Seven New Species of Nearctic Wasps Discovered
Posted on January 24, 2014
Scientists have discovered seven new species of Nearctic wasps. They were found among specimens in collections in the United States National Museum of Natural History and the Canadian National Collection of Insects. Nearctic refers to the Nearctic ecozone, one of eight terrestrial econozones. It includes most of North America, Greenland and the highlands of Mexico.
The wasps are members of the subfamily Charipinae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae). They are described as being very small wasps with smooth and shiny bodies. The specimens were studied using stereomicroscopy and a field-emission gun environmental scanning electron microscope. The new species Alloxysta texana is pictured above and Phaenoglyphis kenaii is pictured below.
A paper about the newly discovered wasps can be found here in Annals of the Entomological Society of America.