A research team at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) has for the first time confirmed that the rare insect 'Akkabosi-gopchu-teol-botoktogi,' known worldwide, inhabits Korea, attracting attention from the academic community.

Professor Kyung‑hwa Park (College of Education, Division of Science Education) and her research team confirmed that this rare insect lives in riparian wetlands in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. The results of this study are scheduled to be published in the SCI-indexed journal Entomological Research, Volume 43, Issue 4 (July 2013), published by the Korean Entomological Society.

As part of research to discover new and previously unrecorded species, Professor Park, who has been conducting morphological and molecular biological studies on Korean toktogi, led last year the Ministry of Environment's National Institute of Biological Resources' 'Korean Endemic Species Discovery Project' and achieved this result.

Since its first reported occurrence in Japan in 1919, Akkabosi-gopchu-teol-botoktogi has not been found in other countries. It is an extremely rare species with only one known genus and one species worldwide, and is one of the most primitive groups of insects that first appeared on Earth in the Devonian period.

Generally, toktogi inhabit a wide and diverse range of habitats, even being found in Antarctica. Because they exhibit broad and unique patterns of environmental adaptation, they are ideal subjects for ecological and evolutionary studies and are recognized as important indicator species for environmental change.

Professor Kyung‑hwa Park said, "Recently, studies have used toktogi to measure climate change and environmental pollution, and the toktogi discovered this time is also expected to play an important role in environmental research," adding, "We plan to systematically advance research on developing environmental indicator species using these organisms, as well as studies on soil and aquatic insects."