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The Amazonian forests continue to surprise, and this time it's a little scary.
An international team of researchers discovered seven new species of wasps belonging to the genus Clistopyga in Peru, Venezuela and Colombia. A recent report published in Zootaxa describes their morphology, such as coloring, wing size and other distinct features.
The most notable of them is Clistopyga crassicaudata named after its distinct thickening. ovipositor. The ovipositor is a tubular organ present in many insects that helps with spawning and venom injection. "What makes [ Clistopyga crassicaudata ] particularly interesting, it is the size of the ovipositor.This is the only species of the group of species with an ovipositor strongly expanded (apical), "said Ilari E. Sääksjärvi, professor of research on biodiversity at the University of Turku, Finland, in an email to The Hindu
The researchers say that these new species could be parasitoid wasps, which lay their eggs near a host, which the larvae then feed on and eventually kills. "The biology of these seven new species is truly unknown but other species of this genus, and other genera of Ichneumonidae lay their eggs in spiders or sacks. eggs, "says Dr. Santiago Bordera of the University of Alicante, Spain, in an email to The Hindu . Wasps inject venom into spiders, paralyze them, then lay their eggs. Hatching larvae feed on paralyzed spiders and their eggs.
"We do not know for sure which spider prefers this wasp species. The insect we are studying [previously] … could use its sting like a complex felting needle and hand-close the nest of spider web trapping the paralyzed inhabitant, "says the professor Sääksjärvi in a press release.
Other new species include C.kalima C. panchei and C. taironae named in honor of Kalimas, Panches and Toiranas, indigenous tribes of Colombo. Another species was named C. nigriventri indicating its entirely black body, and another C. splendida because of its multicolored body. The seventh species, which has the body white and brown, was named C.isayae in honor of the wife of Francisco Díaz, one of the authors of the 39; section.
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