FLIES WITHOUT NAMES

Welcome! If you are looking for a chance to contribute to scientific research, you have come to the right place. I study biological diversity. For over 25 years I have worked in tropical rain forests and studied the interdependence of plants and animals. In particular, I pay attention to "Rainforest Cucumbers," which are beautiful vines with bright orange, red, and yellow flowers. In the process, I noticed that the flowers and seeds sometimes had little "worms" in them. The "worms" turned into beautiful flies with spotted wings. I wanted to know their scientific name, but was surprised to find out that they didn’t have a name.

Here you will find pictures of wings of FOUR new species of flies from Costa Rica. All of them eat flowers of one kind of Rainforest Cucumber (called Gurania costaricensis). Because these flies do not yet have scientific names, I call them "Clubs," "Spades," "Hearts," and "Diamonds." (Their first name will be Blepharoneura, but we will have to invent their second name! Hearts and Diamonds (the red suits) are flies that eat female flowers. Hearts and Diamonds hardly ever live in the same place. Clubs and Spades eat male flowers and hardly ever live in the same place. Clubs live in the same place as Hearts (near the top of a small mountain), and Spades and Diamonds live in the same place (near the bottom of the same small mountain). Why? I want to know!!! But to find out, I have to be able to look at a fly and tell whether it is a Heart or a Club or a Diamond or a Spade. Some of you read an article in The Dolphin Log and found differences among the four flies. (Fly A is a Club. Fly B is a Spade. Fly C is a Diamond, and Fly D is a Heart.) Now we have to figure out whether we can use the differences you found to tell whether a fly is a Heart or a Diamond (or a Club or a Spade)! Let me know what you find! I hope you will also share your discoveries with others so we can work together to solve this puzzle!

Thank you

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This study has appeared in Dolphin Log, which can be visited at dolphinlog.org