Flickr Users Discover New Species of Insect

By Good News Network Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Earth - General

A photographer living in the rainforest-rich country of Malaysia who specializes in macro photography was hiking in Selangor State Park near Kuala Lumpur when he came across a lovely green lacewing.

After photographing the insect, Hock Ping Guek posted his photos to Flickr, an online photo-sharing site.

Shaun Winterton, a senior entomologist at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, happened across the image and was struck by the black markings on the wing, which he had never seen on a lacewing before.

Because he was unable to identify the species; nor were any colleagues he shared the image with, he contacted the photographer, who managed to capture a specimen and send it to the Natural History Museum in London.

They all used Google Docs to collaborate on a paper describing the new species. The discovery of "Semachrysa jade," named by Guek and Winterton, has been described as a triumph of citizen science, which has surged amid the advent of digital cameras, the internet and social media.

(READ the full story at Wikipedia)

Photo credit: Kurt aka Orionmystery at orionmystery.blogspot.com