# Natural History Museum of LA County study: over 60,000 insect species in California

- Published: 2026-11-05 05:48 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Biology & biochemistry
- Tags: California insects, insect species count, DNA barcoding, California Insect Barcode Initiative, Malaise trap, Mojave Basin and Range, insect biodiversity, community science
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-18fd52cc96a98118a8539563_natural_history_museum/

**The California Insect Barcode Initiative reports that only about two-thirds of the state's insect species are described; over one million specimens were DNA barcoded.**

![Natural History Museum of LA County study: over 60,000 insect species in California](https://sgzwpqqelzmajkcubgkl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/rt-media/2026/11/075a9c2a499a521a.webp)
*Popular Science*

A study in the journal Ecography finds more than 60,000 insect species in California, of which scientists have described only about two-thirds, according to eurekalert.org. The work was led by researchers at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM). The authors also report that essentially every site studied had its own distinct insect community [1].

The result comes from the California Insect Barcode Initiative (CIBI), a six-million-dollar grant-funded project to collect and identify every insect species in the state. NHM researchers worked with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, UC Berkeley, UC Riverside, the San Diego Natural History Museum and the California Academy of Sciences to DNA barcode more than one million insect specimens. This is the first publication from the project [1].

## Sampling: museum tissue, traps and expeditions

To build the barcode library, the team took tissue samples from museum collections such as NHM's. They also set Malaise traps in 72 ecoregions across the state and made dedicated expeditions to 454 additional locations. Malaise traps capture insects passively, but they need regular maintenance [1].

Volunteers managed many of the traps. "This is an example of community science. Volunteers stepped forward to help with sampling by managing traps, which we would not have been able to do for continuous weekly sampling," said co-author and NHM Entomology collections manager Giar-Ann Kung. She named Sara Fairchild and Michael Nance, who ran a trap for more than three years at a high desert site, the longest continuous site in the project [1].

## Ecoregions: richness and differences

Ecoregions are areas with similar ecosystems, defined by the Environmental Protection Agency and divided into several levels. The study used Level 3 ecoregions, including the Mojave Basin and Range, Southern California Mountains and Sierra Nevada. The Mojave Basin and Range had the highest insect species richness [1].

The authors also compared parallel ecoregions and found that each had its own mix of insects, even where climate and geography were shared. "The deserts are kind of more similar to each other, and the mountains in northern California are a little bit more similar to each other, but every part of the state hosts a really different insect fauna," said Dr. Barkdull [1].

The authors write that insect life in the state is more abundant and more fragile than previously thought, and they call for more active conservation of California's wild places [1].

## Sources

1. [eurekalert.org](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1149342)
2. [Popular Science](https://www.popsci.com/environment/bugs-in-california)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-18fd52cc96a98118a8539563_natural_history_museum/