Greek mythology

Five New Wasp Species Discovered In Cyprus, Including One Named After Aphrodite

New research expands the knowledge on chalcid wasps in Cyprus, with five new species described from the island. One was named after the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

Scientists have described five new species of parasitoid wasp from Cyprus, more than doubling the number of chalcid wasps known to be found nowhere else on the island. The wasps, all belonging to the family Pteromalidae, are small insects that play an important role as natural pest controllers, yet remain poorly studied across much of Southeastern Europe and the Middle East.

The research, carried out by Evangelos Koutsoukos and Mircea-Dan Mitroiu and published in the open-access journal ZooKeys, was part of a wider project funded by the UK Government’s Darwin Plus initiative. The project, titled “Species richness and biological invasions of Chalcid wasps in Akrotiri Peninsula”, was administered by the Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre and supervised by Dr Angeliki Martinou, with support from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the University of Leeds, and Alexandru Ioan Cuza University.

“Before the start of this study, our knowledge regarding the chalcid wasp fauna of the Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area (SBA) and the rest of the island of Cyprus was extremely limited,” said Koutsoukos.

Chalcid wasps comprise a hyperdiverse group of insects that serve as biological controllers both in natural and manmade ecosystems, and as such it is crucial to enrich our knowledge, towards understanding their true extend of biodiversity, ecology, and their role in the various trophic webs they participate across different ecosystems.

Ablaxia makrisi, photo credit to Evangelos Koutsoukos.
Erythromalus makrisi, photo credit to Evangelos Koutsoukos.

“Each of the five new species was named with a story behind it. Two of the species [Ablaxia makrisi and Erythromalus makrisi] were named after Mr. Christodoulos Makris, prominent Cypriot entomologist, for his contributions on the Cypriot biodiversity, and for collecting the holotypes of these two species,” Koutsoukos explained.

*Hemitrichus* *akrotiriensis*. Photo credit to Evangelos Koutsoukos.

Hemitrichus akrotiriensis takes its name from the Akrotiri peninsula, described by Koutsoukos as “a protected area and one the greatest biodiversity hotspots in Cyprus, where the holotype was also collected from.” Another species, Ablaxia toxeftrae, was named after Toxeftra beach in the Akamas peninsula, where its holotype was found.

The final species carries perhaps the most evocative name of all:

Janssoniella aphrodite was named after the Greek Ancient Goddess Aphroditi, since the holotype of this species was collected in Yeroskipou area of Paphos, where the Goddess was worshipped during ancient times.
said Koutsoukos

Janssoniella aphrodite. Photo credit to Mircea-Dan Mitroiu.
Janssoniella aphrodite, Head, frontal view. Photo credit to Mircea-Dan Mitroiu.
Janssoniella aphrodite, fore wing. Photo credit to Mircea-Dan Mitroiu.

Before this study, only three chalcid wasp species were known to be unique to Cyprus. “Our collecting efforts yielded many more interesting specimens, which might represent new species as well,” said Koutsoukos, “and as such it is evident that these numbers are an underestimation of the true biodiversity of the island.”

“The outcomes of this project will contribute towards the enrichment of our knowledge of the biodiversity, not only of the island of Cyprus and the U.K. SBAs, but the whole region’s as well,” Koutsoukos said.

Original study:

Koutsoukos E, Mitroiu M-D (2026) Enriching inventories of rare genera: five new species of Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) from Cyprus. ZooKeys 1286: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1286.196157

Cave-Dwelling Snail Discovered in Greece, Named for Hermes and the Nymph Who Nurtured Him

Deep in a single Greek spring, scientists discovered a new cave-dwelling snail and named it after Hermes and the nymph who raised him.

Thousands of years ago, according to Greek myth, the nymph Cyllena nurtured the infant Hermes, messenger of the gods and famously the swiftest of the twelve Olympians, on Mt. Kyllini in southern Greece.

Now, in that same mountain, researchers from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens have identified a completely new genus and species of subterranean freshwater snail living in a single isolated spring on its slopes. In a fitting nod to the area’s mythology, and perhaps a bit of irony, given the messenger god’s legendary speed, they named it Cyllena hermes.

The full details of the discovery have been published as a research article in Subterranean Biology, a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the International Society for Subterranean Biology.

Live specimens of *Cyllena* *hermes* gen. et sp. nov. **A–F** live mature specimen, shown from the moment of emergence from the shell to active locomotion while foraging **G–I** another mature specimen; White arrows indicate the direction of movement J immature specimen floating at the water surface while feeding K caddisfly case (Insecta, Trichoptera) constructed from gastropod shells, including shells of *Cyllena* *hermes* gen. et sp. nov. Scale bars: 1 mm. Credit to Radea et al., 2026

So far, the snail is known from just one place on Earth: a karstic spring roughly 610 meters up the mountain’s foothills, in the Korinthia region of the Peloponnese. There, groundwater seeps out of carbonate bedrock and forms a small stream that feeds toward Lake Stymphalia, part of the sprawling underground hydrological network beneath the Stymphalia closed karst basin.

habitat of Cyllena hermes — Type locality of *Cyllena* *hermes* gen. et sp. nov., Korinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Karstic spring waters emerging from Mt Kyllini and forming a stream flowing toward Lake Stymphalia. Credit to Radea et al., 2026

Because the snail relies entirely on this single, isolated water source, it is highly sensitive to environmental stressors such as prolonged droughts and water extraction for surrounding neighboring areas, leading the research team to classify the species as Vulnerable under the IUCN Red List criteria.

When establishing this new monotypic genus and species, the researchers chose a name steeped in ancient Greek mythology tied to the mountain itself. The genus honours Cyllena, the nymph who raised Hermes there, while the species name pays tribute to Hermes himself, who legend says was born in a cave on that same mountain, where the new snail species was found.

immature speciemen of the snail Cyllena hermes — *Cyllena* *hermes* gen. et sp. nov. Views from a single immature specimen. A dorsal view B ventral view **C, D** lateral view **E–G** scanning electron micrographs of shell and protoconch respectively. Scale bars: 1 mm (**A–E**); 100 μm (F); 50 μm (G). Credit to Radea et al., 2026

This significant finding highlights the rich, yet often undocumented biodiversity dwelling within Greece’s extensive underground karst ecosystems, while also bringing attention to the fragile nature of these highly localized environments.

Original source:
Radea C, Protopapas D, Parmakelis A, Koskeridou E (2026) From the dark to the light: A new genus and species of stygobiont hydrobiid (Caenogastropoda, Truncatelloidea) from southern Greece. Subterranean Biology 57: 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.57.189090

Newly discovered moth named Icarus sports a flame-shaped mark and prefers high elevations

The paper describing the new species is part of a special issue dedicated to macro moths of the New World published in the open-access journal ZooKeys

Newly-recognized species of owlet moth recently discovered to inhabit high-elevation mountains in western North America was named after the Greek mythological character Icarus. From now on, scientists will be referring to the new insect as Admetovis icarus.

In their paper, Dr Lars Crabo, Washington State University, USA, and Dr Christian Schmidt, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, explain that the combination of the distinct flame-shaped mark on the moth’s forewing and its high-elevation habitat were quick to remind them of Icarus, who is said to have died after flying so close to the sun that his wings made of wax and feathers caught fire.

The study is part of the seventh volume of the “Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths” series, where all previous volumes have also been published as special issues in ZooKeys.

Found in the town of Nederland, Colorado, the moth was collected at an elevation of 2,896 m above sea level. The species has also been recorded all the way from central Utah and central Colorado to the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, including a record from northeastern Oregon. It can be spotted between June and August at night.

In fact, it turns out that the moth has been collected during surveys in the past on multiple occasions, but has been misidentified with another closely related species: Admetovis oxymorus.

While the flame mark is a characteristic feature in all three species known in the genus (Admetovis), in the newly described species it is darker. When compared, the wings of the Icarus moth are also more mottled.

Despite the biology of the larvae being currently unknown, the scientists believe they are climbing cutworms and feed on woody shrubs, similarly to the species Admetovis oxymorus.

“Finding undiscovered moths is not that unusual, even though scientists have been naming insects since the eighteenth century,” says lead author Dr Lars Crabo.

“The Contributions series, edited by Don Lafontaine and Chris Schmidt, in which this discovery is published, really encourages professional and citizen scientists alike to go through the steps necessary to properly name the species that they have discovered. This series of seven volumes also includes a new check list for the United States and Canada, which has led to a re-kindling of interest in moths during the last decade.”

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Original source:

Crabo LG, Schmidt BC (2018) A revision of Admetovis Grote, with the description of a new species from western North America (Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Hadenini). In: Schmidt BC, Lafontaine JD (Eds) Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths VII. ZooKeys788: 167-181. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.788.26480