New Insect Discovered Through Flickr

Entemologist Shaun Winterton was browsing Flickr recently when he discovered a new species of insect.

He was browsing photos of bugs online, when he came across some beautiful pictures of a new type of airy, green-and-purple winged insect. The pictures were posted on a blog called “Up Close with Nature” and were taken by the Malaysian photographer who runs the blog, Hock Ping Guek.

Winterton contacted the photographer, pointing out that he may have discovered a new species of lacewing. Guek was able to locate the insect again about a year later, and this time captured a specimen. Guek contacted Winterton, letting him know that his new insect was sitting in a container in the kitchen.

Guek sent the specimen to Steve Brooks, an associate of Winterton’s, who confirmed its status as a new species. Brooks was actually able to find a matching specimen in the

Natural History Museum, where he works, but it had remained in the collection with being classified for decades

The three later co-authored a paper, and decided to name the bug Semarchrysa jade, after Winterton’s daughter, Jade. Fittingly, the paper was written collaboratively using Google Docs.

Species Identification
It’s interesting to think about just how far we have to go before we’ve cataloged the species on Earth. You might think it’s quite incredible to discover a new species of insect by going to your nearest computer, but the odds are probably better than you think.

Quentin Wheeler is an entomologist at Arizona State who founded the International Institute for Species Exploration. We’ve currently catalogued over 2 million different living species, but Wheeler estimates that we have as many as 10 million additional plant and animal species to go.

In fact, an annual inventory reports that 9,738 insects were identified for the first time in 2009. There’s no reason to think that the feat of Guek, Winterton, and Brooks is less remarkable, though, as it’s certain that most of these discoveries were made intentionally by entomologists who were out in the field working, not in front of their computers browsing.