Ek kyk nie, laat staan nog spesies identifiseer.

It is an idiomatic way to say let alone, much less, or never mind.

So the structure is:

• first statement: Ek kyk nie = I don’t look / I’m not even looking
• stronger follow-up: laat staan nog spesies identifiseer = let alone identify species

The idea is: if the first, easier thing is not happening, the second, harder thing is even less likely.

Because nie is already at the end of the first clause: Ek kyk nie.

In Afrikaans, that is normal when the verb phrase ends the clause:

• Ek slaap nie.
• Hy werk nie.
• Ons kyk nie.

You only get the more obviously double pattern when something comes after the first nie inside the same clause:

• Ek kyk nie televisie nie.
• Hy eet nie vleis nie.

In your sentence, the first clause ends at nie, and then laat staan nog... adds an extra idea after that. So the negation is complete already.

Because Afrikaans, like English, often leaves out repeated material when it is easy to understand from context.

Compare English:

• I’m not even looking, let alone identifying species.

You do not have to repeat I am in the second part, because it is understood.

The same happens here:

• Ek kyk nie, laat staan nog spesies identifiseer.

The subject ek is still understood in the second part.

Because the second part is not a normal main clause with a finite verb in second position. It is a reduced verb phrase after laat staan nog.

In Afrikaans:

• main clauses usually have the finite verb early: Ek identifiseer spesies.
• non-finite or reduced verb phrases often place the object before the verb: spesies identifiseer

So here spesies identifiseer functions more like identifying species than like a full sentence.

Because after laat staan nog, Afrikaans normally uses a bare verb phrase, not om te.

So this is natural:

• Ek kan skaars lees, laat staan nog skryf.
• Hy kan nie eens ry nie, laat staan nog parkering doen.

In this pattern, the verb comes directly after the object or complement if there is one:

• spesies identifiseer

Using om te here would usually sound much less natural.

Literally, laat staan does come from words meaning something like let stand or leave aside, but in this expression you should treat it as a fixed idiom.

So it is better to learn:

• laat staan nog = let alone / much less

rather than trying to build the meaning word by word.

Nog strengthens the expression.

Without going too literally, it helps give the sense of:

• let alone
• never mind even
• much less

So laat staan nog is stronger and more idiomatic than just laat staan on its own in this kind of sentence.

It can be either, depending on context. Like English species, Afrikaans spesies often has the same form for singular and plural.

So:

• ’n spesies = a species
• spesies = species

In this sentence, it will usually be understood as plural because identify species is the most natural reading.

The comma separates the main statement from the idiomatic follow-up.

So the structure is:

• first clause: Ek kyk nie
• added emphatic phrase: laat staan nog spesies identifiseer

This is similar to English punctuation in sentences like:

• I’m not even looking, let alone identifying species.

The comma helps show that the second part is an afterthought that intensifies the first one.