New parasitic wasp discovered in Ireland

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

DUBLIN (AFP) — The chance discovery was made by Welsh researcher Chris Williams who is studying the life-cycle of tiny snail-killing marsh flies in County Mayo in the west of the country.

Williams, who is studying for his PhD in Galway, was waiting for flies to hatch in jam jars on his desk when, to his surprise, two different species of parasitic wasp emerged instead.

"I came across two little black Marsh Fly puparia and kept them in jam jars on my desk expecting that adult Marsh Flies might hatch but what emerged were two different species of parasitic wasp," Williams said.

International experts, including Dr Lloyd Knutson from Italy, Dr Gavin Broad of the Natural History Museum in London and Drs Ilari Saaksjarvi and Reijo Jussila from Finland, were...