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New species of wasp discovered in Ireland

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  • 28-08-2008 11:59pm
    #1
    EGAR
    Registered Users Posts: 2,874 ✭✭✭


    New species of wasp found in Mayo
    Thursday, 28 August 2008 16:49
    A new species of insect has been discovered in Ireland after it hatched on a scientist's desk.

    The chance discovery of the parasitic bug was made by a Welsh researcher who was studying the life-cycle of marsh flies in fields in Co Mayo.

    Chris Williams was waiting for flies to hatch in jam jars on his desk when, to his surprise, a different species of parasitic wasp crawled out.

    'I came across two little black marsh fly puparia and kept them in jam jars on my desk expecting that adult marsh flies might hatch but what emerged were two different species of parasitic wasp,' he said.

    The insects had been collected from a field in Ardkill Turlough.

    Dr Williams, originally from Mid-Glamorgan in Wales, was studying for his PhD at NUI Galway, when he made the significant discovery.

    It is the first time a parasitic wasp species new to science has been discovered in Ireland. To mark the find, part of its name refers to the ancient Latin name for Ireland - Mesoleptus Hibernica.

    'When we finally discovered that one of these insects had never been recorded before, the question then was what to call this creature,' Dr Williams said.

    'After resisting the temptation to name it after someone I know - who really wants to be named after a parasite? - we settled on naming it Mesoleptus Hibernica in honour of the country where it was discovered.'

    Unlike the common and much-maligned garden wasp, this new species is from a family of parasites which lays eggs inside fly larvae or pupae.

    The eggs then hatch out and feed on the maggot or pupa, eventually killing it. Subsequently the wasp larvae develop inside the maggot and emerge as adult wasps.

    Dr Williams, a post-doctoral fellow, discovered the wasp while researching the equally gruesome phenomenon of snail-killing marsh flies under the supervision of Mike Gormally, director of NUI Galway's Applied Ecology Unit.

    An international team of scientists has been brought together to identify the wasp, including experts from Italy, Finland and England.



    http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0828/wasp.html


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