Iberian Harvester Ants, Messor ibericus, can produce offspring of two different species, according to a new Nature study. Messor ibericus queens can produce males of Messor structor in addition to their own species. This bizarre observation is at odds with how scientists conventionally think about species, so it may prompt a rethink of these already blurry definitions.

The paper: One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants

Standing on top of a small mountain, Kim Seung-ho gazes out over an expanse of paddy fields glowing in their autumn gold, the ripening grains swaying gently in the wind. In the distance, North Korea stretches beyond the horizon.

“It’s so peaceful,” says the director of the DMZ Ecology Research Institute. “Over there, it used to be an artillery range, but since they stopped firing, the nature has become so beautiful.”

The land before him is the demilitarised zone, or DMZ, a strip of land that runs across the Korean peninsula, dividing North and South Korea roughly along the 38th parallel north. Stretching 155 miles (250km) across the peninsula and 2.4 miles wide, the DMZ remains one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders, strewn with landmines and flanked by military installations on both sides.

Yet, in the 72 years since the war ended, this forbidden strip has become an accidental ecological paradise.

The zone’s varied terrain creates distinct habitats: the wetlands of the western sector shelter migrating cranes, while the rugged eastern mountains provide sanctuary for some of the country’s most threatened mammals, including Siberian musk deer and Asiatic black bears.

South Korea’s National Institute of Ecology has documented nearly 6,000 species here, including more than 100 endangered species – representing more than a third of South Korea’s threatened wildlife.

Death cap mushrooms are back in the news. Amanita phalloides has once again been linked to poisonings, this time lacing beef Wellingtons served at a family meal in Leongatha, Australia, which resulted in three fatalities. Such incidents inevitably reignite public fear surrounding this deadly mushroom – and mushrooms in general. The fact that death caps look so innocuous only adds to their malevolent mystique. With their pale yellow cap and white gills, they can be mistaken for several edible fungi – which might explain why they are responsible for almost all mushroom-related deaths. Just half of one is enough to kill you.

Wind turbines get a bad rap for killing birds—but they actually kill far more bats. Scientists estimate that millions of bats die every year after slamming into the giant blades, making turbines one of the top killers of the animals worldwide. But just what exactly lures bats to turbines in the first place is a mystery.

New laboratory experiments suggest the key is light. Bats use the brightness of the open sky to navigate—a visual cue replicated by light reflecting off turbine blades. Much like a moth drawn to the flame, these reflections create an “ecological trap,” drawing bats into fatal collisions, researchers report this month in Biology Letters.

“It’s one of those studies that doesn’t get done very often,” says Jack Hooker, a bat biologist at the Bat Conservation Trust who was not involved with the work. Unlike many large-scale studies on bat deaths around turbines, he says the new work focuses on a specific possible cause and tests it with rigorous experiments. Understanding why bats gravitate toward these machines could help researchers find better ways to protect them, he says.

Bats seem to be unusually attracted to turbines. They loiter in the air next to the giant energy-generating machines and spend an inordinate amount of time near their masts and blades.

The attraction is unclear, but what is known is that bats have evolved to use the open sky as a visual guide while navigating. Brighter patches in their blurry field of vision indicate the direction of the sky, and they orient toward them. As a result, Kristin Jonasson—an independent physiological ecologist—hypothesized that at dusk and dawn, turbine blades might reflect just enough moonlight to make them look like the bright sky, luring bats toward them.

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• Despite a federal protection law, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest lost a Washington, D.C.-sized area of mature forest every year between 2010 and 2020, with most of the deforestation occurring illegally on private lands for agriculture.

• The Atlantic Forest is a critical biodiversity hotspot that supports 70% of Brazil’s GDP while serving nearly three-quarters of the country’s population.

Kenya is facing global criticism after tourists were caught obstructing the Great Migration in the Maasai Mara, forcing panicked wildebeests back into the Mara River—where crocodiles were lying in wait.

The recent incident, which unfolded near Purungat Bridge, has triggered a wave of public and conservationist anger, with calls for urgent regulatory changes to protect one of the world's most iconic wildlife spectacles.

Footage circulating widely on social media shows tourists stepping out of safari vehicles and clustering along the riverbanks, leaving the animals barely a metre to pass.

Stretching 155 miles (250km) across the peninsula and 2.4 miles wide, the DMZ is anything but demilitarised. It remains one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders, strewn with landmines and flanked by military installations on both sides.

Yet, in the 72 years since the war ended, this forbidden strip has become an accidental ecological paradise.

South Korea’s National Institute of Ecology has documented nearly 6,000 species here, including more than 100 endangered species – representing more than a third of South Korea’s threatened wildlife.

The zone’s varied terrain creates distinct habitats: the wetlands of the western sector shelter migrating cranes, while the rugged eastern mountains provide sanctuary for some of the country’s most threatened mammals, including Siberian musk deer and Asiatic black bears.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5858846

On a warm night in late July, a dozen people gather over barbecued burgers and hotdogs in Shawanaga First Nation, about 30 kilometres northwest of Parry Sound, Ont. They’re not just here to snack and socialize, though. Clad in headlamps and settled into folding chairs, when the clock strikes 10 p.m., their nets will open.

The small crowd gathers near an abandoned church, where the community knows 200 to 300 bats come to roost. They’re here to help Shawanaga’s species-at-risk team net and tag bats, mostly the little brown myotis species, as they emerge at dusk to hunt for insects. Nearby is a specially designed “bat condo” built by Shawanaga member Dave Pawis in 2022, which offers an alternative roost for at least 1,000 bats. The air is filled with enthusiastic anticipation, along with thousands of mosquitoes.

Soon, bats are landing in the carefully set traps and the biologists — some from Shawanaga’s species-at-risk-team and another handful from neighbouring First Nations — handle them one by one. They record their gender, weight and age before tagging and releasing them. More Shawanaga residents come by after the local baseball game to take a peek, and even tag some bats’ wings themselves.

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The UK's seas have had their warmest start to the year since records began, helping to drive some dramatic changes in marine life and for its fishing communities.

The average surface temperature of UK waters in the seven months to the end of July was more than 0.2C higher than any year since 1980, BBC analysis of provisional Met Office data suggests.

That might not sound much, but the UK's seas are now considerably warmer than even a few decades ago, a trend driven by humanity's burning of fossil fuels.

That is contributing to major changes in the UK's marine ecosystems, with some new species entering our seas and others struggling to cope with the heat.

Scientists and amateur naturalists have observed a remarkable range of species not usually widespread in UK waters, including octopus, bluefin tuna and mauve stinger jellyfish.

The abundance of these creatures can be affected by natural cycles and fishing practices, but many researchers point to the warming seas as a crucial part of their rise.

Cuba is home to the world’s greatest diversity of snails, but no others have shells with such a range of colors and complex patterns. Painted snails, in the genus Polymita, have long been sought by collectors, who sell the shells to tourists or trade them abroad to the United States and Europe. This demand is one reason why Cuba lists all six species as critically endangered, and why it’s been illegal for more than a decade to take these snails from the wild.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates global commerce in wildlife, has banned their trade since 2017.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5720338

A newly discovered stick insect which weighs slightly less than a golf ball may be the heaviest insect in Australia, scientists say.

The 40cm-long new species, named Acrophylla alta, was found in the high altitudes of the Atherton tablelands in north Queensland – and scientists said the habitat could be part of the reason for its large size.

A peer-reviewed study documenting the discovery, published in Zootaxa journal, noted the stick insect was likely heavier than the giant burrowing cockroach, which is endemic to Queensland and is at present the heaviest insect in Australia.

James Cook University researcher Prof Angus Emmott said a social media post helped with the discovery.

Emmott said he believed the species had not been discovered earlier as its habitat was too hard to access.

“It lives high in the canopy. So, unless you get a cyclone or a bird bringing one down, very few people get to see them,” Emmott said in a statement.

But the habitat could also explain why the stick insect is larger, he said, saying the body mass could help them survive the cold conditions in the “cool, wet environment where they live”.

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