We think we just discovered some new species living in New York City

A random selection of some of the insects that we collected in NYC. | Paige Vickers/Vox; BOLD Earlier this summer, Vox set up two big bug traps in New York City — like, literal traps that catch bugs.

Our goal was to try to discover a new insect species right in the middle of the city because the bulk of them are still unknown to science.

We now have some exciting, albeit preliminary, results to share.

During the month of June — the only month we’ve analyzed so far — our traps captured an estimated 12,000 insect specimens, which we sent to a lab at the University of Guelph in Canada for analysis.

The lab, known as the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, pulled out specimens across three groups: scuttle flies and two kinds of wasps known as parasitoids, which lay their eggs in other insects.

We’re focusing on these groups, because they’re considered “ dark taxa ,” meaning that most species within them are likely still undiscovered.

That left us with just under 1,000 specimens from June to investigate further.

From there, the lab sequenced a short section of DNA from each specimen, known as a barcode.

Those DNA barcodes are unique identifiers for individual organisms, and scientists use them to sort specimens.

When individuals have very similar barcodes, that often means they are the same species.

The vanishing bug trap, and other challenges In late July, the insect trap we set up in Central Park — which is about 5 feet long and 4 feet tall — suddenly disappeared.

We have no idea where it went.

Luckily, we had a spare trap.

Such are the challenges of sampling in a big city.