LA 2050: Vote for NHM

Hey Angelenos, did you know you live in a biodiversity hotspot? That's right, our city is home to a MASSIVE amount of awesome, and sometimes rare, life. Life that is under threat and needs to be studied.

We here at the Museum have been studying the life in our hotspot for a hundred years. To continue this tradition and to take it to the next level, we are inviting you to join us. Today we are launching a new initiative that will do this, NHM Urban Safari.

We are going to map the wildlife that lives all over our city. From places like Griffith Park and the L.A. River, to your backyards and school yards. To help us do this we have applied for a $100,000 grant through the LA 2050 competition. This is a huge project that involves all of us, and you can start helping today by voting for NHM.

Take a moment to imagine what L.A. could be like in 2050 if everyone in our city helped to study the AMAZING and AWESOME wildlife that lives here! School children would be studying wildlife in their own school yards, which would also be safe places to play. Families all over the city would have planted habitat and documented the return of all 500 native bees. Hikers would have trekked all over Griffith Park and discovered and documented rare species which we thought were lost. Kayakers would be floating down our beautiful river and snapping pictures of the birds, dragonflies, and frogs they see. Finally, visitors to our fine city won’t just be coming for a Hollywood starlet sighting, they’ll also be coming to experience nature in this biodiversity hotspot. Wow!
 

Watch our video to learn more about the project and to cast your vote. All you need to do is click the blue button marked "vote" and follow the instruction.

California newt, Taricha torosa



Tell all your friends! Our nature is in your hands.

Ladybugs Make Me Smile

A few weeks ago, I was having a terrible day at work. The next day, my friend and colleague, Kristina Lockaby,  brought me a card that said, "Ladybugs make me smile." This is so true.

A recent ladybug that made me smile REALLY big, was one that our Head Gardener, Richard Hayden, found. He was out in the urban wilderness and stopped a moment to take a closer look at one of the willow shrubs. He noticed lots of aphids and a few ladybugs too. One in particular stood out to him. It was all black with two red spots on it, something he had never seen before on a ladybug.

He put the little beetle in a snap top jar and brought it up to our shared office. "Lila, I have a present for you!" he exclaimed as he came in. I immediately stopped staring blankly at my computer screen and turned to see what booty he was bringing in from the garden. He silently handed me the jar, I took a look, and I smiled.

Richard had collected a twice-stabbed ladybug. These ladybugs are so named for their color and pattern. Unlike most ladybugs, they are black with red spots. Two red spots to be precise, and that according to some, look like the poor little beastie had been stabbed by some sadistic Homo sapiens.

I'd previously found one of these ladybugs in a similar location, but before the garden had even been planted. However, taking a close look at the specimen Richard had handed me, I realized it was a little bit different. The spots were much larger, of a slightly different shape, and overall there was just something that made me think, "Mmmmmm, maybe this is a different type of twice-stabbed ladybug."

And it was!

Twice-stabbed Ladybug, Chilocorus cacti

This brings the total number of ladybugs in the garden to eight! Check out one of our previous ladybug blogs to see what other species we have found, or how about this one?

Check out our submission on the Lost Ladybug project website!

Kindergartner Finds Greater Yellow Underwing Moth on North Campus

This past weekend the Museum hosted the 26th annual Bug Fair. Over the course of 72 hours, more than 10,000 people visited us. These lucky visitors got to see, do, and taste many things. At Curator of Entomology Brian Brown's table, visitors were able to see the world's smallest fly from Thailand (oh and it just happens to be a brand new species in the genus Euryplatea). On our insect stage, they could meet Western Exterminator's bed bug sniffing dogs. If people were hungry, they could head outside and taste some insectuous delights including Orthopteran Orzo, a la Bug Chef David George Gordon, or wax worm salad prepared by entomophagy expert Dave Gracer. If they were interested in hunting bugs rather than eating them, we also held bug hunts out in the Erica J. Glazer Family Home Garden.

Everyone was bug hunting

With over 300 people participating in the hunts on both Saturday and Sunday, you won't be surprised that we found a lot of insect diversity. There were many European honeybees, ladybugs, flower flies, and Argentine ants. There were also some insects that I'd never seen before, including an impressive underwing moth that was collected by Kindergartner! It just goes to show that Citizen Scientists are just as likely to make cool and scientifically interesting discoveries as our Museum scientists are. The moth is now our latest addition to the North Campus species list.

Chris Weng, age 6

 One of our newest Citizen Science converts

Check out those underwings!

The moth Chris found is a Greater Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba. Although you would expect the hind wings of this moth to be yellow, they in fact range in color from yellow to orange depending on the individual. This moth is native to Europe and was accidentally introduced into Nova Scotia in 1979 (the year I was born). Over the last 33 years the moth has spread throughout much of North America and can now be found here on the West Coast in many areas including Alaska, California, and British Columbia. This spread is not looked upon kindly by many gardeners and farmers, as the caterpillar is a pest. They feed extensively on a variety of herbaceous plants including grapes, strawberry, tomato, potato, carrot, cabbage, beet, lettuce, and many grasses. Over the last week, I've found many more of these moths around the North Campus. One of our Gallery Interpreters, Vanessa Vobis, also found one in her garden at home. Are they in your yard too?

I Love My Job

So I get back to work yesterday morning after the long weekend, and this is what I find on my desk!

Yes, that is indeed a dead lizard and a peanut can full of mushrooms! To be more precise it is an Alligator Lizard, Elgaria multicarinata, and shaggy parasol mushrooms, Chlorophyllum rhacodes. I am not sure exactly how they turned up on my desk, but in this line of work it's pretty common for people to drop off interesting things for you to identify. 

This is especially true when you start to survey urban biodiversity through citizen science projects like Lost Lizards of Los Angeles (LLOLA). Myself and a number of other Museum staffers frequently return to our desks to discover dead lizard specimens. However, don't be compelled to follow suit. It is much more valuable to the project to follow the instructions and submit only your lizard photographs. Check out the LLOLA website for instructions on how to participate. 

Community Science (aka Citizen Science)

If you read the previous post, you already know the basic idea of the North Campus. Now let's talk more about citizen science. We have three citizen science projects, what we like to call Community Science, that anyone can participate in. They are the Los Angeles Spider Survey, Lost Lizards of Los Angeles (aka LLOLA), and the Lost Ladybug Project which we host in partnership with Cornell University. All these projects help us collect data about what's living here in L.A. today. For instance, recently a LLOLA participant found a new lizard lounging in the Chatsworth area of L.A. Now when I say this lizard was lounging, I'm serious, they hang out by porch lights and wait for flying insects to be attracted. When a moth, or some other unsuspecting insect flies in, the lizard pounces and gobbles up the delicious treat. These Mediterranean House Geckos had never been found in L.A. County before, so it was a new record for science, and discovered by a tween no less!

Immature Mediterranean House Gecko, found by LLOLA participant Reese Bernstein and family.