Darwin wasp
14-12-2024
09:30 AM
1 min read

Overview:
A team of researchers from the Bengaluru-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and their collaborators have discovered five new species of the Darwin wasp subfamily Microleptinae (Hymenoptera:Ichneumonidae) from India and Thailand
About Darwin wasp:
- These wasps are parasitoids, meaning their larvae feed and develop on or within the bodies of other arthropods.
- They parasitize many insect groups, especially Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), Coleoptera (beetles), and other Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps).
- Appearance:
- These wasps have a body formed of a head, thorax, and abdomen, and six legs.
- They have a pair of large compound eyes on the side of the head and three ocelli (simple eyes) on the top of the head.
- They have longer antennae with more segments, or sections.
- Adult wasps typically feed on nectar and pollen, and as solitary wasps, only come together to mate.
- Breeding: The females lay their eggs in or on the larvae or pupae (rarely eggs or adults) of the host. To attack wood-boring hosts deep inside woody plant tissues, some ichneumon wasp species actually use their ovipositors as a drill capable of penetrating solid wood.
- Ecological Significance: These tiny winged insects are critical to the ecosystem because they play an important role in controlling the population of crop-damaging pests, such as aphids and caterpillars, without contaminating the environment
New species found in India
- Four new species are recently discovered from India namely
- Microleptes chiani collected from Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), Tamil Nadu.
- Microleptes gowrishankari collected from Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve, in Karnataka.
- Microleptes sandeshkaduri collected from the Siang valley of Arunachal Pradesh.
- Microleptes tehriensis is named after its collection site, Tehri in Uttarakhand.

Q1: What is a Parasite?
It is an organism that lives on or in another organism, the host, and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.
News:Researchers discover five new species of the Darwin wasp