nature today | Newly described insect named after Naturalis

Ant wasps (Mutillidae) are insects that look a lot like ants, but are actually wasps. Females are wingless. Ant wasps are much hairier than ants, which is why they are nicknamed velvet ants. There are around 8,000 species of ant wasps in the world, only three of which are in the Netherlands. In a recent publication in the specialist journal ZooTaxa Scientists from Japan, America, Russia and Vietnam take female ant wasps of the genus Andréimyrme again on review. They described nine new species for science.

To get a good picture of everything Andréimyrmespecies, they collected specimens, but they also examined specimens previously collected from all kinds of natural history collections, including those of Naturalis. About 10,000 unidentified Naturalis ants have been loaned to ant expert Kevin Williams for use in several studies, including the study on Andréimyrme.

Discovered in collection

Of the nine species newly discovered in this study, three were found in material borrowed from Naturalis. “And that’s just one of the studies Dr Williams and his colleagues are doing with our material!” Says collection manager Frederique Bakker enthusiastically. “The examples of museums like Naturalis therefore constitute an excellent basis for research on biodiversity.

As a thank you, scientists named one of these new species after Naturalis: Andréimyrme naturalist. “They kindly let us study about ten thousand of their ant wasps,” they write. Naturalis is happy and honored with this appointment.

Place of honor

This particular ant wasp can be distinguished from related species on the basis of its dark antennae and legs. It also has a characteristic crease and a thorn on the thorax. The described specimen was collected in Java in 1931, and the species probably still exists there. The ant wasp in question is still in California with one of the authors of the ZooTaxaarticle, but will be given a place of honor in the Naturalis collection upon its return.

More information

The full paper: Examination of female Andreimyrme Lelej (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae: Smicromyrmini)

Text: Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Photos: Kevin Williams, California Department of Food and Agriculture