Five new species of parasitoid wasps were discovered in Cyprus. They are small insects that play an important role in the natural control of pests, including those that strongly affect agriculture, because their larvae develop inside other insects.
In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys, the researchers Evangelos Koutsoukos, from the University of Athens (Greece), and Mircea-Dan Mitroiu, from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romania), contribute to the knowledge of a group of wasps that remains little studied across much of southern Europe and the Middle East.
The new species described, all from the superfamily Chalcidoidea and the family Pteromalidae, are Ablaxia makrisi, Erythromalus makrisi, Hemitrichus akrotiriensis, Ablaxia toxeftrae and Janssoniella aphrodite.
Regarding the naming choices, the researchers, in a statement, explain that the first two were named in honor of Christodoulos Makris, a renowned Cypriot entomologist, for his contributions to the study of biodiversity and who collected the first specimens of these species.
The species Hemitrichus akrotiriensis received its name from the Akrotiri Peninsula in Cyprus, which co-author Koutsoukos describes as “a protected area and one of the island’s greatest biodiversity hotspots,” having been the site where the holotype—the individual used as the reference for the described species—was collected.
Ablaxia toxeftrae receives its name from the Toxeftra beach on the Akamas Peninsula, where the holotype was found.
Finally, the species Janssoniella aphrodite was named after the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, because the holotype was discovered in the city of Yeroskipou, where the deity was venerated during ancient times of Greece.
Until this study, only four species of Chalcidoidea parasitoid wasps had been described as endemic to Cyprus. Now it more than doubles the number of endemic Chalcidoidea species in that Mediterranean country, which the researchers say highlights gaps in knowledge about the island’s native biodiversity and the need for more scientific investigations.
