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The Tasmanian Greens today have been informed that logging has commenced in the contentious north-east Coupe and are calling for urgent action by both the State and Commonwealth Governments to stop any further destruction of the habitat of the endangered Bornemissza’s stag beetle until there has been a full evaluation of the scientific evidence, sent to Forestry Tasmania on the 8th of February this year.
Greens Shadow Native Forest Logging spokesperson Tim Morris MP said that the Minister responsible for Threatened Species, David Llewellyn, must immediately issue an Interim Protection Order under the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, to cease logging of the coupe until scientific and expert advice recently supplied to the Federal Minister, Forestry Tasmania and the Forest Practices Authority have been evaluated and responded to.
“The logging of the Bornemissza’s stag beetle habitat that began on Monday, by Forestry Tasmania, is a pre-emptive strike that is likely to further endanger this state listed species and is intended to head off likely additional protection or prescription once the listing of this species is completed by the Commonwealth government,” Mr Morris said.
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has just ruled to suppress the senior name Aleurostictus for Gnorimus, and only use Gnorimus from now on, for species such as our rare noble chafer. In 1827 Kirby described a new taxon called Aleurostictus. The following year 1828 Le Peletier described Gnorimus, based on the same taxon, apparently not knowing that it had already got a name. Le Peletier's work became better known, and the scientific community began to refer to the 'beast with two names' as Gnorimus (the junior name) rather than Aleurostictus (the senior name). 150 years later, the error was noticed. At this stage the name Gnorimus was in universal use and the name Aleurosticus was forgotten. Finally a successful application was put to the Commission to suppress Aleurostictus, and the use of the junior, but prevalent, name Gnorimus to be used from now on. Anyone interested in this subject should check out the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, which 'seeks to promote stability in the names of animals': It is a unique and incredibly valuable publication
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/iczn/The_Bulletin.htm
Charles Dickens may have coined the phrase “Bah, humbug!” via the mouth of Ebenezer Scrooge, of Christmas Carol fame, but what’s a humbug? In the slang of Dickens’s era, it meant anyone or anything silly, stupid, or bothersome, qualities unfairly ascribed to a kind of stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), Britain’s largest beetle, called “humbug” in some English dialects.
Anita Burrough, Traditional Orchard Project officer who, along with Steve Oram, discovered the noble chafer in Kent, years after it was thought to have become locally extinct, was interviewed on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning. Listen by clicking 06:30-07:00 on the link below: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/
In the last six months two very exciting discoveries have been made. The first came when we were invited to survey the traditional orchards owned by Weston’s cider company in Herefordshire. While exploring the cavities of old apple trees we found evidence of noble chafer beetle larvae. This exciting find illustrates how a highly successful company are managing their traditional orchards in a manner that is beneficial to wildlife. Even more exciting was our next discovery in Kent. The orchard project team, Anita Burrough and Steve Oram, were carrying out surveys and in the last orchard of the day discovered the characteristic droppings of the noble chafer larvae in several old plum trees. This is a fantastic discovery as the beetle hasn’t been recorded in Kent for over 60 years.
Thank you to all who took part in our Great Stag Hunt photo competition. There were hundreds of entries and many were of an exceptionally high standard. Please take a look at http://gallery.greatstaghunt.org/v/2007/. The first prize winner was Maria Fremlin, who captured these two males, right, in battle.
A parcel sent from Peru to Amsterdam on Friday was found to have 100 dead stag beetles inside. Upon further inspection, the beetles had been stuffed with about 300 grams of cocaine. The street value of all that coke is about $11,270.
