NIBR Discovered Unrecorded Insect Species, the Smallest Beetles in Korea

NIBR recently announced that it has discovered 2 unrecorded insect species, named Dipentium japonicum and Acrotrichis lewisi through its “Soil Invertebrates^* Research Project”. They are regarded as the smallest beetles in Korea.

*Invertebrates are animals without backbones, such as beetles (arthropods) and earthworm (annelids). They account for 97% of all known animal species.

Dipentium japonicum and Acrotrichis lewisi belong to the family Ptiliidae, who is about 600 described species in the world, but not in Korea.

The newly discovered Dipentium japonicum is the tiniest beetles in Korea with a body length of 0.8mm, and Acrotrichis lewisi with 1.1mm size is the second tiniest one.

NIBR researchers have conducted joint research with Dr. Y. Sawada and Dr. H. Hoshina, who are Ptiliidae professionals in Japan. The research team submitted the result to Elytra, one of the Japanese beetles classification journals.

Bae, Yeon Jae, president of NIBR said: “We will continue the soil invertebrates research to investigate unrecorded species and classify them so that our sovereign right over biological resources are secured in response to the Nagoya Protocol.”