عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Scientists Discover New Species of Praying Mantis that Lived 100 Million Year ago

Praying mantis, Kalahari desert, Botswana. Photo: AFP
Praying mantis, Kalahari desert, Botswana. Photo: AFP
TT
20
TT

Scientists Discover New Species of Praying Mantis that Lived 100 Million Year ago

Praying mantis, Kalahari desert, Botswana. Photo: AFP
Praying mantis, Kalahari desert, Botswana. Photo: AFP

A McGill-led research team has identified a new species of praying mantis thanks to imprints of its fossilized wings.

It lived in Labrador, in the Canadian Subarctic around 100 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs, in the Late Cretaceous period.

The researchers believe that the fossils of the new genus and species, Labradormantis guilbaulti, helps to establish evolutionary relationships between previously known species and advances the scientific understanding of the evolution of the most 'primitive' modern praying mantises.

The research team, which included members from the Musée national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris, and the Musée de paléontologie et de l'évolution in Montreal, found the specimens during fieldwork at an abandoned iron mine located in Labrador, near Schefferville, Quebec. The findings were published in the journal Systematic Entomology on January 20.

"Our days were spent essentially scouring the surface of piles of rubble that had been excavated from the mine," said Alexandre Demers-Potvin, a PhD student at McGill, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and the lead author on the paper.

"Every now and then, one of the burgundy rocks on the ground would contain either a fossil leaf or a fossil insect, which we would then promptly collect. When the two fossils of Labradormantis guilbaulti were found in the field, none of us could identify them at first. It was only when I showed photos to paleoentomologist Olivier Béthoux, the senior author of this paper, that we started to think that we had the hind-wings of a previously unknown primitive mantis species."

It was already known that most modern praying mantises, with their characteristic grasping forelegs, look very different from their oldest fossil ancestors. However, it has been difficult for paleontologists to trace mantis evolution more precisely because of the multiple gaps in the fossil record of these insects.

By using Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), an emerging photographing method in paleontology, the researchers were able to get a better view of the intricate network of veins lying along the fossil wings.

They noticed a vein lying along the hind-wing's folding line (called AA2*) that is only found in one modern mantis lineage, the Chaeteessidae family. Following this key observation, they produced a revised evolutionary tree that included Labradormantis among some of its living and extinct relatives.

Most Viewed

 
Varieties

Sunny Greece Struggles with Solar Energy Overload

Solar accounted for 23 percent of the 55 percent of electricity consumed from renewables last year. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
Solar accounted for 23 percent of the 55 percent of electricity consumed from renewables last year. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
TT
20
TT

Sunny Greece Struggles with Solar Energy Overload

Solar accounted for 23 percent of the 55 percent of electricity consumed from renewables last year. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
Solar accounted for 23 percent of the 55 percent of electricity consumed from renewables last year. Aris MESSINIS / AFP

In a field in central Greece that once grew clover and corn, maintenance worker Nikos Zigomitros deftly drives a tractor between rows of solar panels, trimming weeds under a blazing sun.

"Letting them grow too high impairs the panel performance," the 52-year-old explains, wiping sweat from his brow.

Once a center of agricultural production, the area around Kastron Viotias, some 110 kilometers (70 miles) northwest of Athens, has seen solar parks mushroom over the past 15 years, part of a major renewable energy push in the country.

Greece currently has 16 gigawatts of renewable energy installed, with solar power representing nearly 10 gigawatts, including 2.5 gigawatts that came on line last year.

The rapid growth of solar is similar to other countries in Europe, where it has overtaken coal for electricity production, according to climate think tank Ember.

It estimates renewables have risen to account for nearly half of the EU's electricity production.

Greece did even better: 55 percent of annual consumption was covered by renewables last year, with solar accounting for around 23 percent, according to SPEF, an association which unites local solar power producers.

In 2023, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis predicted that Greece would "soon generate 80 percent of its electricity needs through renewables."

But getting there is proving complicated.

SPEF chairman Stelios Loumakis said that the solar sector has hit a wall because of a combination of factors, including Greece's small size, limited infrastructure and delays in building up energy storage capacity.

Saturated

The Greek state approved too many photovoltaic projects over the last five years and the market is saturated, leading to a "severe production surplus" on sunny days, the 56-year-old chemical engineer and energy consultant said.

Greece's national grid operator in May repeatedly ordered thousands of medium-sized operators to shut down during the sunniest hours of the day to avoid overburdening the network and triggering a blackout.

"The trick is to balance supply and demand. If you don't do it well, you get a blackout," said Nikos Mantzaris, a senior policy analyst and partner at the independent civil organization Green Tank.

In April, a huge blackout of unknown origin crippled the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish government has said two major power fluctuations were recorded in the half-hour before the grid collapse, but the government insisted renewables were not to blame.

"It could be something as mundane as a faulty cable," Mantzaris said.

Batteries 'crucial'

To manage the surplus, Greece is building battery storage capacity. But catching up to its solar electricity production will take years.

"The next three years will be crucial," said Stelios Psomas, a policy advisor at HELAPCO, a trade association for Greek companies producing and installing solar panels.

In the meantime, solar panel operators will have to ensure production does not outstrip capacity, thereby limiting their potential earnings.

"Managing high shares of renewables -- especially solar -- requires significant flexibility and storage solutions," said Francesca Andreolli, a senior researcher at ECCO, a climate change think tank in Italy, which faces a similar problem.

"Battery capacity has become a structural necessity for the electricity system, by absorbing excess renewable energy and releasing it when demand rises," she told AFP.

Farm income

Mimis Tsakanikas, a 51-year-old farmer in Kastron, readily admits that solar has been good to his family.

The photovoltaic farm they built in 2012 at a cost of 210,000 euros clears at least 55,000 euros a year, far more than he could hope to earn by growing vegetables and watermelons.

"This park sustains my home," he said.

But the father of two also notes that the environmental balance has tipped in his area, with the spread of solar installations now causing concerns about the local microclimate.

Tsakanikas says the area has already experienced temperature rises of up to 4.0 degrees Celsius (7.2 Fahrenheit), which he blames on the abundance of heat-absorbing solar panel parks in the area.

"The microclimate has definitely changed, we haven't seen frost in two years," he told AFP.

"(At this rate) in five years, we'll be cultivating bananas here, like in Crete," he said.