ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo from the University of Hawaii, a Hawaiian picture-wing insect, D. differens, is shown. Twelve species of the flies are now protected under the Endangered Species Act.
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Rare Hawaiian flies are granted protected status
By Tara Godvin
Associated Press
Twelve species of rare picture-wing flies known for elaborate courtship displays and found only in the Hawaiian Islands are now protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the new protected status for the highly valued insects yesterday.
"The Hawaiian picture-wings ... are one of our most important endemic invertebrates in Hawaii," said Brent Plater, a staff attorney in the San Francisco office of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Arizona-based group had filed a lawsuit in March 2005 accusing the service of violating the act because years after a 2001 proposal for the flies' protected status was made, the process for listing the flies as endangered still hadn't moved ahead.
Last summer, a U.S. district judge ordered the federal government to begin protecting the species by April 2006 and their habitats by next year.
Picture-wing flies are about two to three times the size of common house flies and are considered harmless to humans. Other species of picture-wing flies are found outside Hawaii.
The 106 species of Hawaiian picture-wing flies are each specially adapted to a particular island and habitat, ranging from arid areas to rain forests. The flies are named for the intricate markings on their clear wings and are known for their elaborate performances when protecting their territory or courting a mate.
Six of the newly protected flies are found on Oahu. One each are on Kauai, Molokai and Maui. And three are native to the Big Island.
Eleven of the flies were granted endangered status, while a 12th was granted threatened status by the federal government. But the two different statuses are unlikely to make a difference in how they will be protected under the Endangered Species Act, which includes protections for the environments in which the flies live, Plater said.
The flies of Hawaii have been studied by scientists for four decades, said Kenneth Kaneshiro, a professor of entomology and director of the Center for Conservation Research and Training at the University of Hawaii.
An estimated 1,000 species of the Drosophilidae family, including picture-wings, live in the islands. That relatively high number of species concentrated in one area, along with the flies' unique courtship behaviors, have helped change the way scientists think about evolution, he said.