James Cook University researcher Matthew Connors has made an exciting discovery with the assistance of citizen scientists. He has identified two new praying mantis species, and the findings have been published in Zootaxa.
One of these mantises is not just a new species but an entirely new genus. This classification level is above species and was found thanks to citizen scientist Glenda Walter.
“We have named the new species Inimia nat—I. nat for short—as it was discovered through the citizen science platform iNaturalist—also known as iNat,” explained Connors.
He further added, “It’s a tribute to a new way of conducting natural science. With a larger number of people able to survey a wider range of both time and space, citizen scientists can provide a wealth of data that would otherwise be unattainable.”
Connors also mentioned that if someone were to go outside and find three different insects, there is a high probability that at least one of them would be a new species.
2023-12-01 11:41:03
Source from phys.org