New Wasps in Asia

Five new species of wasp have been discovered in India in the genus Idris Förster, of a type that parasitizes spider eggs. The new find was made by Dr. Veenakumari Kamalanthan of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, who noted that the five new species are distinctive for having long hair-like structures along both wing margins, according to a release.

The study authors named the proposed group adikeshavus, which means "first one to have long hairs" in Sanskrit. The research was recently published in the journal Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift.

All wasps within this parasitic genus have tiny wings that allow them to finagle their way through silk strands of egg sacs left in leaf litter by spiders. The wasps all measure 1 to 2 mm, a size that allows them to parasitize medium-sized spider eggs, as the report confirmed.

There are more than a thousand such parasitizing wasp species in this genus, but the fauna of most of this genus have yet to be worked out by scientists. So, scientists said in the recent study that dividing the wasps into groups is best for organizing further study.

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