I thought this post significant as I personally found the idea of discovering multiple new species – even if they are flies – in a heavily urbanized area such as Los Angeles to be astonishing. – LFF

 

The latest buzz in the world of newly discovered insects was not in a distant jungle far away but in the bustling city of Los Angeles.  On this week’s TechKnow, Phil Torres speaks with a team of experts working at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum’s BioScan project  http://www.nhm.org/site/activities-programs/citizen-science/bioscan. The project uses 30 volunteers with large malaise traps to find new species of insects. This year’s BioScan project focused on flies. And at each of the sites, a new fly was discovered. It only took the first three months of the project to obtain these results

Lisa Gonzalez, Assistant Collections Manager of the BioScan project, is in charge of obtaining samples each week from the volunteers’ homes. Her field of study is the traffic and wilds of Los Angeles rather than distant jungles.

Featured image: Phil Torres with Walter Renwick and his daughter Eleanor. They are one of thirty LA families taking part in the BioScan program.

Source: Citizen lords of the flies

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