KOTTAYAM: A new genus of Braconid wasps has been named after the Bengaluru-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (Atree), following the discovery of a new species of wasp, Atree rajathae, from the Western Ghats.
The new genus comprises the newly-discovered species as well as two other previously known Taiwanese species, Baeacis improcerus (Chou & Hsu, 1998) and Baeacis validus (Chou & Hsu, 1998), which were transferred to the Atree genus considering their morphological affinities to it. The Atree rajathae was discovered from Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in the eastern side of Agasthyamala region of Western Ghats.
Its discovery was facilitated by two Kerala researchers, Ranjith A P and Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan from the global non-profit organisation and research institution that works for the conservation of the environment and sustainable development. They have collaborated with Cornelis van Achterberg of the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, for comparative studies with other Braconids.
Priyadarsanan said one of the many ecological importance of the newly-described Atree rajathae species is that it is a parasitoid wasp. “Parasitoids are natural enemies of other insects, a behaviour that humans exploit for the biological control of pests. We need to collect more information to explore the possibilities using the wasps for ecological purposes. If we get details of the population and host, we can use it for the biological control of pests,” he said.
The Atree genus belongs to the tribe Diospilini of subfamily Brachistinae. The Diospilini tribe comprises 13 genera and 125 species. A large number of insects were collected about a decade and a half ago to address the gaps in insect inventory of the Western Ghats. The collection was sorted as per family and preserved in the Atree Insect Museum (AIMB). In 2021, Atree entomologists described as many as 20 insects from these collections.