Nine New African and Madagascan Wasp Species Discovered
Posted on March 19, 2013
Nine new African and Madagascan wasp species have been discovered. An image of Paramblynotus behara, a new species for Madagascar and a first record of the genus for the island, is pictured above. The image below shows Paramblynotus zohy, another new wasp species from Madagascar.
The new wasps were reported in an article published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research by Dr. Simon van Noort, from Natural History Department, Iziko South African Museum, and Dr. Matthew L. Buffington from the Systematic Entomology Lab, USDA. Two of the was specimens were discovered in the 1930s by Andre Seyrig and have been held in the Natural History Museum in Paris since then. Dr. van Noort says finding the field box filled with unique wasps was like opening a present when he was a child.
The wasps belong to the genus Paramblynotus and are part of the Mayrellinae subfamily. The researchers say these are "extremely rare wasps" and little is knoiwn about their biology. The researchers say the wasps are all assumed to be parasitoid of wood-boring beetle larvae.
Dr. van Noort said in a statement, "Discovering the field box full of unusual wasps was reminiscent of excitement around opening presents as a child. In fact most new samples of wasps collected in the region evoke such a response when first sorted under a microscope. There is a huge diversity of undiscovered species in Africa and Madagascar and every new sample contains species unknown to science. Seyrig was a prolific collector of wasps. It was a privilege to be able to work on some of his specimens that had not been examined by specialist taxonomists since they were collected in the 1930's."