Beautiful new insect discovered on Flickr

13 Aug 2012
Adult green lacewing (Semachrysa jade sp. n.). Photo by Hock Ping Guek

Scientists identified a brand new species of insect after looking at photos posted on Flickr.

  • The insect is a type of lacewing called Semachrysa jade and lives in the forests of Malaysia.
  • Shaun Winterton, a researcher from California, saw the animal after looking at photos posted by a Malaysian photographer, Hock Ping Guek on the website Flickr.
  • Winterton believed it was a brand new species and in order to prove it, he needed to go to Malaysia and collect one. Around one year later Winterton and Stephen J. Brooks of the natural history museum did just that.
  • Lacewings are famous for their feeding habit, which changes dramatically as they age.
  • “Adults mostly feed on flowers, but the larvae are ferocious predators of other insects, frequently carrying the dead carcasses of their prey on their backs after killing them using their enormous, sucking tube-like jaws,” explained a statement released by Pensoft Publishers.
  • Thousands of “new” insect species are described by scientists each year. There are around 1,200 species of green lacewing currently known.

Want to learn more? Read the full story: Scientists discover beautiful new insect species after stumbling upon photos on Flickr

 

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