At first glance, this insect might look like a slender wasp lost far from its nest. Yet, this specimen observed aboard theย Milagroย on April 9, 2026, north-east of Hoste Islandโwhile the ship was anchored in a forest-lined area battered by bad weatherโbelongs to an entirely different world: that of the southern longhorn beetles, which remain very poorly documented.
Callisphyris leptopus philippi visiting the sailing boat Milagro April 9, 2026 (Karukinka Expedition, Hoste Island, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile)
In this context, the encounter takes on real scientific significance. Callisphyris leptopus Philippi, 1859 belongs to the Cerambycidae, the "longhorn beetles," a family of beetles of which many species spend a large part of their development inside wood. The case of this species is particularly interesting because, despite its spectacular appearance, easily accessible documentation remains fragmentary, scattered among taxonomic records, forestry publications, and isolated sightings.
A species of the southern forests
Available sources place Callisphyris leptopus in southern America, with an established presence in Chile and the subantarctic forests of southwestern Argentina. The FAO forestry manual dedicated to insects damaging branches, shoots, and seedlings specifies that the species is reported in Chile from the Maule region down to Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic, as well as in Argentina within the subantarctic forests.
This distribution is not insignificant. It associates the insect with the cold temperate forest landscapes dominated by Nothofagus, an emblematic group of trees in subantarctic and Andean Patagonia. The Titan-GBIF page also explicitly links to a "Plants" section, indicating that understanding the species requires looking at its close ties with its host plants.
Well-identified forest hosts
The consulted forestry literature associates Callisphyris leptopus with several species of Nothofagus, notably the coihue, raulรญ, lenga, and รฑirre. The larvae develop in branches or young stems, where they burrow galleries in relatively soft woody tissues.
An Argentine article detailing an individual found south of Ushuaia provides a very concrete testimony on this matter. The consulted experts describe the insect as a "perforador o taladrador de madera" (wood borer or driller), which "por lo general hace tรบneles en maderas jรณvenes y blandas" (generally makes tunnels in young and soft wood) and is usually linked to the รฑirre, without excluding the lenga as a possible host plant in this instance.
Size, shape, and mimicry
The adult has an elongated body and a unique silhouette, very different from the common image of a stocky beetle. According to the forestry record, the female reaches about 36 mm in length and 8.5 mm in width, while the male measures about 26 mm long and 6 mm wide. These dimensions belong to a visible, yet not massive insect, whose long legs further accentuate the impression of slenderness.
Callisphyris leptopus philippi visiting the sailing boat Milagro April 9, 2026 (Karukinka Expedition, Hoste Island, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile)
Its appearance is one of its most striking features. The article published in Argentina highlights that this cerambycid beetle "trata de imitar al de las avispas" (tries to mimic the appearance of wasps), explaining that this mimicry serves to deter potential predators such as birds or small mammals. The Titan-GBIF page reinforces this interpretation down to the species' etymology: leptopus derives from the Greek leptos ("thin, slender") and pous ("foot"), literally meaning "with slender legs."
A largely hidden life cycle
Like many longhorn beetles, Callisphyris leptopus spends most of its life out of human sight. The larval stage takes place inside the wood, in galleries that can be long and winding. The FAO document mentions a biological cycle of about four years, with larvae developing in twigs and branches before the adults emerge in spring.
The article fromย Diario Prensa Libreย completes this picture with more accessible field observations. The experts state that the insect can "vivir dos o tres aรฑos en el interior del รกrbol, haciendo galerรญas" (live two or three years inside the tree, making galleries), before emerging to reproduce and die. Even though exact durations vary according to sources, they all agree on one essential point: the adult is only a brief apparition at the end of a long, hidden existence within the tree.
A harmless but precious insect to observe
The Argentine article identifies the specimen observed in Ushuaia as an adult female, recognizable notably by the absence of the divided antennae attributed to the male in this account. It also mentions a remarkable detail: the legs bear hairs "like little brushes," to which fungal spores can adhere, later deposited on rough surfaces or in cavities during egg-laying.
The same article emphasizes an important point for the general public: the insect does not sting and poses no danger to humans. If an individual is encountered, the best course of action is simply to let it go on its way.
Why the observation aboard the Milagro matters
An insect found aboard a sailboat or an anchored ship might seem like a mere anecdote. In the case of Callisphyris leptopus, it is, on the contrary, a data point that deserves to be preserved, described, and placed in its ecological context. The species remains scarce in accessible synthesis literature, even though it possesses a distinctive morphology, a long life cycle, and a close link to southern forests that are themselves difficult to fully inventory.
Callisphyris leptopus philippi visiting the sailing boat Milagro April 9, 2026 (Karukinka Expedition, Hoste Island, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile)
The context of the sighting further enhances its interest. A specimen landing aboard the Milagro during a storm, in a location bordered by forests, suggests movement facilitated by the wind or by adult flight activity in the immediate vicinity of its forest habitat. Without turning an isolated observation into definitive proof, this type of encounter reminds us how crucial naturalist exploration remains in the southern archipelagos, channels, and forest edges, where much data still relies on chance discoveries rather than continuous monitoring series.
In southern regions, where weather conditions often complicate fieldwork, every well-dated, localized, and illustrated observation can significantly enrich the knowledge of still poorly monitored species. The visit ofย Callisphyris leptopusย aboard the sailboatย Milagroย is therefore not just another curiosity: it is a clear reminder that exploration remains a method of knowledge-gathering, sometimes triggered by a simple flutter of wings in the heart of a storm.
FAO.ย Insectos daรฑadores de ramas, brotes y plantulas. Technical manual mentioningย Callisphyris semicaligatusย as a synonym and describing its distribution, host plants, morphology, and biological cycle.
GBIF Backbone Taxonomy.ย Callisphyris leptopusย F. Philippi, 1859, species profile and occurrences.
Titan / GBIF France. "Cerambycidae (Longhorns)", record forย Callisphyris leptopusย R. Philippi, 1859, with etymology and access to distribution and host plant sections.
The copihue (Lapageria rosea) and the coicopihue (Philesia magellanica) are two closely related species, both belonging to the Philesiaceae family and native to the temperate and subantarctic forests of Chile.
They resemble each other with their red bell-shaped flowers, but a few morphological, growth, and distribution traits make it possible to clearly distinguish them in the field:
Table of Content
1. Plant habit: a large climbing vine vs a small bush
The copihue (Lapageria rosea) is a climbing vine that can reach more than 10 meters in length, twining around the trunks and branches of Nothofagus, Fitzroya, and other trees of the Chilean forest. Its thin, flexible stems give the impression of a plant climbing from the understory into the lower canopy, with vertical and airy foliage.
Lapageria Rosea or Copihue, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39275
The coicopihue (Philesia magellanica), on the other hand, is mostly a small branching shrub, 1 to 3 meters high, which spreads into dense bushes through stolons and numerous secondary stems. It barely climbs, stays close to the ground, and often covers slopes, mossy rocks, or the edges of Alerce forests as a compact mass of tightly packed stems.
2. Leaves: large and veined vs small and narrow
The leaves of the copihue are alternate, long (5โ10 cm), broad, and ovoid, with 3 to 5 very pronounced parallel veins that give the leaf an almost "molded" appearance. They are leathery, shiny, and highly visible along the twining stems, contributing to its imposing silhouette in the forest.
The leaves of the coicopihue, conversely, are smaller, narrow, almost linear, rigid, and end in a fine point. Dark green in color, they align tightly along thin stems, giving the plant a compact and bushy appearance, more discreet on the ground than above the trees.
Copihue flower photographed by Inao Vรกsquez from Santiago, Chile - Copihue, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11944192
Coicopihue flower and leaves photographed during an expedition organized by Karukinka (Chair island, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, February 2025)
3. Flowers and fruits: large open bells vs narrow bells
The copihue flower is a large hanging bell, 5 to 10 cm long, made of six thick, waxy, red or pink tepals, often streaked with white lines. Three short outer tepals are shorter, while three longer inner tepals curve outward, allowing the flower to open widely and reveal its abundant nectar, making it an attractive resource for hummingbirds.
The coicopihue flower is a smaller, short hanging bell of 5โ6 cm, with petals that are tighter and open less. Their shape remains more tubular and closed, giving a more compact and less deployed appearance than that of the copihue, even though the red-pink color remains similar.
Both produce edible red berries, but those of the copihue are larger and more frequently used locally, whereas the berries of the coicopihue remain modest and scarce.
4. Distribution and habitat: further north versus further south
The copihue (Lapageria rosea) grows mostly from Valparaรญso down to the Los Rรญos region, in humid evergreen forests along streams, rivers, or shaded slopes, where the soil is rich and well-drained. It favors shaded valley forests at low altitudes, where humidity and protection from direct sunlight promote the vine's growth.
Theย coicopihueย (Philesia magellanica) extendsย from Los Rรญos down to the channels of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, including the Andes mountain range (up to about 1,000 m) and the highlands of Chiloรฉ. It tolerates heavier soils, sometimes poorly drained or even swampy (รadi, Hualve, tepuales types), which explains its presence in wetlands, peat bogs, and the edges ofย Alerceย or subantarcticย Nothofagusย forests. Within Karukinka, we have observed it mostly on Chair Island, creeping on the damp walls of the anchorage named "Caleta Alukush" (named after the steamer ducks in Yagan) and in the heart of this small island located between Gordon Island, the fjords of the Darwin Range (Tierra del Fuego), and O'Brien Island.
Coicopihue flower and leaves photographed during an expedition organized by Karukinka (Chair island, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, February 2025)
5. Cultural role and how to recognize them in the field
The copihue is the national flower of Chile, declared an official symbol in 1977, and holds a central place in popular culture, art, music, and Mapuche symbolism, where it notably embodies joy, solidarity, and resistance. It is often cited in heritage tales, on tourist materials, and regional emblems, making it an easily recognizable reference.
The coicopihue is perceived as a kind of "discreet sister" to the copihue, mostly present in the southern, insular (Chiloรฉ), and high cordillera regions, where it blooms in more demanding and often foggy landscapes. In the field, it stands out by its smaller size, bushy habit, tight bells, and its often swampy or subantarctic environment, whereas the copihue is distinguished by its large climbing vine, its large open flowers, and its valley forest environment further north.
Bibliographic references
Coronado, B. et al. (2025).ย Revisiรณn de las especies Lapageria rosea y Philesia magellanica: bases para la propagaciรณn y conservaciรณn de la familia Philesiaceae en Chile. Universidad de Concepciรณn, Facultad de Agronomรญa y Recursos Naturales, repositorio UdeC. Available online: https://repositorio.udec.cl/items/8448e141-02f1-4623-bfc4-598237f6023c
Law 26.639, also know as Ley de Glaciares and enacted in 2010, established in Argentina the Minimum Budgets Regime for the Preservation of Glaciers and the Periglacial Environment, legally cementing the idea that glaciers are strategic freshwater reserves and public goods. Starting in 2025โ2026, the national government pushed forward a project for a comprehensive modification of this norm (File 0161-PE-2025), which obtained half-sanction in the Senate and approval from the Chamber of Deputies, generating strong political and social conflict.
Karukinka Expedition (Fouque Glacier, 2025)
This article outlines the core content of the existing law, the main adopted modifications, the role of the provinces, as well as the social mobilizations and the interventions of Indigenous peoplesโnotably the Selk'nam jurist Antonela Guevaraโwho denounce the potential impacts of this reform (risks to water, ecosystems, and territorial rights).
Table of Contents
Law 26.639 (2010): content and scope
Purpose and principles
Article 1 of Law 26.639 sets the objective of establishing minimum budgets for the protection of glaciers and the periglacial environment, recognizing them as strategic reserves of water resources for human consumption, agriculture, watershed recharge, biodiversity protection, scientific research, and tourism. Glaciers are explicitly declared public goods.
The Library of Congress highlights that this law falls under the framework of Article 41 of the National Constitution (right to a healthy environment, national minimum budgets) and the General Environmental Law 25.675, which enshrines the principles of prevention, precaution, and non-regression.
Definitions: glacier and periglacial environment
Article 2 defines a glacier as any perennial ice mass, stable or slowly flowing, formed by the recrystallization of snow, regardless of its shape, dimension, or state of conservation; this includes rocky detrital materials and internal or superficial watercourses.
The periglacial environment is defined, in high mountains, as the area of frozen soils that acts as a water regulator, and in medium and low mountains, as the area with ice-saturated soils that plays the same regulatory role. These very broad definitions extend the scope of protection to forms of ice and frozen soils that go beyond just large visible glaciers.
National Glacier Inventory of Argentina (ING)
Articles 3 and 4 create the National Glacier Inventory, entrusted to the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA-CONICET), tasked with identifying all glaciers and periglacial landforms acting as water reserves, including their location, surface area, typology, and the variables necessary for their protection and monitoring.
The Legislative Dossier of the Library of Congress notes that Decree 207/2011 specified the organization of the ING by major glaciological regions (Desert, Central, Northern and Southern Patagonian Andes, Tierra del Fuego, and South Atlantic Islands) and mandated an update at least every five years.
Prohibited activities
Among its most important provisions, the law prohibits certain activities in glaciers and the periglacial environment, particularly:
mining and hydrocarbonย exploration and exploitation;
the installation of industries;
the construction of works or infrastructure that could alter the natural dynamics of the ice or water quality (except for scientific research);
the storage or handling of contaminating or hazardous substances.
Any activity that may significantly affect these environments must be subject to a prior environmental impact assessment, in accordance with the General Environmental Law.
The 2025โ2026 reform project: objectives and core modifications
Political context and stated objectives
In December 2025, the national executive branch submitted to the Senate Expediente 0161-PE-2025, aiming to amend Law 26.639, arguing the need to correct "interpretative flaws," lift legal uncertainties, and facilitate investments, particularly in mining. According to an analysis by Infobae, the executive presents the reform as a way to strengthen "environmental federalism" by giving provinces a greater role in managing their resources.
The project obtained 40 votes out of 72 in the Senate (40 in favor, 31 against, 1 abstention), with the support of part of the Radical Civic Union, Pro, and Peronist senators from mining provinces, before being passed to the Chamber of Deputies. In the lower house, the reform was ultimately approved by 137 votes in favor, 111 against, and 3 abstentions, and then sent to the executive for promulgation.
Redefinition of the inventory: "that act as reserves"
One of the most significant changes concerns Article 3 of the law, relating to the National Glacier Inventory. The new text, as described by the newspaper รmbito, now stipulates that the ING will inventory glaciers and periglacial areas that "act as strategic reserves of water resources," instead of those that "fulfill the functions" of a reserve.
This substitution seems minor lexically, but the Library of Congress Dossier points out that it contributes to a re-definition of the extent of protected areas, by conditioning protection on the demonstration of an effective hydrological function rather than the mere presence of perennial ice. Provincial authorities are called upon to play a central role in this assessment.
Precautionary principle and possibility of subsequent exclusion
The reform introduces an Article 3 bis, which specifies, according to the text analyzed by รmbito, that:
all glaciers and periglacial areasย registered in the inventoryย will be considered part of the protected objectย until the competent authority verifies the non-existence of the hydrological functionsย defined in Article 1;
further on, it stipulates that when it is determined, based on technical-scientific studies, that a glacier or periglacial areaย "does not fulfill the intended functions,"ย it may be considered excluded from the protected object.
We thus shift from a broad presumption of protection (any perennial ice mass in a periglacial environment) to a logic where the Inventory becomes a filtering tool, with the possibility of declassifying glacial units based on specific analyses.
Terminology: from "periglacial environment" to "periglacial landforms"
Several terminological modifications replace the expression "periglacial environment" with "periglacial landforms" (geoformas periglaciares) in the articles relating to the inventory and the competencies of authorities. For critics, this semantic substitution tends to fragment the object of protection (from the environment as a system to isolated landforms), which could reduce the territorial scope of the law.
Provincial competencies and the role of IANIGLA
The reform strengthens the mention of provincial authorities as "competent authorities," tasked with identifying, based on technical-scientific evidence, which glaciers and periglacial areas located in their territory fulfill certain hydrological functions. Where the previous version spoke of "sharing" information with IANIGLA, the new drafting replaces it with "notifying" the institute of the recorded ice bodies.
The Library of Congress Dossier indicates that these changes are at the heart of the debate on environmental non-regression: the fear is that provincial authorities subject to strong economic pressures might reclassify areas based on their hydrological functions, thereby reducing the extent of the protection regime.
Prohibited activities and environmental assessments
Article 6 (prohibited activities) is also amended. The new text maintains the catalog of prohibited activities (activities that "relevantly" alter the natural condition or hydrological functions, destruction, displacement, interference with ice advance, etc.), but now specifies that the severity of the alteration must be assessed "in the terms of Article 27 of the General Environmental Law 25.675," thus referring back to the environmental framework legislation.
The text confirms the obligation to subject any activity in glaciers and periglacial areas to environmental impact assessments, guaranteeing an instance of citizen participation in accordance with Articles 19 to 21 of the General Environmental Law. However, opponents argue that the reduction of the protected area makes these guarantees less effective.
Social mobilizations and territorial resistance
National mobilizations: "The Glacier Law is not to be touched"
The prospect of reforming Law 26.639 triggered a wave of mobilizations starting in late 2025, peaking during the debates in the Senate (February 2026) and the Chamber of Deputies (April 2026). Infobae and other Argentine media outlets reported massive demonstrations in Buenos Aires in front of the Congress, convened under the slogan "La Ley de Glaciares no se toca" ("The Glacier Law is not to be touched"), with a torchlight march and an artistic festival lasting until midnight.
Environmental organizations and citizen assemblies gathered for this day assert that the proposed changes endanger 7 million people and 36 watersheds deemed vital for various regions of the country, by opening the door to extractive activities in currently protected areas. Demonstrators insist that the reform "allows intervention in areas that the current law protects" and that it compromises access to water as a fundamental right.
Territorial mobilizations: the case of El Calafate
In El Calafate (Santa Cruz province), at the foot of the Perito Moreno glacier, mobilizations have followed one another: in February 2026, a new demonstration "in defense of the glaciers" was held simultaneously with the Senate vote, under the slogan "The Glacier Law is Not to Be Touched." According to local media Ahora Calafate, this was the fourth mobilization of the year 2026 in the city, with a march starting from Perito Moreno Square to the governor's official residence.
Organizers emphasize that "water and glaciers are non-negotiable" and announced further actions if the reform is approved, directly linking glacier protection to water security and the regional tourism development model.
Intervention of Indigenous peoples and the role of Antonela Guevara
A Selk'nam voice in the national debate
In this context, the jurist Antonela Guevara, lawyer for the Selk'nam community and a leading figure in the plurinational environmental campaign, became one of the most visible Indigenous voices in the debate over the Glacier Law. In an interview with Radio Provincia relayed by the media outlet Tarde pero Seguro, she stated that the modification of the law was decided "without social license and with a public hearing that was a farce," calling it "anti-regulatory" and "lacking real democracy."
Guevara denounces that more than 100,000 people who participated in the expanded consultation process were "silenced" and that the discussion is presented as purely technical, when "we are talking about water, about the present and future of life." She points out that the Selk'nam people have occupied the territory for over 10,000 years and asserts that the reform is intimately linked to commitments made by the government to the IMF and multinational corporations, rather than to the interest of citizens.
Glaciers, water, and prolonged genocide
In statements relayed on social media by Argentine Indigenous organizations, Antonela Guevara describes the modification of the law as a "new genocide" that threatens not only the glaciers but also the wetlands (humedales) and watersheds upon which Indigenous communities depend. She draws a connection between the current reform and local precedents, such as the salmon farming project in Tierra del Fuego, highlighting a similar logic of decisions made without genuine consultation and last-minute modifications.
Presenting herself as an "Indigenous woman and member of a people who have resisted for centuries," she insists that her participation in the national debate is not motivated by partisan affiliation, but by the defense of future generations, water, and ancestral territories.
Denounced potential impacts
Reduction of protected areas and risk of environmental regression
Analyses by the Library of Congress and Argentine economic media converge in stating that the reform "redefines the extent of protected spaces" by conditioning protection to glaciers and periglacial areas that demonstrate an effective hydrological function. This approach is perceived by many jurists and environmentalists as potentially regressive, contradicting the principle of non-regression enshrined in Argentine environmental doctrine.
Specifically, the fear is that small glaciers, buried ice zones, or frozen soils that play a water storage and regulation roleโbut are difficult to characterizeโcould be excluded from the specific regime, paving the way for mining, energy, or infrastructure projects.
Mining pressure and socio-environmental conflicts
Articles from La Naciรณn and Infobae recall that one of the explicit goals of the reform is to "enable mining investments," particularly in copper and lithium, in areas hitherto considered protected by Law 26.639. The Andean provinces with a strong extractive focus (San Juan, Catamarca, Jujuy, Mendoza, etc.) occupy a central place in this debate, with some of their representatives having voted in favor of the reform in the Senate.
Mobilized organizations denounce that by weakening the perimeter of protected spaces, the reform risks intensifying existing socio-environmental conflicts surrounding large high-mountain mining projects, by reducing the legal instruments available to local communities and municipalities opposing them.
Threats to water and wetlands (humedales)
Actors in the "La Ley de Glaciares no se toca" campaign insist that the discussion is not just about visible ice, but the entire water cycle: aquifers, wetlands, catchments, and seasonal regulation. By limiting protection to glaciers and periglacial areas whose hydrological function is proven, the reform could, according to them, neglect complex hydrological systems whose contribution is not immediately quantifiable.
Antonela Guevara and other Indigenous spokespersons emphasize that these environments are intimately linked to the survival of their communities and their cosmologies, meaning that their alteration amounts to a new form of territorial and cultural violence.
CรMARA DE DIPUTADOS DE LA NACIรN ARGENTINA.ย Proyecto de modificaciรณn de la Ley 26.639: tratamiento parlamentario 2025โ2026ย [online]. Buenos Aires: HCDN, 2026 https://www.hcdn.gob.ar/
SENADO DE LA NACIรN ARGENTINA.ย Dictamen y votaciรณn del proyecto de reforma de la Ley de Glaciaresย [online]. Buenos Aires: Senado de la Naciรณn, 2026ย https://www.senado.gob.ar/
TARDE PERO SEGURO.ย Antonela Guevara: โLa modificaciรณn de la Ley de Glaciares se hizo sin licencia socialโย [online]. Argentina, April 8, 2026. https://tardeperoseguro.com.ar/?p=52515
ORIGINARIOS.AR.ย Antonela Guevara: intervenciones sobre la reforma de la Ley de Glaciaresย [online]. Argentine, s. d. https://originarios.ar/
Karukinka will be represented by three members: Mirtha Salamanca (Selkโnam community), Josรฉ German Gonzรกlez Calderรณn (Yagan community) and Lauriane Lemasson (coโfounder and scientific coordinator). The colloquium will take place at the University of Montpellier, providing a privileged scientific and institutional framework for the presentation of Karukinkaโs fieldโbased toponymy program in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
This participation places Karukinka at the heart of a reflection on inclusive toponymy โ that is, on the role of place names in the recognition of Indigenous languages, identities, and territories. The associationโs work in the channels and fjords of Patagonia has long combined nautical exploration, archival research, and oral history, with the aim of restoring and reโcirculating the original Indigenous toponyms of the region.
In Montpellier, this project will be presented as a concrete example of how toponymy, understood not only as a technical or administrative matter, but as a symbolic act, can contribute to understand better the geographic space and to rehabilitate part of the Indigenous memory. The presence of Mirtha Selkโnam Salamanca and Josรฉ German Gonzรกlez Calderรณn, as representatives of peoples whose languages and territories were long invisibilized or erased, will give special weight to these words.
Karukinkaโs participation in this UNESCOโframed colloquium also highlights the interdisciplinary and transnational dimensions of its program: links between geography, anthropology, linguistics, history, cartography, and environmental science. By bringing the Patagonian and Fuegian landscapes into the university amphitheater, the association contributes to bridging field work and academic discourse, and to making the southern natives worlds more visible in the international scientific landscape.
The colloquium will thus be an opportunity to share the associationโs methodology of collecting, verifying, and restoring place names, as well as to discuss the ethical and practical challenges of working with Indigenous peoples and state institutions. These reflections are intended to support the reโindigenization of the toponymy of Patagonia and the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, and, more broadly, to inspire similar initiatives in other regions where the Indigenous presence has been historically neglected.
In this way, attending the UNESCO Inclusive Toponymy Colloquium in Montpellier is not only a scientific and institutional event for Karukinka, but also a continuation of its longโstanding commitment to the memory and heritage of Indigenous peoples, and to the reโreading of the map from the perspective of the communities who have lived there for millenias.
The Southern Cross (Crux, Cruz del Sur or Croix du Sud) is one of the most famous, emblematic and culturally rich constellations in the starry sky of the southern hemisphere. Although it is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations, its history, its stellar composition, and its crucial role for southern navigation make it a fascinating subject of study.
Astronomical features
The Southern Cross is not technically a constellation in origin, but an asterism (a distinctive pattern drawn by particularly bright stars). It is now recognized as the constellation of the Cross (Crux). It consists of four main stars that form the ends of the cross, often completed by a fifth, smaller star located between the right arm and the foot of the cross.
Acrux (Alpha Crucis): This is the brightest star in the constellation and the 12th brightest star in the night sky. Located at the base of the cross, it is actually a multiple star system situated about 320 lightโyears from Earth, with a combined apparent magnitude of 0.76.
Mimosa (Beta Crucis): Located on the left (western) arm of the cross, this is the secondโbrightest star. It lies at about 280 lightโyears and has a magnitude of 1.25.
Gacrux (Gamma Crucis): At the top of the cross, Gacrux is a red giant of spectral class M3.5 III. At only 88.6 lightโyears, it is the nearest red giant to the Sun and the largest of the five stars. Its magnitude is 1.64.
Imai (Delta Crucis): This star forms the right (eastern) arm of the cross. Its apparent magnitude is 2.79 and it lies 345 lightโyears away.
Ginan (Epsilon Crucis): Although often omitted in the strict shape of the cross, this star of magnitude 3.58 lies between Acrux and Imai, at 230 lightโyears.
History and mythology
Indigenous cultural significance
Long before Europeans, the Southern Cross held a central place in the cultures of the southern hemisphere:
Aboriginal Australians: The stars of the cross appear in many Dreamtime stories and served as a calendar and seasonal guide. In certain traditions, the Cross and the โDark Nebulaโ (a dark nebula nearby) form the head of the Celestial Emu.
Mฤori of New Zealand: In Mฤori culture, the Cross is known as Te Punga (โthe anchorโ), linked to the great canoe (the Milky Way) of Tamaโrereti.
Incas: The Inca Empire knew it as Chakana (the โstairโcrossโ), a deep spiritual and cosmological symbol connecting the underworld, the earthly world and the divine.
European discovery
In antiquity, the Southern Cross was visible from the Mediterranean. The Greeks, including Ptolemy, regarded it as part of the constellation Centaurus. Because of the precession of the equinoxes (the slow movement of the Earthโs rotational axis), it gradually slipped below the European horizon and was forgotten.
It was โrediscoveredโ during the great European maritime expeditions at the dawn of the 16th century. The Venetian navigator Alvise Cadamosto noted it in 1455, calling it the carro dellโostro (โsouthern chariotโ), although his drawing was imprecise. The Portuguese astronomer and physician Joรฃo Faras is generally credited with being the first European to draw it correctly in May 1500, from the coasts of Brazil. The Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci also described it in a letter in 1503.
An emblem of southern territories
Beyond its astronomical and nautical function, the Southern Cross has become a major emblem, serving as an identity marker for the extreme southern territories of the American continent. Its representation conveys a deep geographical and memorial rooting.
It thus appears at the heart of the official symbols of Patagonia and the Fuegian archipelago.
On the flag of the Chilean region of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, the white constellation stands out against a deepโblue background, above snowy peaks and a golden steppe, symbolizing the southern position of the region.
Across the border, the flag of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctic and South Atlantic Islands likewise displays the five stars of the Southern Cross tilted on a blue field, here associated with the silhouette of an albatross in flight, an allegory of freedom and local marine fauna.
In both cases, the Southern Cross functions as the seal of a shared belonging to the southern world and its maritime history.
In a more freeโflowing, contemporary vein, the Southern Cross appears even in the visual identity of our association, Karukinka. Without seeking the rigor of an official emblem, the logo pays it a clear tribute. This choice is no accident: it is an invitation to travel, a discreet reminder of our subโAntarctic fields of exploration and of our attachment to both maritime and Indigenous knowledge in this land at the end of the world.
An invaluable navigation tool
The major historical importance of the Southern Cross lies in its use for oceanic navigation. In the northern hemisphere, Polaris points precisely to the celestial north pole. The southern hemisphere lacks such a bright star near the pole, which made nighttime orientation complex for early sailors.
How to find the south celestial pole?
The Southern Cross serves as a โpointerโ toward the south celestial pole. Mariners and navigators use a simple geometric method:
Draw an imaginary line joining Gacrux (the top of the cross) to Acrux (the base).
Extend this line downward by about 4.5 times the distance separating these two stars.
This imaginary point in the sky lies very close to the south celestial pole.
To confirm this point, navigators rely on two very bright neighboring stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri (the โPointersโ). By drawing a line perpendicular to the midpoint of the segment joining these two Pointers, the intersection of this line with the one descending from the Cross gives the exact location of the south celestial pole.
This technique was essential for Polynesian navigators during their incredible transoceanic voyages. During the first circumnavigation (1519โ1522), Magellanโs expedition also learned and used these techniques based on the Southern Cross to navigate the vast expanse of the Pacific and the Southern Ocean. Argentine gauchos similarly used it to orient themselves at night across the vastness of the Pampa and Patagonia.
Today, the importance of the Southern Cross is such that it has become a national emblem. It features prominently on the flags of several nations in the southern hemisphere, including Australia, New Zealand (which displays only the four main stars), Brazil, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
The associationย Cape Horn au Long Coursย and the websiteย CapโHorniers Franรงaisย now represent one of the most valuable independent resources for understanding the epic of large French merchant sailing ships and the seafarers who crossed Cape Horn. Through meticulous, volunteerโdriven research, the site documents vessels, voyages and crews, restoring a voice to these longโdistance sailors whose memory might otherwise have remained confined to archives and a few museum cases.
Nantes Port at the end of the 19th century (Quai de la Fosse) Le Coat Collection
A living memory of French Cape Horners
The term โCape Hornersโ (orย capโhorniers) refers both to the large merchant sailing ships and the sailors who rounded Cape Horn between roughly the midโ19th century and the 1920s, sailing between Europe and ports in the Pacific Ocean. These threeโ or fourโmasted steel windjammers faced extreme conditionsโfierce winds, heavy seas and freezing coldโespecially when they beat against the prevailing westerlies to pass from east to west around the Horn.
For over a century, until the 1920s, the Cape Horn route was one of the great arteries of global maritime trade: French sailing ships carried guano and nitrates from Chile and Peru, cereals from Australia and California, lumber from North America, metals and nickel ore, among many other cargoes. Long before steam power and the Panama Canal, these tall ships shaped the commercial networks of the era, leaving behind a legacy of courage and endurance.
The Cape Horn au Long Cours association and its roots
The associationย Cap Horn au Long Cours (CHLC)ย inherits its spirit from theย International Association of Cape Horn Captains (AICH), originally theย Amicale Internationale des capitaines au long cours CapโHorniers, now dissolved along with the last generation of sailingโship masters who created it. Carrying on that legacy, CHLC has as its mission โto preserve and make known the heritage of the Cape Horners,โ whether ships, routes, trades or human itineraries.
To fulfill this mission, the association launched and maintains the websiteย caphorniersfrancais.fr, entirely devoted to French merchant sailors who sailed around Cape Horn under sail. The site states a clear, ambitious goal: to document, in the longer term,ย allย the voyages ofย allย the French CapeโHorn sailors onย allย the French merchant sailing ships that rounded the Horn.
Independent, volunteerโbased documentation work
The work behind CapโHorniers Franรงais is carried out in a fully independent, volunteerโled manner. The team gathers and crossโchecks multiple sources: shipping company archives, logbooks, crew lists, travel journals, family photographs, private letters, and corrections or additions sent by descendants of sailors.
The siteโs authors openly acknowledge the โmonumentalโ scope of the task and the fact that it will take years of work, inviting the public to contribute documents, personal memories, or any corrections to existing entries. This participatory approach turns the project into a genuinely collaborative maritimeโhistory endeavor, where families, local historians and enthusiasts progressively enrich a unique documentary database.
Ships, voyages, crews: a growing corpus of documentation
One of the siteโs main strengths is its effort to reconstruct, vessel by vessel and voyage by voyage, the itineraries and the lists of mariners aboard. The stated aim is to move Cape Horners beyond being anonymous silhouettes in old photographs and to see them as individual men, identifiable by name and placed back in the context of their longโdistance campaigns.
The site also highlights narratives and firstโhand accounts, such as the story of Captain Abel Guillou of the threeโmasted steel ship Bretagne, wrecked at Cape Horn in August 1900 after two and a half months of battling the elements, with the crew later rescued by the British fourโmasted windjammer Maxwell. These stories give concrete flesh to the dangers of the Cape Horn route and illustrate the values of courage, resilience and solidarity that the association wishes to transmit as part of the CapeโHornersโ heritage.
Getting Cape Horners out of the museums
CHLC does not limit itself to an online database; it also seeks โto get Cape Horners out of museumsโ by bringing their stories directly to the public through conferences, temporary exhibitions, and various events held across France. These outreach activities rely on the associationโs research to tell the history of longโdistance sailors beyond the display of objects, placing the human dimensionโwords, experiences and personal trajectoriesโback at the heart of the narrative.
This itinerant mediation helps reconnect port cities and maritime regions with their CapeโHorn sailing heritage, especially in the towns and ports that played a significant role in the sailโtrade economy. It also offers descendants of sailors a space where they can rediscover traces of their ancestors and understand the concrete context of their voyages.
A major historiographical and heritage contribution
From a scholarly perspective, the work of CapโHorniers Franรงais fills a gap between the โofficialโ history of merchant shipping (statistics, fleet data, major trade routes) and the lived, often underโdocumented history of crews at the individual level. By reconstructing voyages one by one and identifying the sailors, the association produces a fineโgrainedย microโhistoryย of sailing around Cape Horn.
This approach makes it possible to study recruitment networks, regional origins, the rhythm of voyages, long or short careers, wrecks and homecomings, and more broadly how the global economy of nitrates, cereals or timber translated into concrete human trajectories. It further provides a valuable resource for researchers in social history, maritime geography, port studies or maritime anthropology.
Cape Horn, a strategic node in global sailโtrade routes
To understand the associationโs importance, it is essential to recall Cape Hornโs role in global maritime networks before the era of steam and the Panama Canal. From the late 15th century onward, and more intensively from the 19th century, powers seeking new maritime routes for spices, and later guano, nitrates and other raw materials, pushed their fleets south of the Americas.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, French CapeโHorn windjammers regularly sailed between Europe and the Pacific, rounding Cape Horn twice a voyage in many cases. These routes were crucial for the nitrate and cereal trades, but they also demanded exceptional seamanship in the โFurious Fiftiesโ and โRoaring Forties,โ which explains the enduring prestige attached to CapeโHorn sailors.
Nantes, a major shipโowning port and Hornโroute hub
Within this story,ย Nantesย occupies a special place as a major shipโowning port and shipbuilding center on the Loire estuary. In the 19th century, shipyards around Nantesโincluding the Chantiers de la Loire and Dubigeonโbuilt large steel sailing ships intended for longโdistance trade, including routes toward the Pacific and the Horn.
Nantesโ port landscape developed around the quays of the Loire, the activities of shipโowners, river barge traffic, and large merchant vessels operating in an increasingly global economy. The presence of aย Rue des CapโHorniersย in Nantes symbolically underscores the cityโs historic link with the sailors who departed on these extreme voyages.
The research carried out by CapโHorniers Franรงais helps reconnect these portโcity realities with individual lives: many of the CapeโHorn sailors, officers and captains featured on the site were from Nantes, LoireโAtlantique, or other Atlantic ports, their careers scattered across registers, logbooks, and family testimonies that the association brings to light.
SaintโNazaire, an oceangoing gateway to the Horn
With the rise of theย Port of SaintโNazaireย in the middle of the 19th century under the Second Empire, the Loire estuary gained a modern oceangoing outport that gradually expanded and complemented the facilities further upstream. Created in 1856, SaintโNazaire became a key element of the greater NantesโSaintโNazaire maritime port, featuring docks, dry docks, and later major shipyards.
Although SaintโNazaire is now best known for largeโscale shipbuilding, including cruise liners, its origins lie in a broader maritime and longโdistance economy, including the transit and outfitting of sailing ships bound for the Atlantic and the Pacific. At the height of the sailโship era, the NantesโSaintโNazaire port complex formed one of Franceโs main gateways toward the South Atlantic, the Pacific, and therefore the Cape Horn route.
The work of CapโHorniers Franรงaisโby documenting ship by ship the campaigns to the Pacificโhelps highlight this dimension: one can follow vessels built or owned in the region, crews recruited from coastal villages along the Loire, and the long journeys that ultimately led them to round Cape Horn.
A resource for researchers, institutions and families
The site is freely accessible and serves as a premierโquality resource for historians, students, maritime museums, but also for genealogists and families seeking to trace an ancestorโs seafaring career. The fineโgrained level of informationโship names, campaign dates, itineraries, onboard narratives, testimoniesโallows for both detailed and crossโcutting kinds of research.
By making this corpus available, CapโHorniers Franรงais also contributes to the valorization of maritime heritage for local authorities, ports, and memoryโrelated sites, which can draw on the data for exhibitions, urban routes, commemorations, or educational projects. In doing so, the association positions itself as a bridge between archives, territories and the wider public.
A call for contributions and the future of the CapeโHorn legacy
With full awareness of the immensity of the task, the association emphasizes that this work is evolving and incomplete, inviting anyone who possesses documents, photos, notebooks, crew lists, or family stories to contact them and help enrich and correct the published information. This openness underlines the collective nature of the project: the history of Cape Horners is no longer reserved for specialists alone, but becomes a shared memory to which everyone can contribute.
At a time when commercial sailing has vanished before the rise of mechanical propulsion, this independent research stands as a bulwark against the forgetting of a maritime world now gone, yet one that has shaped French port cities, estates and coastal cultures from Nantes and SaintโNazaire to the distant shores of the Pacific. By rigorously documenting CapeโHorn sailing ships and their crews, CapโHorniers Franรงais provides an irreplaceable tool for understanding this history and transmitting it to future generations.
The genus Aphrastura (family Furnariidae) groups together small insectivorous passerines endemic to the southwestern part of South America. It historically comprises two species: the thornโtailed rayadito (Aphrastura spinicauda, synallaxis rayadito or espinoso rayadito), widely distributed in the temperate forests of Chile and southern Argentina, and the Masafuera rayadito (Aphrastura masafuerae), microendemic to Alejandro Selkirk Island in the Juan Fernรกndez Archipelago.
Rayadito (Aphrastura spinicauda) photographed during a Karukinka expedition in the channels of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (Chile, April 2025).
The rayaditos (in Yagรกn: tachikatchina) play a central role in the biology of southern temperate forests, where A. spinicauda is one of the most abundant treeโcavity birds (and one of the most vocal!) in the Nothofagus forests, up to the southernmost limits of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve.
Within this subantarctic context, the recent discovery of the subantarctic rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica) in the Diego Ramรญrez archipelago, to the southwest of Cape Horn, has revealed a remarkable case of island diversification within a treeless environment.
Table of contents
Distribution, diversity and ecosystems
Recent studies on the community of cavityโusing birds show that A. spinicauda is one of the most abundant passerines in southern temperate forests, with densities exceeding 9 individuals per hectare and a strong dependence on cavities excavated by the Magellanic woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus). In contrast, A. subantarctica inhabits an herbaceous archipelago dominated by Poa flabellata and uses ground cavities or the structures of seabird nests for breeding, in the absence of terrestrial mammalian predators.
Morphology, ecology and behaviour
A. spinicauda is a small passerine of about 12 g, with a long, slender tail employed in its acrobatic movements on trunks and branches. Its streaked, brownโreddish plumage provides excellent camouflage against bark and foliage, and it feeds primarily on insects and larvae, exploring bark and understory vegetation.
A. subantarctica, on the other hand, averages 16 g, with a longer bill, heavier legs, a shorter tail and a behaviour focused close to the ground, reflecting adaptation to a windโexposed, herbaceous habitat.
The behaviour of the rayadito in Yagรกn territory is illustrated by these words from Ursula Calderon: โTachikatchina is a bird that sings in the mountains during the day, warning that someone is hidden: a wicked man, a sorcerer. It thus announces to the walker the presence of these people, or of a dog, of a catโฆ in short, of someone hidden. Its calls, when they sing together, are frightening, tschโtschโtsch, since they do not announce anything goodโ (p. 70, rรฉf. 10).
Rayadito or Tachikatchina, photographed in April 2025 in Caleta Borracho (sailing expedition through the Patagonian channels, Chile).
Genetics, speciation and conservation
Genetic analyses show a clear differentiation between A. spinicauda and A. subantarctica, which justifies proposing A. subantarctica as a new emblematic species of subantarctic biodiversity. This distinction, combined with morphological and behavioural differences, places the Diego Ramรญrez archipelago as a natural laboratory of speciation and conservation, now protected by the Diego RamรญrezโDrake Passage Marine Park.
For A. spinicauda, the conservation of oldโgrowth, cavityโrich forests and the preservation of the Magellanic woodpecker population are essential to maintain the structure of rayadito populations within the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve.
Sources :
Rozzi, R. et al. (2022). โThe Subantarctic Rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica), a new bird species on the southernmost islands of the Americasโ. Scientific Reports 12, 13957. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-17985-4
Rozzi, R. et al. (2023). โThe subantarctic rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica), a new bird species on the southernmost islands of the Americas (repositorio UChile version)โ. Repositorio UChile. https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/194760โ
RamรญrezโDโCrego, R. (2022). โThe Subantarctic Rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica), a new bird species on the southernmost islands of the Americasโ. CECS researchโrelated article. https://ramirodcrego.com/papers/article29/โ
Zenodo (2022). Dataset โThe Subantarctic Rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica), a new bird species on the southernmost islands of the Americasโ. Morphological and genetic data. https://zenodo.org/records/6983420โ
Rozzi, R. et al. (2022). โThe Subantarctic Rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica), a new bird species on the southernmost islands of the Americasโ. PMC version (NIHโNIHMS). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9418250/โ
Rozzi, R. et al. (2022). Taxonomic description of Aphrastura subantarctica (Wikispecies).โ
Marine, R. H. et al. (2022). โThe extreme rainfall gradient of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserveโ. Science of the Total Environment ou รฉquivalent (รฉtude de biodiversitรฉ et de rayaditos dans les canaux).โ
Rozzi, R. et al. (2018). โMarine biodiversity at the end of the world: Cape Horn and Diego Ramรญrez islandsโ. PLOS ONE ou revue รฉquivalente, dรฉcrivant la diversitรฉ des รฎles Diego Ramรญrez et la contexte รฉcologique.
Rozzi, R. et al. (2017). "Guia Multi-Etnica de Aves de los Bosques Subantarticos de Sudamรฉrica". Ediciones Universidad de Magallanes.
In southern Patagonia, within the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, lichens and bryophytes turn trunks, rocks, and peat bogs into true โminiature forestsโ that can only be discovered by leaning in with a hand lens.
This cryptogamic diversity reaches an exceptional level on Navarino Island, where work carried out by the Omora Ethnobotanical Park team has shown that more than 5% of the worldโs bryophyte species are concentrated on less than 0.01% of the Earthโs surface, including a large proportion of endemic species. To this richness in mosses and liverworts is added a remarkable lichen flora, recently inventoried, which confirms the status of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve as a global hotspot for non-vascular organisms.
Placopsis lambii and Gunnera magellanica, seen in one arm of Tres Brazos bay (Karukinka's expedition "Biosphere Reserve of cape Horn", February 2026)
A hotspot at the end of the world
Navarino Island and the subantarctic region of Magallanes lie in a zone of humid temperate forests swept by winds, where abundant rainfall and cool temperatures favor the proliferation of mosses, liverworts, and lichens. This ecoregion has been identified as a global center of bryophyte diversity, with about 818 species recorded in the Magallanes region, which play a key role in nutrient regulation and water quality. Lichens also reach remarkable diversity there: an intensive floristic study on Navarino Island recorded 416 taxa of lichens and related fungi, including species new to science.
The forests of Navarino are located in one of the cleanest-rain regions on the planet, and the abundance of lichens sensitive to air pollution reflects the low contaminant load of the local air. This sensitivity makes lichens good bioindicators of air quality, a point often emphasized in the educational activities of Omora Park and in communication about the Biosphere Reserve.
Even in this relatively preserved region, bryophyte and lichen communities remain vulnerable to repeated trampling, hydrological changes, and the long-term effects of climate change on precipitation and temperature regimes. Disturbances caused by introduced species, such as the North American beaver, which profoundly modifies waterways and peat bogs in the region, can indirectly alter the substrates and microclimatic conditions needed by these miniature forests.
Bunodophoron patagonicum (Expedition Karukinka February 2026, Gordon island, Biosphere Reserve of cape Horn)
Bryophytes and lichens: discreet but essential protagonists
Bryophytesโmosses, liverworts, and hornwortsโare small non-vascular plants, lacking roots and complex conducting tissues, yet they colonize trunks, soils, and rocks extensively in subantarctic forests. Lichens, long-lasting symbioses between a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium, form crusts, leafy rosettes, or shrubby tufts that cover Nothofagus bark, dead wood, stones, and even moss cushions already in place. Together, these two groups make Cape Horn one of the places with the highest densities of non-vascular organisms in the world, to the point where a single tree can host more than a hundred epiphytic species.
Gunnera magellanica, Lepidozia chordulifera and Blechnum pennamarina, photographed during an expedition Karukinka in Tres Brazos Bay (Gordon island, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile, February 2026)Plagiochila elata (expedition Karukinka February 2026, cape Horn province, Chile)
Bryophytes and lichens in southern Patagonia are poikilohydric, meaning they tolerate strong drying and can suspend their metabolism, resuming it rapidly once rehydrated, which makes them especially resistant to freezeโthaw cycles. Many species develop protective pigments and thick structures that reduce damage from UV radiation, wind, and direct exposure, especially in Magellanic tundra and coastal environments. These functional traits explain why, at the highest elevations of Navarino or on wind-swept shores, the dominant organisms are moss cushions and crustose or shrubby lichens.
Miniature forests
To make this richness perceptible beyond scientific circles, Ricardo Rozzi and colleagues proposed the metaphor of the โbosques en miniatura del Cabo de Hornos,โ miniature forests formed by mosses, liverworts, lichens, and the microfauna that lives there. The practice of observing these small landscapes with a hand lens, pausing for a long time in front of a trunk or rock, turns a walk into a detailed natural history exploration of worlds that are usually invisible.
Lypocodium s.l. on the right (Tres Brazos bay, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, expedition Karukinka February 2026)
Miniature forests are not only vegetal: they also shelter a diverse microfauna of insects, mites, nematodes, and other invertebrates that feed, reproduce, and take refuge in moss and lichen cushions. These organisms contribute to the fragmentation of organic matter, the mineralization of nutrients, and sometimes the dispersal of spores and propagules, adding several trophic levels to what, to the naked eye, looks like a simple green or gray carpet.
Ecological roles in forests and bogs
In humid subantarctic forests, bryophytes and lichens form thick mantles on trunks, rocks, and the ground, capable of retaining large amounts of water and regulating local humidity. This water-retention capacity makes them natural sponges that soften the impact of frequent rainfall, limit erosion, and stabilize microhabitats for many invertebrates and microorganisms.
In peat bogs, bryophytesโespecially sphagnum-type mosses and related formsโstructure the matrix that accumulates organic matter in saturated environments, storing both water and large amounts of carbon.
Sphagnum, Baie Tres Brazos (cape Horn biosphere reserve, fueguian channels, Chile, expedition Karukinka, February 2026)
Lichens also play a pioneering role on bare rocks, glacial moraines, and coastal outcrops, where they initiate soil formation by physically and chemically altering the substrate. By retaining particles and moisture, these pioneer communities gradually create micro-niches favorable to the later establishment of mosses and then vascular plants.
Emblematic mosses and lichens
Among bryophytes, the moss Lepyrodon lagurus is often cited as an emblematic species of Omora Park, where it forms velvety mats on tree trunks and contributes to the luxuriant appearance of humid forests. This type of epiphytic moss retains rainwater, offers micro-refuges to a variety of invertebrates, and sometimes hosts lichens that settle on its surface, further increasing the complexity of the miniature forest.
Among lichens, the large tufts of Usnea, the โold manโs beardsโ hanging from Nothofagus branches, clearly illustrate the relationship between air purity and the vigor of lichen populations. The cushions and small trumpets of Cladonia that cover some soils or dead wood, as well as newly described species such as Candelariella magellanica, testify to the originality of Navarinoโs lichen flora.
Miniature forest photographed during a trekking between Lรซm and Wulaia (Navarino island, Chile) in February 2020 (Lauriane Lemasson)Sphagnum and liverwortsย (expedition in Tierra del Fuego, Lauriane Lemasson, March 2013)
Hand-lens ecotourism
To highlight and protect this discreet biodiversity, the Omora Park team developed the concept of โEcoturismo con lupa,โ a hand-lens ecotourism that places the discovery of mosses, liverworts, and lichens at the center of the experience. Coined by Ricardo Rozzi and colleagues, the term refers to a niche tourism practice in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, where visitors are invited to observe the โminiature forestsโ and understand their ecological role. Marked trails welcome small groups equipped with hand lenses, accompanied by guides who combine natural history, ecology, and ethical reflection on biocultural conservation.
This ecotourism model has been supported by projects aimed at developing scientific and educational tourism in the region, seeking to connect local economic benefits, environmental education, and the protection of subantarctic ecosystems. The documentaryย Viaje Invisible. Ecoturismo con Lupaย illustrates this approach by following guided visits that immerse the public in the detailed contemplation of Cape Hornโs miniature forests.
Gackstroemia magellanica (Endemic liverwort of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserveย (Karukinka expedition, February 2026))Gunnera magellanica โ lichens Pseudocyphellaria berberina, Pseudocyphellaria frecineti, and Pseudocyphellaria granulata โ Nephroma antarcticumย (Karukinka expedition, Tres Brazos Bay, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, February 2026)
Biocultural conservation and education
Omora Park and its partners defend a โbiocultural conservationโ approach, linking biodiversity protection to the recognition of local cultures, especially Yaghan tradition and the communities of Puerto Williams. Bryophytes and lichens then become mediators for reflecting on the links between ways of life, environmental ethics, and responsibility toward ecosystems, notably through the โfield environmental philosophyโ proposed by Rozzi and colleagues.
Schools in Puerto Williams include the observation of miniature forests in their educational activities so that children recognize the global value of the biodiversity in their territory. This local appropriation helps counter โbiocultural homogenization,โ a concept that refers to the tendency to forget discreet organisms and lose the cultural knowledge and meanings associated with them.
Our thanks to Ricardo Rozzi and Josรฉ German Gonzalez Calderon for their help in identifying the bryophytes from our images.
Short bibliography
Etayo, J., Sancho, L. G., Gรณmez-Bolea, A., Sรธchting, U., Aguirre, F., & Rozzi, R. (2021). Catalog of lichens (and some related fungi) from Navarino Island, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile.ย Anales del Instituto de la Patagonia, 49.
Goffinet, B., Rozzi, R., Massardo, F., et al. (2012).ย Miniature Forests of Cape Horn: Ecotourism with a Hand Lens. University of North Texas Press.
Rozzi, R. (coord.) (n.d.).ย Ecoturismo con lupa en el Parque Omora. Universidad de Magallanes. Editorial presentation and book notice.
Cape Horn Center (CHIC).ย Ecoturismo con lupa: a way to discover the miniature forests of lichens and mosses.
Instituto de Ecologรญa y Biodiversidad / Universidad de Magallanes. Omora Ethnobotanical Park โ institutional presentation of the biological station.
Rozzi, R., et al. (2008). Patterns of species richness in sub-Antarctic plants and implications for conservation.
Documentaryย Viaje Invisible. Ecoturismo con Lupa. Omora Ethnobotanical Park, 2013.
Cultivating a Garden of Names in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. Study on biocultural conservation, bryophytes and lichens, and environmental education.
The crew of Milagro will be present, as a partner, at the 5th edition of the Kreeh Chinen Festival!
This event, which we have supported since its creation, will be held on November 29 at Restobar Punto de Encuentro in Tolhuin (province of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina).
The Festival: a place of artistic gathering
The Kreeh Chinen Festival, a Selk'nam word meaning "clinging to the moon" according to its founders, aims to bring together artists, poets, writers, musicians, and painters from throughout Tierra del Fuego province. Each of the three major cities in the province is represented, and the initiative was designed to foster independent, solidarity-based artistic exchange open to local initiatives: producers, artisans, and small organizations are invited to participate. The previous edition, already supported by Karukinka, underscores this collective and ambitious dimension: "The idea is to make visible the regional, environmental, and cultural themes of indigenous peoples," explain in unison two of the organizers, Lauriane Lemasson, a French researcher, and Alejandro Pinto, writer and poet from Rรญo Grande.
Why Karukinka is associated with it
The Karukinka Association, founded with the ambition to "build the missing bridge between Europe and Tierra del Fuego," has been committed for many years to indigenous peoples and heritage projects in the region. The partnership with Kreeh Chinen thus naturally aligns with its mission:
To promote cultural expressions from southern Argentina (Tierra del Fuego) in their authenticity, independence, and diversity.
To strengthen connections between local actors (artists, artisans, indigenous communities) and a broader public, beyond borders.
To contribute to an event that highlights not only art but also environmental, cultural, and heritage themes linked to the indigenous peoples of the region.
What is planned for November 29, 2025
At Restobar Punto de Encuentro in Tolhuin, you will be able to discover:
Musicians coming from throughout Tierra del Fuego province,
Poets and writers sharing stories, voices, and local imaginaries,
Painters and visual artists displaying their works,
A moment of sharing and encounter, in the spirit of Kreeh Chinen, which values both art, local engagement, and cooperation.
This 5th edition of the Kreeh Chinen Festival will once again allow us to celebrate art, culture, and solidarity in Tierra del Fuego. We will share more details about this event with you soon!
Today we share with you a Yagan story dedicated to the hummingbird, told by รrsula Calderรณn and Cristina Calderรณn in 2001 in Mejillones Bay (Navarino Island, Chile). It was published on pages 170 and 171 of the bookย Guia Multi-Etnica de Aves de los bosques subantรกrticos de Sudamรฉricaย (2017) and translated from Spanish to English by the Karukinka association.
The Chilean hummingbird Sephanoides sephaniodes
The Yagan story of the hummingbird
โOnce, when birds were still humans, a severe drought struck the Cape Horn region and its inhabitants were dying of thirst. The cunning fox (cilawรกia๏ปฟ, the Magellan fox) found a lagoon and, without telling anyone, built a fence around it with umush๏ปฟ branches (calafate๏ปฟ in Yagan) so that no one could enter. Hidden there, he drank plenty of water alone, only caring for himself.
After some time, others discovered the lagoon's existence and, as a group, they went to ask cilawรกia๏ปฟ for some water. But he didnโt even want to listen to their pleas and brusquely expelled them. The people's condition worsened by the moment, and in their despair, they remembered omora๏ปฟ. They sent a message to this small occasional visitor who, in similar past shortages, had saved their lives.
The Magellanic fox (Lycalopex griseus,ย cilawรกia)
The hummingbird, or little omora๏ปฟ, was always ready to help and came very quickly. Although weakened, this tiny creature (human or spirit) is braver and more fearless than any giant. Upon arrival, people told him in detail what had happened about the great shortages. Omora๏ปฟ, upon hearing what happened, became indignant and flew to the place where cilawรกia๏ปฟ was. Selfish, the fox confronted him. And omora๏ปฟ said: โListen! Is it true what others told me? You have access to a lagoon, and you refuse to share your water with others. Do you know that if you don't give them water, they will die of thirst?โ The fox replied: โWhat do I care? This lagoon has very little water, just enough for me and some close relatives.โ
Hearing this,ย omoraย became furious and, without answeringย cilawรกia, he returned to the camp.
He thought hard and, hastily, rose holding his staff and returned to where cilawรกia๏ปฟ was. On the way, omora๏ปฟ collected several sharp stones, and when close enough to the fox, he shouted: โWill you finally share the water with everyone?โ The selfish cilawรกia๏ปฟ answered: โLet them die of thirst. I canโt give water to each one of them, or else my family and I will starve.โ
Omora๏ปฟ was so furious he could not restrain himself and leapt with his staff, killing the fox with the first blow.
The others watching came running happily to the place, broke the fence, approached the lagoon, and began to drink to quench their thirst โ all of the water. Some birds who arrived late barely managed to wet their throats. Then, the wise little owl sirra๏ปฟ (grandmother of omora๏ปฟ) said to the birds who had arrived late: โGo collect mud from the bottom of the lagoon and fly to the tops of the mountains, above which you must sprinkle.โ
The little birds and their balls of mud created vertical springs that originated the watercourses cascading from the mountains, forming small streams and large rivers running through ravines. When everyone saw this, they were extremely happy and all drank large amounts of fresh and pure water, which was much better than the lagoon water that the selfish cilawรกia๏ปฟ guarded. Now everyone was saved. To this day, all these watercourses flow from the mountains and provide exquisite water. Since then, no one should die of thirst.โ
