As well as an interest in all insects, Flinders
biological sciences Ph.D. Ben Parslow has a fascination for wasps.
The focus of his doctorate research on the
wasp genus Gasteruption has accidently has put him on the trail of describing
the 11th species of an
endemic Australian wasp genus.
It's estimated that there are three times the
10,140 or so described species of wasps still to be identified by scientists in Australia.
As such, he was most excited to come across a
"really interesting looking wasp" in material loaned from a
collection at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
"These Hyptiogaster wasps are uncommonly
collected and the material was loaned to myself hidden among other wasps I am borrowing
for my Ph.D. research," he says.
"It was a strange looking wasp and as
soon as I saw it, it piqued my interest.
"After checking it against the described
material, we were sure it was something new."
With University of Adelaide mentor Dr. John
Jennings, the "new" Hyptiogaster wasp has been described in a new
paper in Zootaxa.
"This species is the first of the genus
to be described from the Northern Territory," he says.
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