Newly discovered gun moth named after coronavirus
Scientists have named a shooting moth discovered in Kosovo after the coronavirus. The Potamophylax coronavirus was discovered before the pandemic, but its research was written in quarantine time.
The shooting moth was found in a national park in western Kosovo. According to the researchers, the Potamophylax coronavirus is smaller than the species with which the insect has the most similarities. It also lives in higher areas.
The researchers write in the Biodiversity Data Journal that the fly’s name refers not only to the lung virus but also to a figurative “silent pandemic” in freshwater organisms in Kosovo’s rivers. This is linked to the pollution and destruction of the waters.
The freshwater ecosystems in the area where the Potamophylax coronavirus was found are negatively affected, according to scientists, by deforestation, the arrival of hydropower plants, and tourism, among other things.
