Stay! New species are lurking around us

Seaside Lycoris Picture Bai Yu

Baohua Old Crow Petal Picture Bai Yu

Scientists have said that only 10% to 15% of species on Earth have been discovered by humans. The remaining species still need generations of caring people to explore, although they may have already existed around us - perhaps inhabiting the flower beds in your neighborhood, but you must have a pair of eyes that can discover them.

Seaside Lycoris radiata: "Flowers and leaves do not see each other"

In September this year, I saw patches of seaside amaryllis blooming in a forest in Tianma Mountain Park in Songjiang, Shanghai. Although the flowering period is coming to an end, there are still many flowers that have not yet withered. Few passers-by probably know that this is a plant of the genus Amaryllis in the Amaryllis family that was not officially identified as an independent species until 2021.

The flowers of the seaside Lycoris are a gradient of blue to pink, which is particularly eye-catching. This plant is widely distributed in southern Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Fujian on the southeast coast of my country, and often grows on islands and coastal forests. In late summer every year, its flower stems seem to emerge directly from the soil or cracks in the rocks without any warning, and bloom colorful flowers. It is not until the mission of flowering and fruiting in late autumn and early winter that it grows clusters of green ribbon-shaped leaves, and withers again the next year, which fully demonstrates the characteristic of Lycoris plants that "flowers and leaves do not meet".

Due to their similar shapes, people have long considered it the same species as the same genus Lycoris radiata, which is distributed in Hubei, Anhui and other inland areas of China. In addition, researchers have also found that the relationship between Lycoris radiata and Lycoris radiata is not that close. It is more closely related to Lycoris sanguinea, which is native to Japan and has been introduced and cultivated in China in small quantities.

So, for the first time, I realized that to discover a new species, you don’t have to venture into deep mountains and forests, plateau deserts, or even uninhabited areas. Sometimes, a new species is hidden in the center of our city where wildlife resources are extremely scarce, waiting to be discovered by a pair of observant eyes.

Baohua Old Crow Petal is finally "independent"

Similar to the situation of Lycoris radiata is the case of the old crow petals of Baohua. In the mountains and fields of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, when the weather turns cold in late winter and early spring, the old crow petals of Baohua are the first to bloom among the withered yellow. Its pure white figure, before the cold weather has subsided, not only gives the earliest news of spring to the tourists, but also provides precious nectar to the pollinating insects that have been dormant for the winter.

Although the Baohua old crow petal is named after the model origin - Baohua Mountain in Jurong, Jiangsu, its distribution range is not limited to this place. Wild plants can be seen in many places in Jiangsu, Anhui and Shanghai, and it is not uncommon. However, for many years people often thought it was just an ordinary old crow petal and did not regard it as an independent species.

Although the Baohua crow's nest actually has many characteristics that are different from the crow's nest species, such as three bracts and a white stripe in the center of the leaves, many people simply regard them as individual differences or accidental mutations, and are not aware that it is actually a new species that has not yet been named by humans.

Not long ago, I came across the news that a three-bracted old crow's petal in the Yangtze River Delta was published as a new species and named "Baohua old crow's petal" in 2019. Looking through the photos I took before, I found that I had recorded its presence on the campus of a university in Nanjing as early as 2016, but like most nature lovers, I regarded it as an ordinary old crow's petal.

This once again made me feel that “new species” are not all rare creatures, sometimes they are “lurking” around us.

New species don't necessarily need to be in remote areas.

In recent years, news about the discovery of new species has often become a hot topic in the media. In the animal world, there are Chinese stone crabs, red-lipped thorny lizards, and firefly leaf beetles; in the plant world, there are Astragalus membranaceus, Orchidaceae, and Isoetes qingfengensis; and in the fungus world, there are chanterelles with white caps...

Every few weeks, or even within a week, there are often multiple new species reported in the news. Some of them are indeed found in remote areas and are impossible to discover without "exploration", but others, such as Astragalus membranaceus, are actually very common in their places of origin and are even used as forage by local farmers.

This is just like Newton discovering gravity when he saw an apple falling. It should be common for people walking by an apple tree to see apples falling from the tree, but most of them take it for granted and it is natural. People often encounter similar situations when they walk by a new species: when they see a plant that has not been discovered by science blooming, people either say "this flower is so beautiful" or "it's just an ordinary flower", and few people explore it in depth.

Of course, the widespread existence of new species does not mean that we can arbitrarily identify an organism as a new species without research. Only through rigorous scientific research can we draw convincing conclusions. In recent years, some "invalid species" have appeared in biological classifications - some of which come from the misidentification of variant individuals and special individuals. Just like the relationship between the falling apple and the formula of gravity, it is by no means a guess, but a lot of observation, measurement and calculation.

[The author Bai Yu is a student in Class 1, Grade 1, Songjiang No. 2 Middle School, Shanghai]