New species discovered in Bland County

An excursion to the center of the earth isn’t necessary to discover a new species of living creature.

Sometimes all it takes is a trip to the back yard. Lifelong Bastian resident Stephen Levitt spent 53 years on Grapefield Road and never once noticed anything different about the critters in Wolf Creek that borders the family land. It took a pair of researchers from Colorado State University’s Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management department to distinguish a new species of stonefly found in the waterway. Research assistant Chris Verdone said he and his department head, Dr. Boris Kondratieff, conducted an investigation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services in the spring of 2016.

-By Jasmine Dent Franks