23-07-2025
Parasitic wasp collected by Queensland students identified as new species
A parasitic wasp captured in a trap set by Queensland school students has been identified as a new species.
It was recently recognised in peer-reviewed research after it was found in 2022.
Since the discovery is so new, researcher Andy Howe said not much was known about the species other than how it reproduced.
"They will lay their eggs in or on a host, another insect," Dr Howe, an entomologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said.
Despite the gruesome parasitoid life cycle, Dr Howe said the creatures had delicate features.
"It has lovely long antennae and cool little wings. It's very small, which is impressive in itself, but it has really fine, beautiful detailed structure on its back and cool big eyes," Dr Howe said.
But outside of that, he said it was not clear how widespread the wasps were.
"We know nothing, or very little, about how abundant they are … that would depend on their host, and the type of habitat that they use."
The students who discovered the species at Gin Gin, west of Bundaberg, described the wasp as "creepy" but "very cool".
Gin Gin was one of 50 schools in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia involved in a citizen science program in 2022, capturing hundreds of insects.
The students used Malaise traps, which are tent-like structures made of netting.
Specimens were sent to the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics in Canada for DNA barcoding.
It was there, the parasitoid species was identified, and the Gin Gin school community chose its name, Cotesia ginginensis.
The findings have now been published in the peer-reviewed Zootaxa Journal.
Karyn Goodman, head of science at Gin Gin State High School, said it had been an anxious but exciting wait for news.
"The kids and the staff are just so excited that we've gone through the long process, and finally we have an outcome, and we're forever going to be in the history books," she said.
Ms Goodman said the project had strengthened the students' understanding of science and respect for the land.
"Making that connection for them that what they do now, what they get involved in, what they contribute to, does have that ripple effect out there in the world."
Past student at Gin Gin State High School, Caitlin Caunt, said the group had not expected to find anything new.
"It's very cool. We didn't really believe at first and [finding out] it was published was like, 'Wow, that actually happened,'" she said.
Ms Caunt said the project gave the students some valuable life lessons.
"We learnt that even though we think that we've discovered everything, we've always got to keep looking, because there's always something that we haven't found," she said.
Dr Howe said it was the ideal outcome.
"We thought that they would [but] we didn't make any promises," he said.
"There are 220,000-plus species of insects in Australia, and like 30 to 33 per cent of them have been described, so they have a formal scientific name.
"So that means that the chance of finding one of those [undescribed species] is fairly high, and thankfully, we did."
