Scientist butterfly collector accidentally discovers species of wasp new to the UK
THERE was a real sting in the tail for insect expert Tony Davis when he tried to catch some moths - he ended up discovering a new type of wasp.
A new wasp discovery, named Lymantrichneumon disparis
Scientist Tony could not resist one final sweep of his butterfly net as he walked back to the car park after a busy day monitoring moths at a nature reserve.
Two years after pulling the three-quarter of an inch wasp from his net, he is being feted for discovering a new species never before recorded in Britain.
The wasp goes under the name of Lymantrichneumon disparis and belongs to a genus of parasitic insects that lay their own eggs in moths' pupae so they develop at the hosts' expense.
Redback spider catches a wasp!!!
The specimen was sent to the Natural History Museum
I knew it was something special
Its presence may signal the start of the European wasp's colonisation of Britain, possibly because of climate change factors.
Tony works with the Butterfly Conservation and was carrying out a monitoring programme at the RSPB's Broadwater Warren reserve in East Sussex in 2013 when he made his historic find.
"I'd finished my work and was leaving the reserve but couldn't resist one last sweep on my net and that's when I found the wasp," said Tony.
"I knew it was something special, but I could never have guessed it was an entirely new species to the country.
"The specimen was sent to the Natural History Museum's Dr Gavin Broad, who is an expert on ichneumonid wasps.
The new wasp species was captured while Tony Davis was collecting butterflies
He said: "It's not uncommon to find parasitic wasps new to Britain, but to find a new genus for the country that is large and showy is very unusual and good evidence of change in our fauna.
"I knew almost immediately what this wasp was as I'd recently been looking at some Japanese specimens of Lymantrichneumon disparis. It was rather surprising to see one from Britain! Inevitably, it took me quite a while to publish on this.
Tony Davis managed to capture the wasp on his very final sweep of the RSPD's Broadwater Warren
"On the Continent, the wasp sabotages the life cycle of moths, with the gypsy moth, a favourite host. Gypsy moths have been moving into southern England in recent times and this may have brought the wasp with them from Europe."