Dear entomology colleagues and friends: I am deeply grateful for all of your help in identifying material from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits (RLB) these past months. Recent advances in radiocarbon dating have, 1) demonstrated that Quaternary insect remains can be located with great accuracy in radiocarbon time, and 2) well-dated and documented climate indicator beetle species are sensitive proxies for environmental change in the Los Angeles Basin. Because radiocarbon dating has

A discussion of 40,000 year-old insect fragments extracted from the camel skull “Clyde” found at the La Brea Tar Pits with Dr. Art E. Vans and producer Steve Clark for Richmond Public Radio 88.9FM "What's Bugging You", a weekly radio segment on insects, which airs during "Morning Addition".

Preliminary analyses of Tar Pit insects provide evidence for more aridity and warmth than previously proposed for the transition from late Ice Age to modern times. Click on the image below to learn more from Dr. Kipling Will's website (UC Berkeley).