How can late Ice Age to modern insects from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits impact your research?

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 shown that RLB represent extant species from during the transition from late Ice Age to present day, please let me know how this has, or may possibly impact your research on modern insects.

I hope to raise the profile and utility of the RLB collection as it clearly has applications for neontologists and paleontologists alike, which I am currently noting in my next publication. Thank you for any authentic and detailed info you can provide. You can also contact me at aholden@amnh.org. Please share this post! Or, forward it as an email.