DAVAO CITY — The Environment department regional office here announced the latest discovery of a new specie of beetle in the urban jungle of the city.
The new specie has been named ???????????? (???ℎ???????) ??????????, DENR personnel found it in Calinan District here, an elevated village which has a cool breeze especially at night.
“Unlike other beetle species that are usually found in forest areas, ???????????? (?.) ?????????? is a rare one as it was discovered within a fast-paced urban area”, said Dr. Analyn Cabras is a statement released by the DENR as it added “It is often not a surprise to find new species in heavily forested areas, but disturbed and farmed areas are often not the best place for discovery of new species.”
University of Mindanao’s Coleoptera Research Center (UMRC) through their researchers Dr. Cabras, along with Dr. Milton Norman Medina, and their partner researcher, Dr. Maurizio Bollino were the ones who conducted the expedition through their project “Urban Biodiversity Research and Conservation of Davao City”.
It stressed, Metapocyrtus (O.) davaoensis differs from other species for its unique elytral ornamentation, pronotal markings which has thin, transverse, scaly marks along the entire width in the middle and shape of its aedeagus.
Through the discovery of ?. (?.) ?????????? sp. nov. in Davao City, it prompts the need to pursue and conduct further studies on Coleoptera in the cities of Mindanao as it may also reveal potential discoveries even in highly urbanized areas.Specimens of said species are currently in UMCRC and will soon be deposited in National Museum of Natural History (PNMNH) under the National Museum of the Philippines. Studies say that the genus Metapocyrtus is endemic in the Philippines and is the most complex within the Pachyrhynchini tribe, the statement emphasized.
