The new wasp Attenboroughnculus tau has been named after Sir David Attenborough in honour of the extraordinary work he has done in communicating the wonder of the natural world. ©The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
By Josh Davis
Say hello to Attenboroughnculus tau!
This new species of wasp, native to the Patagonian lakes of Chile, has been named after Sir David Attenborough in celebration of his centenary.
An unassuming little insect has been given a big name.
Collected in 1984 in the Valdivia province of Chile, the small wasp had gone unnoticed by most. That was until a researcher realised it looked different to the others.
Showing the insect to our principal curator of wasps, Dr Gavin Broad, it all became clear. This wasn’t just a new species but an entirely new genus. The pair decided to name the insect in honour of Sir David Attenborough just in time for his hundredth birthday on 8 May.
They called the wasp Attenboroughnculus tau in recognition not only of the incredible work that Attenborough has done to show us the wonder and beauty of nature, but also to inspire generations of scientists to pursue careers in natural history.
The new species Attenboroughnculus tau was originally collected in 1984 but has been sat in the collections just waiting to be described. ©The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
“He has been a massive influence on so many of us, and me as well,” says Gavin. “When I was young, five or six maybe, I was given the Life on Earth book. In it he mentions taxonomists and what they do, and I was hooked.”
“I decided from a far too early age I was going to be a taxonomist, thanks to David Attenborough, and weirdly I’ve ended up as a taxonomist. So I’ll pay something back.”
The wasp has been officially described in the Journal of Natural History.
Going through our vast collections is key to freeing up space to allow for new specimens. As part of this, we are building a new state-of-the-art collections, research and digitisation centre at Thames Valley Science Park in Shinfield.
This new facility will house purpose-built storage for 28 million specimens, around a third of our vast collection. A major scientific research hub, it will provide innovative digital, analytical, and genomic technologies and facilities for the scientific community.
The new species belongs to a group of parasitic wasps known as the ichneumonids.
“Ichneumonids, or Darwin wasps, are found all over the world,” explains Gavin. “There’s a huge number of species, but they’re not particularly species rich in Chile and down into the southern part of South America. But what’s there is really interesting.”
This is because they form something called a Gondwanan distribution. This refers to when the continents of South America, Antarctica and Australia were still attached to each other in a supercontinent known as Gondwana. When this continent broke up about 200 million years ago, it left populations of animals and plants scattered seemingly randomly across the southern hemisphere.
“So this is one of those Gondwanan relics. The little wasp is part of a tiny subfamily called the Pedunculinae, and these seem to have just pottered along in isolation in Chile since Gondwana broke up. Their nearest relatives are in Australia now.”
“These wasps are now just a tiny austral clade, and we don’t know much about them.”
Very little is known about the Pedunculinae wasps, apart from the fact that they likely parasitise other invertebrates. ©The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
What was obvious to Gavin, however, was that the insect sitting in the collections was something new. It was clearly within the subfamily Peduncilinae because of a little characteristic on the wasp’s leg. “They have a little polished groove at the end of the hind tibia,” explains Gavin. “Nobody knows what it’s for, but it’s very distinctive.”
It also looked different from all the other known genera, giving him and his colleague the perfect opportunity to expand our understanding of these wasps. The biggest difference they pinpointed was that the new wasp has a strong curve at the base of the abdomen.
And that is basically all we know about this insect.
“The only thing we know about any pedunculines is that one species in Australia has been reared from a spider egg sac,” says Gavin. “So we essentially know they act more like predators in this case, but honestly who knows. Some of the others could be doing something different.”
The species highlights how important natural history collections like those we care for are. This specimen might be the only record of an entire species’ existence, one that had gone unnoticed for over 40 years until someone peeked into its drawer.
We’re glad they did, as we can now celebrate Attenboroughnculus tau and its marvellous namesake on his birthday.
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