New beetle emerges from gran canaria's subsoil

Thanks to research carried out since 2003 on the subsoil of Gran Canaria (Spain), two scientists have discovered a new species of beetle, which they have called Oromia thoracica. This blind weevil shares the same brownish-grey color as the subsoil fauna and has a flattened body and thorax almost covering its head, an adaptation to life underground. In recent years the underground environment of the Canary Islands has revealed many of its best guarded secrets. Spiders, millipedes, psuedoscorpions, cockroaches and beetles have emerged mainly from the depths of the Agaete valley, on the north-west of Gran Canaria. This area has some of the oldest soil on the island originating from the Miocene epoch, between 23 and 5 million years ago.

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