A new species of wasp has been named after Sir David Attenborough to mark his centenary.
It is the latest species to be named after the beloved environmentalist, who celebrates his 100th birthday on Friday. Others named after him include a wildflower, butterfly, grasshopper, dinosaur and ghost shrimp.
The National History Museum (NHM) paid tribute to Sir David by naming the insect native to the Patagonian lakes of Chile as Attenboroughnculus tau.
The specimen, which was collected in 1984 in the Valdivia province of Chile, may be the only record of the entire species’ existence, according to the NHM, and was found by chance four decades later after someone peeked into a drawer.
The museum said the naming is in recognition of the “incredible work that Attenborough has done to show us the wonder and beauty of nature, but also to inspire generations of scientists to pursue careers in natural history”.
NHM principal curator of wasps Dr Gavin Broad said: “He has been a massive influence on so many of us, and me as well.
“When I was young, five or six maybe, I was given the Life On Earth book. In it he mentions taxonomists and what they do, and I was hooked.
“I decided from a far too early age I was going to be a taxonomist, thanks to David Attenborough, and weirdly I’ve ended up as a taxonomist. So I’ll pay something back.”
The species belongs to a group of parasitic wasps known as the ichneumonids which Dr Broad said are found all over the world because they form part of the Gondwanan distribution, referring to when the continents of South America, Antarctica and Australia were still attached to each other in a supercontinent known as Gondwana.
When it broke up, nearly 200 million year ago, it left populations of animals and plants scattered randomly across the Southern Hemisphere.
Dr Broad added: “Ichneumonids, or Darwin wasps, are found all over the world.
“There’s a huge number of species, but they’re not particularly species rich in Chile and down into the southern part of South America. But what’s there is really interesting.
“The little wasp is part of a tiny subfamily called the Pedunculinae, and these seem to have just pottered along in isolation in Chile since Gondwana broke up. Their nearest relatives are in Australia now.
“These wasps are now just a tiny austral clade, and we don’t know much about them.”
The curator said little is known about the insect aside from that it has a distinctive little “polished groove” at the end of the hind tibia and a strong curve at the bases of the abdomen.
