The San Diego Natural History Museum recently concluded a show in spring of 2013 that features a fascinating group of pieces by artist Joe Rossano from his BOLD series. Much of the artwork here was inspired by species discovered by Drs. Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs and the GDFCF team in Costa Rica. The artwork depicts the role of DNA barcoding in helping solve one of the most vexing problems in science; the identification of "cryptic species," those species which look and act alike but which are genetically different from each other. Many cryptic species exist in Costa Rica and their discovery has led scientists to continually enlarge the estimates of numbers of species living in this biological hotspot. Alongside Joe's artwork are stunning photographs of various colorful caterpillars taken by Dan Janzen over the course of many years.
More information on this special art show and Joe Rossano can be found here, at theMuseum's announcement, Joe's website, and here, thanks to Janie DeCelles.