A new species of insect has been discovered among more than 1,000 rare creatures catalogued for a survey of the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland.
The results of the study are included in a book launched by Scottish Natural Heritage on Monday. The Christii fly (Ectaetia christii) was discovered under the bark of a fallen aspen tree near Grantown in 1997 by Graham Rotheray of the National Museum of Scotland and Dave Horsfield of SNH. The tiny black Christii fly measures just 2mm long and lives under the bark of dead aspen trees.
Another 20 plants, invertebrates and fungi species found were also new to Britain and some were new to science. The book, The Nature of the Cairngorms, also includes 223 species mainly found in the area and some 1,150 species for which the mountains are nationally important.
