Graduate Student Identifies Dozens of New Fly Species

Over the past seven years, Xiao-Long Lin has characterized nearly 70 new species of nonbiting midges and developed DNA barcodes to aid in future ecological surveys.

Written byJef Akst

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ONE AMONG MANY: Stenochironomus gibbus (above) and Manoa xianjuensis (below) are just two members of the hyperdiverse Chironomidae family of flies. XIAO-LONG LIN

When Xiao-Long Lin started a master’s/PhD combo program in the College of Life Sciences at Nankai University in Tianjin, China, in 2010, he was just hoping that the degree would help him land a job. But once he got a taste of identifying new insect species, there was no turning back.

He focused on cataloging diversity in nonbiting midges of the chironomid family. “I spent all my time collecting a lot of specimens in summer and in winter in one province,” he recalls. “I love it. It’s like an adventure to discover more species.” All told, he collected thousands of specimens in China’s Zhejiang province, comprising more than 300 species—38 of which were new to science.

Given the size of the chironomid family, though, perhaps ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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