Zedoary (Curcuma zedoaria)

Temu putih or white tumeric or zedoary (Curcuma zedoaria) is a species of plant in the Zingiberaceae, herbaceous perennial, up to 50 cm high, leaves lanceolate elongated, green and purple along the midrib.

Flowers come out of the side rhizome, towering upwards to form a large flower head. The corolla is white or green with red or yellow at the top and edges. The rhizome is white or bright yellow.

Zedoary grows wild at elevations up to 1000 meters and has been commercialized for its rhizome medicinal and medicinal uses. Natural products are widely used in the perfume industry, dyes for the food and drug industries or drug mixtures.

The rhizome is used as a cure for scurvy, skin inflammation, blood washing, flatulence and other disorders of the digestive tract. Research shows antitumor, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Subfamily: Zingiberoideae
Tribe: Zingibereae
Genus: Curcuma
Subgenus: Curcuma
Species: Curcuma zedoaria

Rhamphomyia kitadai, Rhamphomyia brunnipennis, Rhamphomyia decens and Rhamphomyia pennipes from Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation

NEWS - Leland Kitada dance fly ( Rhamphomyia kitadai sp. nov.), brown wings dance fly ( Rhamphomyia brunnipennis sp. nov.), beautiful dance fly ( Rhamphomyia decens sp. nov.) and wing-footed dance fly ( Rhamphomyia pennipes sp. nov.) from the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation are described as species new to science. Females of Empidinae often display sexual ornamentation, an adaptation in the animal kingdom in general, often associated with males, especially in vertebrates. Ornamentation of female Empidinae includes legs with rows of relatively large pennate scales, enlarged and/or darkly pigmented wings and an expanded abdominal pouch. The ornamentation makes the female appear larger, more fertile and therefore more attractive to potential mates. Given the rarity of female sexual ornamentation, especially Empidini, it has become a model system for studying this phenomenon. The known fossil record includes several genera from the mid-Jurassic era dominated by two genera, Empis and

Jian Huang parasitoid wasp (Proaphelinoides huangi) from China strongly supported as sister group to Aphytis

NEWS - Jian Huang parasitoid wasp ( Proaphelinoides huangi Chen & Jiang, sp. nov.), reported from China based on standard DNA barcode COI, partial nuclear ribosomal 28S-D2 and 28S-D2 rDNA. The new species is similar to P. bendovi , P. elongatiformis , P. australis , P. assamensis and the genus Proaphelinoides is strongly supported as the sister group to Aphytis. Proaphelinoides Girault is a small genus in the Aphelinidae with 7 species worldwide. P. elongatiformis (Girault 1917) from Sri Lanka is the type species. P. australis from Australia (Girault 1922), P. bendovi Tachikawa (1984) from China, and 4 other species, P. anomalus Hayat (1984), P. chidambaramensis Manickavasagam & Menakadevi (2012), P. assamensis Hayat (2012) and P. ematus Hayat & Veenakumari (2016) from India. P. huangi can be distinguished from other species by yellow antennae, forewings with 10–14 feathers below the marginal vein, linea calva bordered proximally by a single row of setae, F3 1.0–1

Taiwanese ambrosia beetle (Eccoptopterus formosanus) and midst ambrosia beetle (Eccoptopterus intermedius)

NEWS - Two xyleborine ambrosia beetles, Taiwanese ambrosia beetle ( Eccoptopterus formosanus Lin, Sittichaya & Smith, sp. nov.) and midst ambrosia beetle ( Eccoptopterus intermedius Sittichaya, Lin & Smith, sp. nov.) described from Taiwan and Thailand based on DNA sequences (COI and CAD) and morphological characteristics. Eccoptopterus Motschulsky 1863 is the earliest described xyleborine ambrosia beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Victor Ivanovich Motschulsky assigned the name to the monotypic genus and a new species, E. sexspinosus Motschulsky 1863, described from Burma. Currently 14 species and subspecies have been described of which 4 are: E. drescheri Eggers 1940, E. limbus Sampson 1911, E. spinosus (Olivier, 1800) and E. tarsalis Schedl 1936. Eccoptopterus is easily distinguished by its autapomorphically enlarged metatibiae and metatarsi. Based on specimens collected as part of a survey of xyleborine ambrosia beetles in Thailand and Taiwan, researchers

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