A new species in New York

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1:46Hey Meredith. Hey Benji, how's it going? It's going well, how's it going? Excellent, excellent. Yeah, it's now a good time to talk, I know you're pretty busy today. This is perfect. We just wrapped up. Yeah, yeah. So Benji Jones, senior correspondent here at Vox, covering the biodiversity, the environment. I mean, usually I feel like I'm catching you between reporting trips to, you know, bat hospitals in Australia or chasing cougars in Mexico. So I'm glad that I caught you on this field reporting trip. Well, where are you now? I am right here in New York City. I'm in the middle of Prospect Park.

2:24Exotic. In Brooklyn. The exotic reaches of Brooklyn. Yeah, exactly. On a beautiful sunny day, I should add. Oh, yeah. Describe what you see and hear around you. Yes. So I'm like 20 minutes from my house in the middle of Prospect Park. It's one of my favorite places in New York. It feels like more, a little more rustic than Central Park, for example, because there's like scruffy forests and ponds and turtles. We saw like a bunch of turtles and swans today. Oh, nice. And I'm listening to the sound of children in the distance. When we got here, there were dogs running everywhere. So it's a little bit chaotic, but just like very New York in every way.

3:03And we actually just ran into a large birding group. And they were like freaking out because they had just seen a Mississippi kite. A Mississippi kite in the sky that was like hovering around us while we were here. So there's just like all walks of life in the park. And that's why I love Prospect Park and New York, obviously. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So what are you up to in the wilds of Prospect Park? So while most people probably try to avoid bugs in the park, I just set up a giant bug trap to try to find a new species of insect. I'm hoping that we will find a species that is new to science that no one has discovered before right in the middle of New York City.

3:50I mean, I guess if I think about a new species in Prospect Park, what comes to mind is like a Great Dane and a pug mix at the dog field or something wild. So why is it important to find a new species of bug? Yeah, so what's so incredible about insects in general is that there are so many unknown species still. So we're looking specifically for a new species of what's called a parasitoid wasp, which is a wasp that lays its eggs and other insects, and also flies in the family for a day, which are known as the scuttleflies. And the reason we're focusing on those two insect groups is that they're famous for having so many unknown species, tens of thousands that have yet to be described.

4:30And when we're talking about the value of maintaining something like parasitoid wasps or flies, it may not seem that important. But insects run the world. They're so important for pollination. They clean up our poo. They do all these sort of hidden tasks all around us. And so there's a really strong argument, even if you're just thinking about, selfishly thinking about humans, to protect them. But first, you need to know what actually exists. Right. So I guess why have this quest in the middle of New York City? Like, why not look for a new species in some remote jungle? Well, because it's easy.

5:04Look, I love New York. It's right next door. It's right. it's literally my neighborhood. It's my community. I want to know what animals I share my home with. But I also just think that doing this project in the middle of New York helps show just how unknown the world is. If you can find something new to science in the middle of the largest city in the country and the most densely populated metropolis, you can find a new species anywhere. And so I think if we do find something new, and the scientists that I've talked to say that it's very likely that we will. I think it will just really highlight the fact that our world is still so unknown.

5:39And that to me is like both exciting, but also just inspiring in the face of the larger story that I often tell and hear about, about the decline of insects, the decline of biodiversity. So this is like, look, there's still this incredible opportunity for discovery. So are you right by your trap right now? Yeah. We're like a few feet away. Could you kind of walk around it and describe what it looks like? Okay, we're not that close, actually. Not that close, okay. The trap is behind a fence right now because we had to go in with this guy, Howard. Oh, hey. Yeah, hey, Howard. Hi, hi. Very nice to meet you.

6:13Howard is a forest ecologist with the Prospect Park Alliance, the nonprofit that manages the park. That's a leafhopper. Oh, that's an interesting one, yeah. Wow, that's so cool. To your knowledge, has anyone discovered a new species in Prospect Park? To my knowledge, no. but again, most of the wildlife studies that have been done in Prospect Park are the usual suspects. You know, the dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies and moths, bees. No one's gone out looking for flies here yet? I don't want to say nobody, but we don't have a fly list. We have a list of some other insects. Yes. We don't have a fly list yet.

6:48We are in eyesight of the trap, and I can describe it if that's helpful. Perfect. Yeah, I'm really curious. Okay, so part of the reason why signage was very important to say what we're doing is that it does just look like a tent from the distance. But if you can imagine just like a sheet of black mesh that is supported by tent poles and some white mesh that drapes over it in an arc. And the trap is designed in such a way that as insects fly upwards, they get funneled into a bottle that is attached to the trap and full of ethanol. Oh, look, we already have a wasp. Yeah, I think that's a parasitoid wasp.

7:32Amazing. So basically, we're going to have bottles and bottles of dead bugs with DNA intact that we can then send to a lab for analysis. So we're really looking for tiny little wasps and tiny little flies. Those are where a lot of the unknown species are. And we're trying not to capture big butterflies, dragonflies, bumblebees, things like that. And so the opening for the bottle of ethanol where they're getting trapped is very small and too small to capture something like a monarch. Got it. So how did you come up with this project? God, a few years ago, I ended up connecting with a fly researcher named Emily Hartop, who was at a natural history museum in Berlin.

8:14And within about 10 minutes in her office, she convinced me that flies are incredible. Okay. And she just ran through all these different species of forward flies, the scuttle flies, one of the types of flies that we're trying to collect here. Some of them, like, decapitate ants. Some of them mimic ant larvae. like they have all these crazy behaviors. And I was like, okay, there is this whole unknown world of flies. And when I was with her, she mentioned this term called dark taxa in describing the scuttleflies. And as she explained to me at the time, dark taxa are animal groups in which the majority of their species are still undescribed, still unknown to science.

8:53And so that really just sparked curiosity for me to be like, okay, there is so much that we don't know. I realized just so much of our insect diversity and really of most invertebrates, so like crustaceans, a lot of stuff in the ocean, totally unknown, like about 90 % of life, big plus or minus there because no one really knows, but about 90 % of life is still undescribed, which is just like - What, 90 %? Yeah, the majority of life on our earth. That's like a majority, like more than just majority. The super majority of life on earth is still totally unknown. And that just like blows my mind. And like, yes, we're not talking about lions and tigers and all the other big things out there that are super charismatic that like Darwin or whatever found.

9:38We're talking about stuff that you really need to carefully look for. One of the things that I learned from this fly researcher, Emily, is that she has done trapping using similar traps that we're putting up in New York in Los Angeles. And she discovered over 40 new species of flies in the family four a day, those scuttle flies. And so I was like, all right, if people can do this in L.A., like, why don't we try doing this in New York? A little East Coast, West Coast thing. Exactly. Bicoastal flies. So I was just like, dude, let's try to do this in New York, especially because, I'm sorry, but New York is better and bigger.

10:16And I think it's even more exciting to find something new in the middle of New York. And also, like, it's just not very hard. Like literally, I mean, well, as the people with me today can attest, it was not that easy to set up this trap, but mostly because I don't like camping at all. And it was basically like setting up a tent and I sort of hated the whole process and it's still a little janky. There is another stake and I'm not sure why. Everyone is like, you have to be an idiot not to know how to set it up. So I'm sure I'll like somehow fail. There's no poison ivy in here, right? I'm sure the flies won't fault you for it.

10:53Exactly. The bar is low for them. Maybe not. Maybe they're judgy. So what is your biggest hope for what you'll discover with this project? A fly just landed on me. Also, that Mississippi kite is in a tree right above us, which is very cool. That's very cool. I mean, yeah. So, like, I don't think we're going to make a dent, any kind of meaningful dent in the pursuit of unknown life. We're not going to describe dozens of new species. We're not going to help close these giant gaps in the tree of life. But each insect has its own role in the ecosystem. That's how it evolved. And so my hope is that we find something new, a new animal species that has not been described before.

11:39It's unknown to science. And we can also, and with that information, help tell the world, educate folks just about how much there is still to discover and how important discovery is when we think about trying to reverse some of these pretty horrible trends in terms of what's happening to biodiversity.

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13:56So this might be kind of a basic question, but what exactly is a new species? Like, what do you mean by that? What level of animal are we talking about here? Surprisingly not at all a basic question. Okay. Very complicated because taxonomy is quite complicated, the system that we use to catalog life on Earth. So I guess the first thing I'll say is that there's an important distinction between discovery and description. So discovery is like, okay, we find something, we being like usually scientists, taxonomists, find something that we don't think anyone has found before. There was recently, for example, a big announcement of expeditions across the oceans to try to discover new species.

14:48And they found like 1100 newly discovered species. So things that taxonomists thought have not been found before. But when that comes to like fruit flies? that's probably a little different. Yeah, so like you and me walking around pretty much anywhere, we're encountering flies all the time. Also, we have a bunch of kids here. Hold on. Okay, hold on one second. Oh, kids seem to fall. What are you doing? We're sampling insects. Oh, great. Okay. Very sweet.

15:28Okay, so your question about like, how do we know if something is new, what it means to discover a new species. So description is the formal process for actually determining that something is a new species. that's when you name it. And so that basically means you have to publish a record of the specimen that you found with evidence that they're unique among all the other flies or wasps that are out there. And then you also have to comb through different museum collections, all these old academic articles to make sure that no one has described the species before. So it's this whole sort of due diligence process to prove that this is actually new.

16:13And at that point, it is like officially a new species. Got it. But it's like surprisingly complicated. Yeah, yeah. So you have like, there's the like, oh, I think we've seen something new. Exactly. But that's a very different, or just like the start of a very long process. Yeah, it's a ton of work. Finding a fly in a haystack. Literally. And like, just for like, if it's helpful for this project, so we are going to, the first step after we collect all these insects through our trap is to barcode them. And that basically means we will sequence a portion. And by we, I mean, I'm not doing this. A lab in Canada is doing it called the Center for Biodiversity Genomics.

16:51But we'll sequence a portion of the genome for each specimen. And that portion of the genome is called a barcode. And they basically have databases of genetic barcodes of all these species that scientists have collected. And so when we start sequencing our specimens, they can compare the barcode of our specimens to databases of barcodes to see if there's a match. And it's kind of like collecting fingerprints at a crime scene and then running it through like an FBI database of people's fingerprints. And then if there's a match, you're like, oh, this might be a suspect. It's very similar, except for the fingerprint in this case is a section of the DNA of the species.

17:32And that's only the first step because it only matches what's in the database. But that doesn't mean that it couldn't be a match to something else that's been described in some back corner of a natural history museum. That's exactly right. So it's those kinds of experts who will make the final determination that, look, we think that this is actually totally new, undescribed. And then that's when we would get to name something new, which is obviously the best part of this whole process. In some ways, it's actually easier to discover something new now because of advances in genetic sequencing. Like we can sequence enormous quantities of specimens pretty quickly and cheaply now.

18:10And so you can do what we did, which is set up a trap. It passively is collecting stuff and then run it through sequencing and databases. Like that's fairly, fairly easy. In the past, it was all kind of these big expeditions. Often they were, usually they were white scientists who would go to foreign countries, collect a bunch of stuff and just take it from that country. And so it was very much like a Western science, extractive practice of describing new species. But it was, I mean, back in the 14, 1500s, whatever, so much had been undescribed. I mean, there was a point in history where, like, Western scientists were like, look, a giraffe.

18:56Let's name that. I'm thinking giraffe. It has a good buzz to it. Exactly. So it was easier to visibly see new stuff hundreds of years ago, obviously. But in some ways, I think we're actually in sort of like a golden age of discovery now because of these new sampling techniques. And because of the simple fact, as I mentioned, that just still so much of these smaller animal groups are totally unknown. Yeah. Do you think there'll ever be a point when we'll know all the species on Earth?

19:35I don't know because, I mean, part of it is that even the term species is squishy. Like, no, because I think there's a point where we will know all vertebrates. So stuff with backbones, birds, fish, mammals. I think for insects it's possible when we get into smaller stuff like nematodes, bacteria, fungi, like that stuff is just so hard to discover, so hard to find. And at that point we're like talking about such enormous quantities of species that it's like, does it make sense to find every species of nematode? Maybe, but I think as you get into smaller and smaller organisms it is much harder.

20:21And so I think we could discover at least most animal species if we see investments in discovery taxonomy. Less likely when we go into even smaller animal groups. So it's sort of like, where is that line for it to be worth trying? Yeah. Yeah. I think for bacteria and fungi, like, it just seems hard. Right. What does it mean to sign up for just like this kind of impossible project then in terms of like the quest of finding, cataloging, understanding a whole family of flies that could have millions of potential unknown dark species? Yeah, I mean, I think that if you are, like to me, to me, discovery is one of the most exciting aspects of science, of biology.

21:16So, yes, like the excitement around discovering a fly is probably less than something big and charismatic. but because even individual fly species have some function in their ecosystem, whether they're pollinators, they're food for other insects, which are food for birds, which are food for mammals or whatever it is, getting to, I think, like revealing some of the hidden diversity, revealing the hidden roles they're playing, like there's so much excitement in that. And I think also just like helps us better understand like the ecosystems around us as, and like, I guess I think about them sort of like machines, like really complicated machines that have like big gears, but also like tiny little nuts and bolts.

22:03And each fly is maybe like one of those tiny little bolts that plays some role in keeping that machine alive. And so I think there is real value in just getting a little bit of a clear picture of just how this machine is working, especially when it's ecosystems that are what give us drinking water. They're what clean the air. They're what provide food. Our food is pollinated by all sorts of insects. Like, it's just there is so much value in just, like, each individual animal in the ecosystem. I guess I'm struck by just the wonder in these teeny creatures. Yeah. For listeners at home that might find themselves wandering through Prospect Park or Central Park or somewhere in L.A.

22:48or anywhere in between. Like, what do you want people to see when they think about this tiny, mysterious world of flies that we know so little about? I mean, I guess for me and I hope for other people, learning about this hidden diversity in our backyards has like really opened my world up. And as soon as you start to shift your gaze towards like the smaller stuff and you just like pause for a moment on a walk and you just see little tiny creatures like buzzing all around you, like each one has its own life, its own purpose. and as you start to pay attention to those smaller things, I think it just makes the world feel like much fuller and more exciting.

23:36And like the community is bigger. Yeah. So if you do find something that is totally new, what are you thinking about naming it? You got like the Benja fly or something in your back pocket? It's apparently very much not cool to name something after yourself. It's like a faux pas. Got it. But I think, I don't know. I also kind of want like, like this is such a public facing project. Like anyone walking through the park gets to see this happening. So I sort of want input from folks. So if you have an idea of what we should name a new fly or a new wasp or anything else that we discover that's new, let us know.

24:20Excellent. Awesome. I'll let you guys, I know you have more traps to set up throughout the day. So thank you so much for your time. And good luck. Oh my God, thank you so much. Yeah, absolutely. And I'll keep you posted. Hopefully it will have news to share soon. Yeah. I'll talk to you later. All right, cheers. Bye.

24:46This episode was produced by Meredith Houghtonot and me, Krishna Yala. We had editing from Lissa Sowep and fact-checking from Melissa Hirsch. I did the mixing and sound design with music from Noam Hassenfeld. Sally Helm has her own fly dilemma. Joanna Salataroff is on TV. And Bird Pinkerton got yanked through the opening in the wall before it slammed shut. She looked at the talent holding her arm, and then she looked at the rest of the birds standing in front of her. Are you, she said. The bird nodded. It was Flapped in.

25:24Thanks as always to Brian Resnick for co-creating the show with Byrd and Noam. And if you have thoughts about the show, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at unexplainable at vox.com. If you'd like to support the show and the journalism that Vox does, you should become a member. It's really easy to do. Just go to vox.com slash members. And for those of you who have emailed us to let us know you signed up because of Unexplainable, thank you. It really means a lot. Thanks also to those of you who left us a nice review on your podcast platform, or just told somebody in your life about the show.

26:02You're the best. Unexplainable is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network, and we'll be back very soon with another episode about everything that we do not yet know.

26:46Benji Jones:We'll see you next time. It truly matters. And it's always prompt, especially to be with family. Make it your first choice to celebrate your dad. Ship UPS Air with our money-back guarantee. Exclusively at the UPS Store U.S. retail locations. Visit the upsstore.com slash air shipping for full details. Terms and conditions apply. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.

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