The Los Angeles Arboretum is one of the most beautiful places I have been. Where else can you see six species of hummingbird zooming from perch to flower, an Asian red-whiskered bulbul nesting beside a dancing peacock, with noisy flocks of parakeets commuting overhead? Even the introduced species (on this list, all but the hummingbirds) are beautiful.

So it was fitting right after I got back from LA to read the news that 30 new, never-before-seen species of flies were just discovered in the city. Read more about it here. And how did the discoverers identify these flies as unique? By the gnarly shapes and bristles of their genitalia. These traits can help define species in other groups too, like bats and primates.

Photo by Kelsey Bailey, LA Natural History Museum BioSCAN project.

From April 10, 2015

Tuesday, July 5, 2022  |  Categories: Field and Travel
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