Journal of Hymenoptera Research

Journal of Hymenoptera Research links Crocodile Dundee, Toblerone, Game of Thrones & Alien

A myriad of species and genera new to science, including economically important wasps drawing immediate attention because of their amusing names and remarkable physical characters, in addition to work set to lay the foundations for future taxonomic and conservation research, together comprise the latest 64th issue of Journal of Hymenoptera Research (JHR).

The species *Qrocodiledundee outbackense*

Two genera (Qrocodiledundee and Tobleronius) named after the action comedy Crocodile Dundee and the chocolate brand Toblerone are only a couple of the 14 new genera from the monograph of the microgastrine wasps of the world’s tropical regions, authored by Dr Jose Fernandez-Triana and Caroline Boudreault of the Canadian National Collection of insects in Ottawa. In their article, the team also describes a total of 29 new species, where five of them carry the names of institutions holding some of the most outstanding wasp collections.

Another curiously named species of microgastrine wasp described in the new JHR issue, is called Eadya daenerys in reference to Daenerys Targaryen, a fictional character known from the best-selling book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, and the blockbuster TV show Game of Thrones. Discovered by University of Central Florida‘s Ryan Ridenbaugh, Erin Barbeau and Dr Barbara Sharanowski as a result of a collaboration between biocontrol researchers and taxonomists, the new species might not be in control of three dragons, nor a ruler or protector of whole nations. However, by being a potential biocontrol agent against a particular group of leaf beetle pests, it could spare the lives of many eucalyptus plantations around the world.

Furthermore, a wasp named Dolichogenidea xenomorph, which parasitises other eucalyptus pests, is also named after a character from a sought-after franchise. The scriptwriters of the horror sci-fi movie series Alien are thought to have been thinking of parasitic wasps when they came up with the character Xenomorph, remind authors Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, Dr Steven Cooper and Dr Andrew Austin. Additionally, the team from University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum point out that the species name translates to ‘strange form’ in Greek, which perfectly suits the characteristic remarkably long ovipositor of the new wasp.

In another paper of the same journal issue, Dr. Jean-Luc Boevé, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Diego Domínguez, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador, and Dr David Smith, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, USA, publish an illustrated list of the wasp-related sawflies, which they collected from northern Ecuador a few years ago. They also provide a checklist of the country’s species.

In conclusion, the fifth paper, authored by Serbian scientists Dr Milana Mitrovic Institute for Plant Protection and Environment, and Prof Zeljko

Tomanovic, University of Belgrade, studies ways to extract DNA from dry parasitoid wasps from the natural history archives decades after their preservation. In their work, they make it clear that such projects are of great importance for future taxonomic and conservation research, as well as agriculture.

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The open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research is published bimonthly by the scholarly publisher Pensoft on behalf of the International Society of Hymenopterists.

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Original sources:

Boeve; J, Dominguez D, Smith D (2018) Sawflies from northern Ecuador and a checklist for the country (Hymenoptera: Argidae, Orussidae, Pergidae, Tenthredinidae, Xiphydriidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 64: 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.64.24408

Ridenbaugh RD, Barbeau E, Sharanowski BJ (2018) Description of four new species of Eadya (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), parasitoids of the Eucalyptus Tortoise Beetle (Paropsis charybdis) and other Eucalyptus defoliating leaf beetles. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 64: 141-175. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.64.24282

Fagan-Jeffries EP, Cooper SJB, Austin AD (2018) Three new species of Dolichogenidea Viereck (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from Australia with exceptionally long ovipositors. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 64: 177-190. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.64.25219

Mitrovic M, Tomanovic Z (2018) New internal primers targeting short fragments of the mitochondrial COI region for archival specimens from the subfamily Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 64: 191-210. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.64.25399

New wasps named after Crocodile Dundee and Toblerone amongst 17 new genera and 29 species

Five species are also named after institutions holding some of the largest wasp collections

A total of 17 new genera and 29 new species of parasitoid wasps were identified following a study into the material deposited at major natural history collections around the globe in an attempt to further uncover the megadiverse fauna of the group of microgastrine wasps.

The novel taxa known to inhabit the tropics, including the Afrotropical, Australasian, Neotropical and the Oriental region, are published by Dr Jose Fernandez-Triana and Caroline Boudreault of the Canadian National Collection of insects in Ottawa in a monograph in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

Curiously, amongst the newly described wasps, there are several newly described genera and species, which received particularly amusing names.

Reported from the Australasian region, the genus Qrocodiledundee is not only a nod to the famous Australian action comedy ‘Crocodile Dundee’, which also happens to be a favourite of the lead author’s, but also refers to Jose’s own nickname. In the past, Jose himself used to track down and catch crocodiles for scientific study, and was even bitten by one, much like the fictional character played by Paul Hogan. Further, the so far only member known in the genus carries the name Qrocodiledundee outbackense, where the species name (outbackense) alludes to the Outback – the vast and remote interior of Australia.

Another favourite of the first author, the chocolate brand ‘Toblerone’ was in its turn sewn into the genus name Tobleronius. According to the scientists, a segment in the midsection of the bodies of those wasps resembles the triangle pieces comprising the chocolate bars, “if one has enough imagination and love for chocolate!”

Five of the newly discovered species are named in tribute to five major natural history institutions, which are greatly appreciated by the authors due to their outstanding insect collections. These are the species Billmasonius cienci, Carlmuesebecki smithsonian, Gilbertnixonius biem, Jenopappius magyarmuzeum and Ypsilonigaster naturalis referring to the Canadian National Collection of insects in Ottawa (CNC), the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the Natural History Museum in London (formerly known as the British Museum, abbreviated as ‘BM’), the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Magyar Természet-Tudományi Múzeum) and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, respectively.

The rest of the new species and genera were given more conventional names, inspired by the wasps’ distinctive characters, type localities, or were given the names of prominent scientists, as well as beloved friends and family.

Despite of the scale of the present contribution, it is highly likely that there are many more microgastrine wasps still awaiting discovery.

“Although an updated and more comprehensive phylogeny of Microgastrinae is probably years ahead, we hope the present paper contributes toward that goal by describing a significant number of new taxa and making them available for future studies,” conclude the authors.

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Original source:

Fernandez-Triana J, Boudreault C (2018) Seventeen new genera of microgastrine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) from tropical areas of the world. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 64: 25-140. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.64.25453

The ‘Star dust’ wasp is a new extinct species named after David Bowie’s alter ego

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, Archaeoteleiawhich 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.

This fossil wasp with living relatives received quite a curious name, Archaeoteleia astropulvis. The species name, astropulvis, translates from Latin to ‘star dust’. The discoverers chose the name to refer to both “the ancient source of the atoms that form our planet and its inhabitants”, as well as to commemorate the late David Bowie’s alter ego – Ziggy Stardust.

Unlike the Star dust wasp, the second new species belongs to a genus (Proteroscelio) known exclusively from Cretaceous fossils. Likewise, it is a tiny insect, measuring less than 2mm in length. It also plays an important role in taxonomy by expanding the anatomical diversity known from this extinct genus.

The authors conclude that their discovery, especially the Star dust wasp and its placement in an extant genus, where it is the only fossil species, “exemplifies the importance of understanding the extant fauna of a taxon to interpret fossils”.

“Such union of fossil and extant morphologies is especially illuminating and requires examination of both kinds of specimens,” they add.

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Original source:

Talamas EJ, Johnson NF, Buffington ML, Dong R (2016) Archaeoteleia Masner in the Cretaceous and a new species of Proteroscelio Brues (Hymenoptera, Platygastroidea). In: Talamas EJ, Buffington ML (Eds) Advances in the Systematics of Platygastroidea. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 56: 241-261. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.56.10388

Bee species with little known nesting-behavior observed to use plastic instead of leaves

Little is known about the nesting activities of some lineages of megachiline bees. Dr. Sarah Gess, affiliated with both Albany Museum and Rhodes University, South Africa, and Peter Roosenschoon, Conservation Officer at the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, United Arab Emirates, made use of their earlier observations gathered during a survey on flower visitation in the spring of 2015, to fill some gaps in the knowledge of of three species from such lineages.

Among their findings, published in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research, is a curious instance of a bee attempting to build brood cells using green pieces of plastic. Having examined two nests of the leafcutter bee species Megachile (Eurymella) patellimana, they report that one of the females nested in burrows in compacted sandy ground beneath a plant, and the other – in the banks of an irrigation furrow.

However, while the former was seen carrying a freshly cut leaf, the latter seemed to have discovered a curious substitute in the form of green plastic. Later on, upon checking the nest, the researchers found that the phenomenon they had observed was no isolated incident – at least six identical pieces of narrow, tough, green plastic were grouped together in an apparent attempt to construct a cell. It turns out that the bee had been deliberately cutting off approximately 10-milimetre-long pieces with its large and strong toothed mandibles, before bringing them back to the nest.

“Although perhaps incidentally collected, the novel use of plastics in the nests of bees could reflect ecologically adaptive traits necessary for survival in an increasingly human-dominated environment,” the authors quote an earlier study.

The two studied mason bee species (Megachile (Maximegachile) maxillosa and Pseudoheriades grandiceps) were seen to construct their nests using a mixture of resin and sand in pre-existing cavities, such as trap-nests, above the ground. The researchers note that resin is a common nest-building material among numerous species of mason bees, also known as resin bees. Previously, it has been suggested that apart from making the nest waterproof, the plant secretions may contain substances that fend off parasites.

The authors’ earlier paper exploring the flower visitation by bees and wasps in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve is also published in the open-access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

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Original source:

Gess SK, Roosenschoon PA (2017) Notes on the nesting of three species of Megachilinae in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, UAE. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 54: 43-56. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.54.11290

Trapped in a nuclear weapon bunker wood ants survive for years in Poland

Having built their nest over the vertical ventilation pipe of an old nuclear weapon bunker in Poland, every year a large number of wood ants fall down the pipe to never return back to their colony.

Curiously, although trapped in extremely severe conditions underground, the ants have already upped their numbers to these of big, mature natural colonies, while also carrying on with their basic activities of nest maintenance, constructing and moulding. This unique population is described in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research by the team of Polish scientist Wojciech Czechowski, Polish Academy of Science.

The studied colony is still unique, despite the fact that there are previously known similar cases, such as a black garden ant colony that found a home in a chassis of an immobilised car, where the insects had built their nest from mud and dry plant remnants stuck to the underbody. Another wood ant colony is known to have lived in almost complete darkness within a cubic wooden box with no openings apart from a narrow slit at the bottom of one side. Yet, unlike the ants from the bunker, they have all had access to the outside world, having deliberately made their own choice to settle in such extraordinary locations.

Thanks to an yearly campaign set to count the hibernating in the same bunker bats, the ant population was discovered in 2013. Interestingly, when the ants were checked on in 2015, the researchers not only found the population still surviving, but even increasing its numbers.

According to the estimates, they counted at least several hundred thousand workers, arguably close to a million. Moreover, when the researchers went back to the bunker in 2016, they found the mound’s damage, caused on their previous visit, repaired, which showed the population still managed to maintain their nest almost as if they were leading a normal life.

The ant ‘colony’ was found to have built an earthen mound in a small 2.3 m high room with a base area of 3 m x 1.2 m. Normally, such wood ants settle exclusively on large forested islands, where they can forage enough food to answer the high energy demand of the colony.

However, the confined space within the bunker has not been the only obstacle the ants have been facing in their underground trap. Beside the lacking food and light, the ‘colony’ had to also deal with the low temperatures between the one-metre thick ferroconcrete walls. All year long it was no more than 10 °C.

Understandably, the severe conditions within the bunker made reproduction effectively impossible. Although the scientists did undertake a special search for larvae, pupae, empty cocoons or queens, they found nothing. Nor did they find signs of male offspring.

Looking for an answer why the population was still seemingly thriving, the scientists deducted that there was a constant influx of newly fallen ants. The metal plate that once covered the pipe outlet had obviously rusted so much that it has been collapsing under a big wood ant colony’s mound built right over the pipe. In fact, the mortality in the bunker is quite high, but the regular ‘newcomers’ turn out to be overcompensating for the dead ants.

“To conclude, the wood ant ‘colony’ described here – although superficially looking like a functioning colony with workers teeming on the surface of the mound – is rather an example of survival of a large amount of workers trapped within a hostile environment in total darkness, with constantly low temperatures and no ample supply of food,” say the authors.

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Original source:

Czechowski W, Rutkowski T, Stephan W, Vepsäläinen K (2016) Living beyond the limits of survival: wood ants trapped in a gigantic pitfall. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 51: 227-239. doi: 10.3897/jhr.51.9096

Bee populations expanded during global warming after the last Ice Age

The Australian small carpenter bee populations appear to have dramatically flourished in the period of global warming following the last Ice Age some 18,000 years ago.

The bee species is found in sub-tropical, coastal and desert areas from the north-east to the south of Australia. Researchers Rebecca Dew and Michael Schwarz from the Flinders University of South Australia teamed up with Sandra Rehan, the University of New Hampshire, USA, to model its past responses to climate change with the help of DNA sequences. Their findings are published in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

“You see a rapid increase in population size from about 18,000 years ago, just as the climate began warming up after the last Ice Age,” says lead author Rebecca Dew. “This matches the findings from two previous studies on bees from North America and Fiji.”

“It is really interesting that you see very similar patterns in bees around the world,” adds Rebecca. “Different climate, different environment, but the bees have responded in the same way at around the same time.”

In the face of future global warming these finding could be a good sign for some of our bees.

However, the news may not all be positive. There are other studies showing that some rare and ancient tropical bees require cool climate and, as a result, are already restricted to the highest mountain peaks of Fiji. For these species, climate warming could spell their eventual extinction.

“We now know that climate change impacts bees in major ways,” says Rebecca, “but the challenge will be to predict how those impacts play out. They are likely to be both positive and negative, and we need to know how this mix will unfold.”

Bees are major pollinators and are critical for many plants, ecosystems, and agricultural crops.

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Original source:

Dew RM, Rehan SM, Schwarz MP (2016) Biogeography and demography of an Australian native bee Ceratina australensis (Hymenoptera, Apidae) since the last glacial maximum. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 49: 25-41. doi: 10.3897/JHR.49.8066