Nepal is located on the southern slope of the Central Himalayas and has experienced frequent droughts in the past. In this study, we used an ensemble of 13 biased corrected models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) to assess the future drought conditions over Nepal under three shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP126, SSP245, and SSP585) using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at annual timescale. The monthly correlation between observed and CMIP6-simulated historical SPEI is 0.23 (p < 0.01), which indicates the CMIP6 model ensemble can simulate the drought characteristics over Nepal. In the future period (2020–2100), the duration and severity of droughts are projected to increase with higher emission scenarios, especially for SSP585. Our results indicate enhanced drought intensity under SSP126, whereas, under SSP245, the drought frequency will be slightly higher. The drought frequency is projected to increase in the early future (2020–2060), decreasing in the late future (2061–2100) under all SSP scenarios. The results further indicate more prolonged and severe droughts in the early future under SSP585 as compared to SSP126 and SSP245. The findings of the present study can help drought mitigation as well as long-term adaptation strategies over Nepal.
Aryal’s Ten Avatar Groundhopper, Aryalidonta itishreeagen. et sp. nov., named in honor of the late Bhairav Aryal, an iconic Nepali satirist, is a new genus and species of Tetrigidae described as a part of the tribe Thoradontini. The species is native to Nepal, a country with a rich tetrigid fauna in need of taxonomic revisions. This monotypic genus can be easily separated from other Thoradontini genera by its enlarged proximal halves of middle femora, a peculiar lateral lobe morphology (small caudal protrusion in its caudal part and a sharp lateral tip), a triangular, anteriorly narrowing vertex, and by its unique head morphology. The species was observed in its natural habitat. It was found to harbor many color variations that are cryptic in nature. It feeds on detritus, algae, lichen, and moss. Specimens heavily infested by mites were found, as well as those in interaction with wasps (possibly Eulophidae), but the nature of the latter could not be determined.
This paper describes one new genus from Nepal, Skejotettix gen. nov., and one new species of this new genus, S. netrajyoti gen. et sp. nov. and assigns one species to this new genus, S. muglingi (Ingrisch, 2001b) comb. nov. from Coptotettix Bolívar, 1887. The genus is morphologically close to Ergatettix Kirby, 1914 from Nepal, Lamellitettigodes Günther, 1939 from SE Asia, and Hainantettix Deng, 2020 (including H. angustivertex (Zha et Peng, 2021) comb. nov. and H. hainanensis (Liang, 2002) comb. nov.) from Hainan, China. New distribution records have been provided to Coptotettix. Endemic to Nepal, the genus Skejotettix gen. nov. shares two different habitat types (subtropical Sal forest for S. netrajyoti gen. et sp. nov., and river/stream/pond bank for S. muglingi (Ingrisch, 2001b) comb. nov.).
This paper describes a new species of Skejotetix Subedi, 2022, S. kasalosp. nov., from the temperate forests of Bajung, Parbat, Nepal. The genus was known only from the subtropical regions of Nepal. The new species and its different life stages were observed in the natural habitat. It was found to have many colors that match perfectly with the surroundings. The genus Skejotettix was considered brachypronotal until now, but a macropronotal form was also found alongside the typical brachypronotal form in S. kasalosp. nov. The macropronotal form is an important piece of the puzzle in determining the relationship between Skejotettix and Ergatetttix Kirby, 1914.
We present a list of grasshoppers of two families from Ghyalchok, Gorkha district with four new species records for Nepal. The checklist of species is given to provide basic information on the grasshopper diversity of that region. With detailed information of all species recorded and plates with photos from different angles of each species, the present work shall contribute towards a better understanding of grasshoppers of Nepal's Ghyalchok, Gorkha region. This study contributes to future revisionary works on grasshopper diversity and distribution in Nepal. We surveyed 13 different localities of Ghyalchok for three years from 2019-2022, following visual count, while the specimens were collected by using a sweep net or by handpicking where feasible. We recorded 29 species of grasshoppers, of which 26 species belong to Acrididae and 3 species to Pyrgomorphidae. Four grasshopper species, Phlaeoba antennata antennata Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1893; Bibracte burmana burmana Ramme, 1941; Caryanda cachara (Kirby, 1914) and Gonista bicolor (Haan, 1942) are recorded for the first time from Nepal.
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