icipe and collaborators discover 13 new wasp species

icipe taxonomists in collaboration with colleagues from the Tropical Entomology Research Institute and the University of Tuscia, both in Italy, have discovered 13 previously unknown wasps species in Kenya and Burundi. And in naming the new species, the researchers have immortalized various sites and individuals from the two countries, and from across the world.

icipe scientist, Dr. Robert Copeland, explains that these findings, published in the journal Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae on 1st June 2015, contribute much needed knowledge to the global taxonomy network. He observes that while in general there are significant taxonomic gaps for most living organisms, the situation is even more critical in regard to groups composed mostly of small species, as is the case for many families of wasps.

“Alongside bees and ants, wasps belong to the third largest order of insects, Hymenoptera, known more commonly as "membrane-winged" insects. Although well over 100,000 species of Hymenoptera are recognised globally, many more are yet to be described, with wasps, and those of Africa particularly, being insufficiently studied,” explains Dr Copeland.

Yet, as he further stresses, many wasps are significantly beneficial to humankind, specifically because of their ability to naturally control agricultural pests. This is because the majority of wasps are parasitic: they usually lay their eggs in or on the eggs or larvae of other insect species, and as the wasp larva develops, it leads to the death of the host insect. In fact, for almost every pest insect species, there is at least one wasp species that parasitizes it. Globally, parasitic wasps are increasingly being used in the biological control of crop pests. Indeed, icipe has in the past recorded significant success in using wasps to control pests of cabbages and maize in Africa.

All of the 13 new wasp species discovered recently by icipe and collaborators belong to a moderately-sized cosmopolitan family of Hymenoptera known as Dryinidae. Its members are parasitoids that feed on “true bugs”, a group that attacks a wide variety of plants. As is the case with the majority of wasps, there is insufficient knowledge on the diversity of dryinid wasps, especially in Africa.  For example, the recently described wasps, along with new Kenyan records of species already known from elsewhere in Africa, bring the number of dryinid species found in Kenya to just 76.

“Our studies suggest that many more species of Dryinidae remain to be recorded in Kenya, particularly in the northern and eastern parts of the country where there has been little exploration,” notes Dr. Copeland.

Currently, a total of 17 Dryinidae species are known only from Kenya, including those described in the recently published icipe study. The majority of these species were collected in protected national forests and parks. The sites include the sacred Mijikenda Kaya forests, which are small patches of indigenous, culturally important, yet threatened forests along the Kenyan coast. Other collections took place in Ungoye, a small stand of indigenous forest next to Lake Victoria, which is the only remaining patch of mid-altitude lake-side forest in Kenya.

The researchers have named some of the newly discovered wasps in honour of the people who contributed to the research as follows:

  • Dryinus digo sp., a new wasp species found in the Kaya Kinondo forest, has been named in honour of the Digo people (one of the nine Mijikenda tribes), who consider this particular Kaya sacred and therefore act as its guardians.
  • Deinodryinus musingilai sp., which was found in Kasaala, Kitui county, Eastern Kenya, has been named after Mr. Mulu Musingila, who allowed the researchers to set up traps and collect specimens on his land leading to the discovery of the species.
  • Bocchus johanssoni sp., a species found in Kasigau, Taita Hills, coastal Kenya, has been named after the icipe scientist Dr. Tino Johansson, who is overseeing the Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services and Food Security in Eastern Africa (CHIESA) project. Funded by the government of Finland and led by icipe, CHIESA is conducting part of its studies around the Taita Hills.

Anteon nkubayei sp., a species that was collected in Rusizi National Park, Burundi, is named after Mr. Evariste Nkubaye of the Institut des Sciences Agronomique du Burundi who provided significant assistance to icipe and collaborators during the surveys.

Notes for Editors

What’s in a name? The case for taxonomy

From time immemorial, human beings have maintained a complex system of oral communication, with the naming of things as a central component. Taxonomy, defined as the science of naming, builds on this age-old human tradition. It facilitates the description and classification of organisms – from plants, animals and microorganisms – in an ordered system intended to indicate natural relationships.

Taxonomists are guided by a set of rules to classify and describe organisms according to their genus and species. The term species refers to a group of living organisms that reflect a real biological difference from all other groups, and which can interbreed and produce viable offspring. A genus indicates a group of related species of animals or plants.

They use morphological, behavioural, genetic and biochemical observations to categorise specimens, and they must counter-check a variety of taxonomic sources for previous classifications. If no matches are found, the specimens being studied are considered to represent a new species and are therefore given a new, unique name.

Taxonomists use the Binomial Naming System (two-name system), to come up with a  ‘scientific’ name for each species, the genus name (always capitalized) coming first, followed by the species “epithet”. For example, for humans (Homo sapiens), the genus name is Homo and the species epithet is sapiens. The name and the description is then published according to scientific rules and standards, so that it becomes a unique universal identifier of the organism in question.

In the past 250 years, taxonomists have named about 1.75 million species of animals, plants and micro-organisms worldwide. However, globally there is still a huge gap in taxonomic knowledge, with recent scholarship estimating that the total number of species is about 8.7 million.

Taxonomic knowledge is critical as it guides the understanding of the complex interactions of the world’s biodiversity, providing the names necessary for discussion of, for example, where different living things fit within ecosystems, what they feed on, what is feeding on them, their impact on others, and what would happen if they disappeared. Many living organisms, including insects, are national treasures. Therefore, taxonomic knowledge is at the heart of conservation strategies, and in current times an integral part of understanding responses to climate change.

At icipe, taxonomy is interlinked with the Centre’s mandate of conserving biodiversity. Since it was founded, icipe has discovered many interesting new species and provided insights into the geographical distribution of various insect groups, primarily Hymenoptera and Diptera. The Centre’s taxonomists have provided researchers working on Hymenoptera in Africa with desperately needed material for studying their diversity, abundance and phenology.

Research Details

  • Publication: Olmi M., Copeland R. S., Guglielmino A. (2015) An updated checklist of Dryinidae, Embolemidae and Sclerogibbidae (Hymenoptera) of Kenya and Burundi, with descriptions of thirteen new species. Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 55 (1), 333 – 380. Available at:http://www.aemnp.eu/PDF/54_2/54_2_703.pdf
  • Funding: This research was partially funded by the government of Finland through a grant to icipe for the Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services (CHIESA) project.
  • Special acknowledgments: The Kenya Forest Service and the Institut National pour l’Environnement et la Conservation de la Nature (INECN), Burundi
  • Corresponding author: Prof Massimo Olmi, Tropical Entomology Research Center, Viterbo, Italy. olmi@unitus.it

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icipe and collaborators discover 13 new wasp species in Kenya and Burundi
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