they move across the ocean and lose it as they pass over land (this is not completely true: many tropical storms peter out without reaching land due to wider atmospheric patterns), since the land tends to absorb solar energy while the sea reflects it.

The low pressure above tropical storms causes water to rise there by ~1 cm for every millibar drop in pressure, leading to a storm surge that can overwhelm low-lying coastal areas, while at the same time the heat leads to high levels of evaporation from the sea - and subsequently high levels of rainfall. This can cause additional flooding on land, as well as landslides.

Vulnerable people being evacuated by boat in southeast Taiwan on Thrusday 29 August 2013. Xinhua.

See also Widespread flooding as Typhoon Trami hits Fujian Province, China, Typhoon Utor hits south China, At least one person dead as Typhoon Utor sweeps across Luzon Island, Typhoon Soulik kills five people in south China and Typhoon Soulik kills one in Taiwan, heads for mainland China.

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Earthquake kills at least five in Shangri La and Deqin Counties, Yunnan Province, China.

Five people are known to have died in Shangri La and Deqin Counties in Yunnan, and another 49 (including a number of foreign tourists) have been injured in Shangri La and Deqin counties, and Derong County in Sichuan, following an Earthquake slightly before 8.30 am local time (slightly before 0.30 am GMT) on Saturday 31 August 2013, which the China Earthquake Administration measured as a Magnitude 5.9 quake in Shangri La County, while the United States Geological Survey recorded it as a Magnitude 5.1 quake in Deqin County. Most of the casualties occurred as a result of landslides in the mountainous region.

A truck damaged by a landslide on a road between Sangri La and Dequin Counties in Yunnan Province, following the 31 August Earthquake. Jiang Chu/Xinhau.

Much of western China and neighbouring areas of Central Asia and the Himalayas, is prone to Earthquakes caused by the impact of the Indian Plate into Eurasia from the south. The Indian Plate is moving northwards at a rate of 5 cm per year, causing it to impact into Eurasia, which is also moving northward, but only at a rate of 2 cm per year. When two tectonic plates collide in this way and one or both are oceanic then one will be subducted beneath the other (if one of the plates is continental then the other will be subducted), but if both plates are continental then subduction will not fully occur, but instead the plates will crumple, leading to folding and uplift (and quite a lot of Earthquakes). The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates has lead to the formation of the Himalayan Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau, and the mountains of southwest China, Central Asia and the Hindu Kush.

The approximate location of the 31 August 2013 Yunnan Earthquake. Google Maps.

See also Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake hits Ürümqi in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China, Homes destroyed in Sichuan Earthquake, Earthquakes in northeast Yunnan Province, China and Earthquake in southwest China.

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