Overview
- Scientists at London’s Natural History Museum have formally described Attenboroughnculus tau as a new genus and species of tiny parasitoid wasp that lays eggs in other insects.
- The only known specimen, collected in Chile’s Valdivia Province in 1983, measures about 3.5 millimetres and bears a T-shaped abdominal mark that inspired the species name “tau.”
- Graduate volunteer Augustijn De Ketelaere spotted the wasp’s unusual traits in an unsorted drawer, prompting a detailed analysis by museum researchers.
- The team cited a sharply curved abdomen, toothlike structures on the egg-laying organ, and distinctive wings and legs as features that warranted creation of a new genus.
- The description, published in the Journal of Natural History, adds to more than 50 species named for Attenborough and may encourage fresh reviews of overlooked museum material.