New species of wasp identified in Goa

Prakash Kamat

MAY 29, 2019 22:50 IST

UPDATED: MAY 29, 2019 22:51 IST

A new species of wasp from the genus Kudakrumia has been recently identified by scientists in Goa.

The wasp, Kudakrumia rangnekari, was named after Goa-based researcher Parag Rangnekar.

“A species being named after me comes as a complete surprise. Mixed feelings at the moment, of joy and for some unknown reason slightly uncomfortable,” Mr. Rangnekar said. The new species was collected in the forests of Western Ghats.

His quest to document the butterflies of this unique region resulted in a record of 220 species, of which 13 species had not been described before.

He is the author of a book “Butterflies of Goa”, which is perhaps a first field guide with photographs of the species found in this region.

Mr. Rangnekar, who is the founder-president of the Goa Bird Conservation Network, has now taken up the documentation of the dragonflies in the State.

The holotype is from Kotigao Wildlife Sanctuary of Goa of northern Western Ghats and the paratype is from Ranipuram hill of Kerala of southern Western Ghats.

Source

New wasp species with a giant stinger discovered in Amazonia

Date:  July 5, 2018

Source:  University of Turku

Summary:

A newly discovered wasp species in the Amazon has an exceptionally large stinger that surprised even scientists. The new insect, which is found in the extremely diverse transitional zone between the Andes and the Amazonian lowland rainforest, uses its stinger both for laying eggs and injecting venom.

Researchers from the University of Turku, Finland have discovered a new wasp species in the Amazon which has an exceptionally large stinger that surprised even the scientists. The new insect, which is found in the extremely diverse transitional zone between the Andes and the Amazonian lowland rainforest, uses its stinger both for laying eggs and injecting venom.

Researchers from the Biodiversity Unit of the University of Turku, Finland, have in the recent years found and described several new animal species from all over the world -- especially from Amazonia. Many of these animals are unusual in their characteristics and habits. In their latest study, the scientists, in collaboration with colleagues from Colombia, Spain and Venezuela, discovered several wasp species unknown to science from the Amazon which were described and named in the latest issue of the journal Zootaxa.

Read more  

Newly discovered Xenomorph wasp has Alien-like lifecycle

Date: June 27, 2018

Source: University of Adelaide

Summary:

A student has discovered a new species of wasp, named Xenomorph because of its gruesome parasitic lifecycle that echoes the predatory behavior of the Alien movie franchise monster.

The new species, Dolichogenidea xenomorph, injects its eggs into live caterpillars and the baby wasp larvae slowly eat the caterpillar from the inside out, bursting out once they have eaten their fill. The wasp larvae then change into adult wasps and continue the hunt for more caterpillars in which to lay their eggs.

The wasp is one of three newly documented wasps that are parasitoids -- parasites which must kill their host to complete their lifecycle.

Continued  

Lusius malfoyi wasp: New Zealand insect named after Harry Potter villain

Entomologist names parasitoid wasp after ‘redeemed’ character Lucius Malfoy in hope of showing not all wasps are bad

Eleanor Ainge Royin Dunedin

Tuesday 10 October 2017 05.55 BST

A Harry Potter fan turned entomologist has named a wasp after a redeemed villain in the series in the hope of drawing attention to the much maligned insect.

Tom Saunders named and described a New Zealand parasitoid wasp as part of his masters study at Auckland University.

The wasp, which he named Lusius malfoyi, is one of 3000 wasps endemic to New Zealand, none of which sting or cause any problems to humans.

“The dominant narrative is wasps are bad and they sting people and they are awful,” said Saunders.

“But if you look at the diversity of wasps around the world you’ll find only a tiny fraction, less than 1% are pests and problems. And the vast majority of them play a fairly critical roles in the ecosystems they live in.”

The wasp Lusius malfoyi was named after the fictional character Lucius Malfoy, who is the father of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series.

Continued

'Star dust' wasp is a new extinct species named after David Bowie's alter ego

Date: June 22, 2017
Source: Pensoft Publishers

During her study on fossil insects of the order Hymenoptera at China's Capitol Normal University, student Longfeng Li visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, carrying two unidentified wasp specimens that were exceptionally well-preserved in Burmese amber. This type of fossilized tree resin is known for the quality of the fossil specimens which can be preserved inside it. Being 100 million years old, they provide an incredible view into the past.

The subsequent analysis of the specimens revealed that both represent species new to science. Furthermore, one of the wasps showed such amazing similarities to a modern group of wasps that it was placed in a currently existing genus, Archaeoteleia which has long been considered as an ancient lineage. The species are described in a study published in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

However, Archaeoteleia has changed since the times when the ancient wasp got stuck on fresh tree resin. The authors note that "a novice might not recognize the characters that unite the fossil with extant species." For instance, the modern wasp species of the genus show visibly longer antennal segments and a different number of teeth on the mandible when compared to the fossil. In turn, the description of the new extinct species enhances the knowledge about living species by highlighting anatomical structures shared by all species within the genus.

Continued

New ‘Crypt keeper’ wasp species might be the creepiest thing we’ve ever seen

January 26, 2017

by Brett Smith 

Researchers have found a new wasp species with a life cycle so unpleasant; they named it after Set, the Egyptian god of evil and mayhem.

Indigenous to the southeastern United States, the wasp, which scientists nicknamed the crypt-keeper, lays its egg within the small, wooden compartments a different wasp species, the gall wasp (Bassettia pallida), builds inside live sand oak trees.

As soon as the egg hatches, the E. set larva digs into the other wasp and takes control of its brain, compelling it to tunnel out of the tree, a task the crypt-keeper has a hard time doing by itself.

In a final cruel twist, the E. set larva then causes its host to punch out a hole not quite big enough for it to escape. After the bigger wasp is stuck in the hole it’s burrowed, the crypt-keeper eats its host from within, finally erupting from the host’s head and out into the world.

The wasp and its insidious behavior was detailed in two recently published papers: one in the journal ZooKeys and the other in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

How to study such an insidious creature

To see how effective E. set could tunnel on its own, study researchers taped slender strips of bark over the dead heads of the host wasp and waited. The trials revealed the crypt-keeper was around three times more prone to perish in the crypt if it had to burrow through both the head and the bark. The experiment revealed just how much the crypt-keeper needs a host.

Read more at

Rediscovering a wasp after 101 years

June 20, 2016 by Sean Nealon

A species of wasp that is a natural enemy of a wood-boring beetle that kills black locust trees has been rediscovered, more than 100 years after the last wasp of this species was found.

The discovery is significant because the wood-boring beetle, known as the locust borer, is considered a serious pest that has discouraged planting of black locusts, which played an important role in American history. The trees, whose wood is strong, hard and extremely durable, helped build the Jamestown settlement and were featured prominently at George Washington's Mount Vernon.

The only previous known specimens of the wasp (Oobius depressus) date back to 1914 and were found in Morristown, Illinois. The problem with those specimens is that they were missing their heads and antennae, making them difficult to identify even by specialists of that wasp family, Encyrtidae.

That led Serguei V. Triapitsyn, director of the UC Riverside Entomology Research Museum, and Toby R. Petrice, an entolomogist with the U.S.D.A. Forest Service Northern Research Station in Lansing, Mich., to search for new specimens.

This was not an easy task because eggs of locust borer, particularly ones parasitized by this wasp, are extremely difficult to find. Adults of the locust borer itself, on the other hand, are common in the Midwest in early fall because they feed on the pollen of goldenrod.

Because females visit black locust trees to lay eggs, the scientists placed an insect trap designed to collect beetles and other arboreal insects in the canopy of a black locust tree at Rose Lake State Wildlife Area in Bath Charter Township, Mich., from August to October 2015.

Petrice installed and maintained the trap and collected samples in ethanol, which were then sent in early 2016 to the UC Riverside Entomology Research Museum for sorting in Triapitsyn's lab by Vladimir V. Berezovskiy, a volunteer who is a retired museum preparator.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-06-rediscovering-wasp-years.html#jCp

Hollywood star Brad Pitt shares a name with a new wasp species from South Africa

Date: May 4, 2016

Source: Pensoft Publishers

While thinking of a name for the new wasp, Dr Buntika A. Butcher, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, recalled her long hours of studying in her laboratory right under the poster of her favourite film actor. This is how a parasitic wasp from South Africa was named after Hollywood star Brad Pitt. The researchers have published their findings in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The new wasp species, called Conobregma bradpitti, belongs to a large worldwide group of wasps parasitising in moth or butterfly caterpillars. These wasps lay their eggs into a host, which once parasitised starts hardening. Thus, the wasp cocoon can safely develop and later emerge from the 'mummified' larva. Despite their macabre behaviour, many of these wasp species are considered valuable in agriculture because of their potential as biological control.

Read more …

The wasp with a face shaped like a knife blade

The newly-discovered insect has a large ridge in the middle of its face, which it might use to rip caterpillars open

Presented by

Michael Marshall

Meet Cyranorogas depardieui. It's a wasp, but not like any wasp you've ever seen. Its face has a sharp ridge, like the blade of a knife, sticking out of it.

The new wasp was discovered during an expedition to Mount Wilhelm, the highest mountain in Papua New Guinea, in 2012.

It has now been formally described in the Journal of Natural History by Buntika Butcher and Donald Quicke of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

"The wasp is very unusual," says Quicke.

The species name contains two jokes about big noses. "Cyranorogas" refers to Cyrano de Bergerac, a 17th-century French playwright who supposedly had a large nose, while "depardieui" refers to the actor Gérard Depardieu, who played Bergerac in a 1990 film.

Continued ...

New species of wasp discovered by Canadian scientists

By Tim Sandle

Jan 13, 2014 in Environment

Canadian researchers have found 16 new species of wasps from the Nearctic region. So far, seven of the species have been cataloged and described.

The Nearctic region is one of the eight terrestrial ecozones dividing the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic ecozone covers most of North America, including Greenland and the highlands of Mexico. Southern Mexico, southern Florida, Central America, and the Caribbean islands are part of the Neotropic ecozone, together with South America.

The specimens were identified as new species by using stereomicroscopy and a field-emission gun environmental scanning electron microscope.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/new-species-of-wasp-discovered-by-canadian-scientists/article/365777#ixzz2rWVWz28i

Wasp Cuts Bee In Half, Because Nature Is Just The Worst (VIDEO)

It's the circle of life. But more realistically, it's just a wasp doing what it does best -- being a monstrous jerk.

In what is less of an epic fight and more of an epic annihilation, a wasp tears a bee in half before casually flying away with half of its carcass, probably to show all his wasp bros his new trophy.

The video, posted to YouTube and Reddit by user sublimegismo shows a group of friends marveling at the beauty of nature while more than likely participating in smoking some nature as well.

The video is a perfect mix of terrifying visuals and hilarious audio.

Is it possible that these are the same dudes who were viciously karate-kicked by a ninja squirrel?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/wasp-cuts-bee-in-half-video_n_3804971.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

100-Million-Year-Old Spider Attack Found in Amber

Researchers have found trapped in amber a rare dinosaur-age scene of a spider attacking a wasp caught in its web.

The piece of amber, which contains 15 intact strands of spider silk, provides the first fossil evidence of such an assault, the researchers said. It was excavated in a Burmese mine and dates back to the Early Cretaceous, between 97 million and 110 million years ago.

"This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to it," George Poinar, Jr., a zoology professor at Oregon State University, said in a statement.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/23796-spider-attack-found-in-amber.html

Killer Spider Meets Its Match in Tiny Wasp

Throughout Australia, a tiny wasp stings and paralyzes redback spiders before laying an egg that develops into a larva and slowly devours the dangerous arachnids, Australian researchers have announced.

The find is good news for Australians watching out for the redbacks, a type of spider whose bite can potentially be lethal.

The wasp was first described scientifically in 1775 by a Danish entomologist, thanks to samples collected in 1768 in Australia by Captain James Cook. But since then, "scientists have largely forgotten about the wasp," said professor Andy Austin, a researcher at Australia's University of Adelaide, in a statement.

Continued: http://www.livescience.com/23089-spider-hunting-wasp.html

'King of Wasps' found in Indonesia: Two-and-a-half inch monster has jaws longer than its legs

A new species of wasp discovered on the Indonesian island Sulawesi is two-and-a-half inches long, and has jaws so vast that its discoverer admits, 'I don't know how it can walk.'

Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, says ‘Its jaws are so large that they wrap up either side of the head when closed. When the jaws are open they are actually longer than the male’s front legs.'

Kimsey discovered the warrior wasp on the Mekongga Mountains in southeastern Sulawesi.

She says its enormous size and ferocity makes it like 'the Komodo Dragon of wasps'.

‘I’m going to name it Garuda, after the national symbol of Indonesia,’ Kimsey said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2119343/King-Wasps-Indonesia-Two-half-inch-monster-jaws-longer-legs.html#ixzz1qDcg71Y8 

Parasitism: wasp uses ladybird as “zombie bodyguard”

The parasitic wasp Dinocampus coccinellae is no fool! It controls a ladybird, lays an egg in its abdomen and turns it into the bodyguard of its cocoon. This surprising host-parasite manipulation has been observed and analyzed by researchers from the Laboratoire Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (CNRS/IRD/Université Montpellier 1) and the Université de Montréal. Although this strategy enables the wasps to protect their larvae from predation, it has a cost: the wasps pay for it in terms of fertility. The researchers have also demonstrated the reversible character of this manipulation: once the larvae have hatched, some ladybirds can recover normal behavior. This work is published on-line on the website of Biology Letters.


Dinocampus coccinellae is a common parasitic wasp of the spotted lady beetle Coleomegilla maculata. Females deposit a single egg in the abdomen of their host, the ladybird, and during larval development (around twenty days) the parasite feeds on the host’s tissues. Then, the wasp larva breaks out through the ladybird’s abdomen, without killing it, and begins spinning a cocoon between the ladybird's legs. The ladybird, partially paralyzed, is forced to stand guard over the cocoon!

The novel manipulation strategy is intriguing in several ways: whereas the immense majority of parasitic wasps kill their host while they grow, the ladybird parasited by D. coccinellae remains alive. In addition, the behavioral manipulation occurs once the larva has left its host.

The mechanisms of this manipulation have been closely scrutinized by Frédéric Thomas’ team at the Laboratoire Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (CNRS/IRD/Universités Montpellier 1 et 2), in collaboration with researchers from the Université de Montréal. The researchers believe that the ladybird’s atypical behavior results from a manipulation orchestrated by the wasp in order to be protected from predation up to the end of its larval development, in other words up to the emergence of the adult wasp. The scientists have shown in the laboratory that the cocoons of wasps guarded by a ladybird are much less vulnerable to predation than cocoons left on their own, or cocoons guarded by a ladybird killed for experimental purposes. Secretions left by the larva when it breaks out could force the ladybird to protect the cocoon once the larva has come out.

The wasp larva grows by using the resources of its host. However, these resources must remain sufficient for the ladybird, since it cannot feed itself while guarding the cocoon.

This work also enabled the researchers to validate a theoretical model, according to which parasites cannot maximize both their effort of reproduction and manipulation.

The researchers have demonstrated a negative correlation between the length of the ladybird's guarding period and the fecundity of the wasp. Everything happens as if the wasp larva had to “choose” between using the resources of the ladybird to produce eggs (which will be available at the adult age) or making them last while sparing the ladybird and keeping it alive.

Finally, the researchers were surprised to observe that around 25% of the manipulated ladybirds recovered normal behavior after the emergence of the adult wasp, a very rare case of reversible manipulation.


http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/firstcite
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