New discovery of the oldest maize weevils in the world from Jomon potteries, Japan

The maize weevil (_Sitophilus zeamais_) and rice weevil (_Sitophilus oryzae_) are two of the most damaging insects for stored grains, and are characteristic species of ancient Japan. Both species and the granary weevil (_Sitophilus granarius_) are common elsewhere in the world, but the natural distribution of maize and rice weevils is restricted to the Old World^1^. Japanese archaeological records contain a few maize weevil fossils after the Middle Yayoi period (ca. 2000 aBP)^2^. However, since evidence of weevils was discovered as impressions in Jomon potsherds in 2004^3^, many weevil impressions have been found. The oldest is from the Late Jomon (ca. 4000 to 3200 aBP). These findings and other archaeological evidence suggest that the maize weevil invaded Japan from Korea, accompanying the spread of rice cultivation^4^. However, in 2010 we discovered older weevil impressions dating to ca. 9000 aBP. These specimens are the oldest harmful insects discovered from archaeological sites around the world. The new discovery is valuable for future entomological research because such specimens are absent from the fossil record. It is also archaeologically and culturally interesting because this provides evidence of harmful insects living in Jomon villages. However, the new discovery raises the question of what these weevils infested: did cereal cultivation exist 9000 years ago? We have no persuasive answer, but hope one will be provided by future interdisciplinary collaborations among geneticists, entomologists, and archaeologists

The Dynamical State of the Serpens South Filamentary Infrared Dark Cloud

We present the results of N_2H^+ (J = 1-0) observations toward Serpens South, the nearest cluster-forming, infrared dark cloud. The physical quantities are derived by fitting the hyperfine structure of N_2H^+. The Herschel and 1.1 mm continuum maps show that a parsec-scale filament fragments into three clumps with radii of 0.1-0.2 pc and masses of 40-230 M_☉. We find that the clumps contain smaller-scale (~0.04 pc) structures, i.e., dense cores. We identify 70 cores by applying CLUMPFIND to the N_2H^+ data cube. In the central cluster-forming clump, the excitation temperature and line-width tend to be large, presumably due to protostellar outflow feedback and stellar radiation. However, for all the clumps, the virial ratios are evaluated to be 0.1-0.3, indicating that the internal motions play only a minor role in the clump support. The clumps exhibit no free fall but exhibit low-velocity infall, and thus the clumps should be supported by additional forces. The most promising force is the globally ordered magnetic field observed toward this region. We propose that the Serpens South filament was close to magnetically critical and ambipolar diffusion triggered the cluster formation. We find that the northern clump, which shows no active star formation, has a mass and radius comparable to the central cluster-forming clump and is therefore a likely candidate of a pre-protocluster clump. The initial condition for cluster formation is likely to be a magnetically supported clump of cold, quiescent gas. This appears to contradict the accretion-driven turbulence scenario, for which the turbulence in the clumps is maintained by the accretion flow

A Mapping Survey of Dense Clumps Associated with Embedded Clusters : Evolutionary Stages of Cluster-Forming Clumps

We have carried out a survey of the dense clumps associated with 14 embedded clusters in the C^18O (J=1-0) line emission with the Nobeyama 45m telescope in order to understand the formation and evolution of stellar clusters in dense clumps of molecular clouds. We have selected these clusters at distances from 0.3 to 2.1kpc and have mapped about 6' X 6' to 10' X 10'regions (corresponding to 3.8pc X 3.8pc at 2.1kpc) for all the clumps with 22" resolution (corresponding to Jeans length at 2.1kpc). We have obtained dense clumps with radii of 0.40-1.6pc, masses of 150-4600M_sun, and velocity widths in FWHM of 1.4-3.3kms^-1. Most of the clumps are found to be approximately in virial equilibrium, which implies that C^18O gas represents parental dense clumps for cluster formation. From the spatial relation between the distributions of clumps and clusters, we classified C^18O clumps into three types (Type A, B, and C). The C^18O clumps as classified into Type A have emission distributions with a single peak at the stellar clusters and higher brightness contrast than that of other target sources. Type B clumps have double or triple peaks which are associated with the cluster and moderately high brightness contrast structure. Type C clumps have also multiple peaks although they are not associated with the cluster and low brightness contrast structure. We suggest that our classification represents an evolutionary trend of cluster-forming dense clumps because dense gas in molecular clouds is expected to be converted into stellar constituents, or to be dispersed by stellar activities. Moreover, although there is a scatter, we found a tendency that the SFEs of the dense clumps increase from Type A to Type C, which also supports our scenario.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures, accepted to ApJ, high resolution images at http://www.nro.nao.ac.jp/~higuchi/Higuchi_apj.pd

A New Light on the Evolution and Propagation of Prehistoric Grain Pests: The World's Oldest Maize Weevils Found in Jomon Potteries, Japan

Three Sitophilus species (S. granarius L., S. oryzae L., and S. zeamais Mots.) are closely related based on DNA analysis of their endosymbionts. All are seed parasites of cereal crops and important economic pest species in stored grain. The Sitophilus species that currently exist, including these three species, are generally believed to be endemic to Asia's forested areas, suggesting that the first infestations of stored grain must have taken place near the forested mountains of southwestern Asia. Previous archaeological data and historical records suggest that the three species may have been diffused by the spread of Neolithic agriculture, but this hypothesis has only been established for granary weevils in European and southwestern Asian archaeological records. There was little archeological evidence for grain pests in East Asia before the discovery of maize weevil impressions in Jomon pottery in 2004 using the “impression replica” method. Our research on Jomon agriculture based on seed and insect impressions in pottery continued to seek additional evidence. In 2010, we discovered older weevil impressions in Jomon pottery dating to ca. 10 500 BP. These specimens are the oldest harmful insects in the world discovered at archaeological sites. Our results provide evidence of harmful insects living in the villages from the Earliest Jomon, when no cereals were cultivated. This suggests we must reconsider previous scenarios for the evolution and propagation of grain pest weevils, especially in eastern Asia. Although details of their biology or the foods they infested remain unclear, we hope future interdisciplinary collaborations among geneticists, entomologists, and archaeologists will provide the missing details

Diel and ontogenetic variations in vertical distributions of large grazing copepods during the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Oyashio region

Short-term changes in vertical distributions of copepods during the spring phytoplankton bloom were analyzed based on day and night vertically stratified sampling (9 strata between 0-1000 m) with a fine-mesh (60 μm) VMPS in the Oyashio region on five occasions: 8 March, 5, 11, 23 and 29 April 2007. Responses to the bloom were varied and species-specific. Eucatanus bungii C3-C6 were resting around 400 m on 8 March. They had aroused from rest by 5 April, more completely for C6F than for C3-C4. On 29 April, newly recruited C1-C4 stayed in near surface layers (0-50 m). Both Metridia pacifica and Metridia okhotensis showed strong diel vertical migrations (DVM). When the amount of sinking flux was sufficient (23 and 29 April), juveniles ceased DVM and stayed close to 300 m throughout the day and night, while the C6F continued DVM. Continuous DVM behavior of Metridia spp. C6F is likely related to spawning in the surface layer at night. The growth phase of juvenile Neocalanus spp. occurred shallower than 250 m. Within this depth range, vertical partitioning was observed among the species: Neocalanus flemingeri and Neocalanus plumchrus occurred above 50 m, while Neocalanus cristatus was distributed from 75-250 m. The boundary between two patterns was around 50-75 m. These findings are comparable to those in the eastern subarctic Pacific

Population structure, egg production and gut content pigment of large grazing copepods during the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Oyashio region

As a basis for analyzing development of six large grazing copepods (Eucalanus bungii, Metridia pacifica, M. okhotensis, Neocalanus cristatus, N. flemingeri and N. plumchrus) in the Oyashio region, quasi-daily twin-NORPAC net (0.33 and 0.10 mm mesh) hauls were taken through the upper 150 m and 500 m at a station southwest of Hokkaido before (9-14 March) and after (6-30 April) the onset of the phytoplankton bloom in 2007. Based on additional fresh specimens collected from 0-150 m, egg production of E. bungii, M. pacifica and M. okhotensis, and gut pigments of late copepodid stages in each species were evaluated. Total zooplankton biomass was greater from 10 April onward by a factor of 2- to 8-fold the previous levels. This increase of the 0-150 m biomass was caused by development of Neocalanus spp. copepodids and upward migration of resting E. bungii. Egg production of E. bungii peaked on 18 April, while abundance of its nauplii and C1 peaked on 20 and 25 April, respectively. Sex ratio and C6-female gonad maturation index of E. bungii showed new recruitment to C6 during 20-30 April, likely derived from a population that over-wintered as C3 or C4. Egg production and hatchability of M. pacifica and M. okhotensis were highly variable and no temporal trend was detected. Comparison with field abundance data for Metridia spp. suggests that our estimates of egg production and hatchability are too low, despite care with experimental conditions. All the Neocalanus species utilize the bloom as energy for juvenile growth. Neocalanus cristatus developed from C2 through C4, and stage duration of C3 was estimated to be 24 days. Neocalanus flemingeri also developed from Cl through C3, and stage durations of C1 and C2 were estimated to be 7-9 days. Neocalanus plumchrus occurred in small numbers from mid-April onward. The stage duration estimates for Neocalanus spp. are similar to those reported from the high-nutrition southeastern Bering Sea shelf. Gut pigment variation clearly showed nocturnal feeding by Metridia spp., while no diel changes in gut pigment were recognized for E. bungii or Neocalanus spp. The diel changes in gut pigment of Metridia spp. were related to their diel vertical migrations. The calendar of sequential responses of copepods to the phytoplankton bloom is summarized