Flies Get Federal Protection

Twelve species of rare flies known fortheir elaborate courtship displays and found only in the Hawaiian Islands arenow protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the protectedstatus for the highly valued picture-wing flies Tuesday.

The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity sued theservice in March 2005, accusing it of violating the Endangered Species Act. Thecenter said the agency did not move ahead fast enough on listing the flies asendangered after a 2001 proposal for the flies' protected status was made.

"The Hawaiian picture-wings ... are one of our mostimportant endemic invertebrates in Hawaii," said Brent Plater, a staffattorney in the center's San Francisco office.

Picture-wing flies are about two to three times the size ofcommon house flies and are considered harmless to humans. Other species ofpicture-wing flies are found outside Hawaii.

The flies are named for the intricate markings on theirclear wings and are known for their elaborate performances when protectingtheir territory or courting a mate.

Last summer, a district court judge ordered the federalgovernment to begin protecting the species by April 2006 and their habitats bythe following year.

Six of the newly protected flies are found on Oahu. One eachare on Kauai, Molokai and Maui. Three are native to the Big Island, where oneof the three species was thought to be extinct before a very small populationwas located in 1993.

Eleven of the flies were granted endangered status, while atwelfth was granted threatened status by the federal government.

The two different statuses are unlikely to make a differencein how they will be protected under the Endangered Species Act, which includesprotections for the environments in which the flies live, Plater said.

The flies of Hawaii have been studied by scientists for fourdecades, said Kenneth Kaneshiro, a professor of entomology and director of theCenter 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 ofspecies concentrated in one area, along with the flies' unique courtshipbehaviors, have helped change the way scientists think about evolution, hesaid.

Kaneshiro's own work focuses primarily on picture-wingflies. And a theory of evolution named after him postulates that it's not justnatural selection but also mating behavior that plays a role in the birth ofnew species.

Researchers have also found antibiotic resistant bacteria onsome Hawaiian flies, including some of the newly protected species, that mayhelp scientists find new ways to combat diseases such as bird flu and evencancer, he said.

Although the protection of the 12 species is meant to ensurethey will be around to help scientists make more important discoveries, up to200 more species of flies also likely need similar protections, Kaneshiro said.