When it comes to environmental protection and species extinction, a polar bear or an orangutan usually trotts into the picture. New photographs instead focus on insects. They are the basis of all life, they are threatened – and are surprisingly fluffy.
You can’t live without insects. Despite being so small, all insects combined weigh many times more than all of humanity; more than a million species are known. Some specialize in pollinating a single plant, which consequently cannot survive without this insect either. Some eat dead plant matter, increasing soil fertility. Many are food for birds, reptiles or, for example, whales. Insects form the basis of all further life. And that foundation is under threat.
Around The number of insects in Germany has decreased by 75 percent in recent decades, worldwide decreases by one percent per year. Insects urgently need to be protected. It will also help them if, by the end of this decade, 30 percent of land and sea are under protection, as agreed by the UN member states. Less intensive agriculture would be good for the insects, with more fallow land, hedgerows and trees, fewer pesticides, less frequent mowing and less destruction of their habitats.
But insects, it’s often said, just aren’t cuddly enough. A brown moth that differs from other moth species only in a small dark spot on its lower wing – how do you tell anyone but an entomologist that this moth needs to be protected? It’s a lot easier with a polar bear, which is why conservation organizations prefer to choose it or an orangutan as their heraldic animal or example of extinction. These large mammals are also threatened in many ways, but often not as acutely as the less cuddly insects.
There are lots of insects that are pretty and fluffy. This is shown by the pictures in the exhibition “Extinct & Endangered” by photographer Levon Biss in cooperation with the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The portrayed insects are endangered or already extinct. Biss creates his photographs from up to 10,000 individual images with microscope lenses and thus makes tiny details visible.
How fluffy a bumblebee suddenly looks! Well, you might not want to cuddle with her anyway. But if you think about it more closely, that’s not recommended for a polar bear either.
Patagonian bumblebee
Flying mouse becomes the Patagonian bumblebee (bomb dahlbomii) colloquially sometimes called, because it is up to four centimeters long. The fur made of hair, which is clearly visible in the close-ups, serves both to collect pollen and to protect against the cold. The Patagonian bumblebee is only found in the forests of southern Chile and Argentina – for now. Patagonian bumblebee populations have declined dramatically since farmers in Chile introduced European bumblebees to pollinate crops thirty years ago. The imported bumblebees are likely to have introduced diseases or to compete with native bumblebees for specific food crops.
Saber-toothed longhorn beetle
Insects are too small to illustrate species extinction with them? The saber-toothed longhorn beetle (Macrodontia cervicornis) grows up to seven inches long. However, he only has this appearance for a few months. It is a larva for most of its life – up to ten years. It lives in the rainforests of South America, where the beetle larvae dig tunnels up to four inches wide in rotting tree trunks. Habitat loss has contributed to the endangered status of these animals. The practice of collecting and selling these beetles—a single specimen can cost thousands of dollars—is another reason for their decline.
Madeira brimstone butterfly
The Madeira brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx maderensis) only exists in the mountains of the Madeira Islands, at an altitude between 300 and 1700 meters. The caterpillar depends on the glandular buckthorn for food, a species of tree found only on Madeira and the Canary Islands. The adult animals live in the crowns of this so-called laurel forest. Although this is largely protected, the forest and butterflies are threatened, especially by increasing agriculture. The butterfly has recently been sighted in only five locations, in an area of less than 500 square kilometers. Since little is known about him, the consequences of his possible extinction are hardly foreseeable.
Small wasp moth
Even if it doesn’t look like it in this picture: This butterfly from Cuba and Florida, the Lesser Wasp Moth (pseudocharis minimums), looks like a wasp in person and flies and behaves like one. This is an effective defense against natural predators. It does not help against human activities. Insecticides to control mosquitoes and plant pests are systematically sprayed in areas where the wasp moth lives – and even limited use can harm these and other insects. Invasive plants crowd out the species on which the wasp moth lays its eggs and on which the orange caterpillars feed.
17 year old cicada
Millions of cicadas occur every seventeen years in certain areas of the United States and Canada (Magicicada septendecim) on. For seventeen years they have grown as so-called nymphs in the ground, up to 370 animals per square meter. Now they burrow out, climb trees, and emerge from their skins as winged adults. The nymphs feed on tree roots and are in turn eaten by moles. The adults live only to mate and all die within a few weeks. Their dead bodies fall to the ground, increasing its nutrient content. Despite the large numbers, they too are being affected: deforestation, building development and infiltration of pesticides can kill the nymphs in the soil before they can hatch and reproduce.
Raspa silk spinner
The Raspa silk spinner (Sphingicampa raspa) has a wingspan of up to eight centimeters. It is found only in hot, dry areas of Arizona, western Texas and Mexico. The caterpillars live on prairie acacias, small trees that depend on the monsoon season. If these reliable annual rainfalls are disrupted by climate change, the silk moth and other moths and butterflies are at risk.
Blue Calamintha Bee
Blue is not necessarily a color associated with a bee. The Calamintha Bee (osmia calaminthae) from Florida shows that it doesn’t always have to be just yellow stripes. The fact that little is known about them makes it even more difficult to protect them. She depends on pollen from a rare species of mint native to Florida’s dwindling bush regions. Researchers estimate that the number of these blue bees has decreased by up to 90 percent.
Nine-spotted ladybug
The nine-spotted ladybug (Coccinella novemnotata) is the official insect of the state of New York. These beetles used to be widespread, but their numbers suddenly declined in the 1980s for reasons that are still unclear. Until specimens were rediscovered in 2006, the ladybug was even thought to be extinct for a while. Cornell University scientists began collecting the bugs and growing them in a lab. Thousands of them have released them in New York and other parts of the Northeastern United States. And they sell live beetle larvae to garden owners. Because ladybugs are not only pretty to look at, but also extremely efficient pest controllers. This insect is not fluffy. But its benefit for humans is directly visible and easy to understand.
exhibition «Extinct & Endangered» in the American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, New York. The associated illustrated book was published on January 1st, 2023 and is also available in Switzerland.