In a significant development, researchers at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kozhikode have discovered two new species of cockroach wasps in the Western Ghats.
These wasps species were discovered from Coonoor in Tamil Nadu and Peppara Wild Life Sanctuary in Kerala. They belonged to the family Ampulicidae and hunted cockroaches to feed their larvae, thereby helping to control the natural population of cockroaches, Dr. P. M. Sureshan, Dr. P. Girish Kumar and Junior Research Fellow, S. Anagha, the group of researchers which discovered the new species, said
The new finds have been named Dolichurus sahyadriensis after Sahyadri or Western Ghat mountain ranges and Dolichurus chareshi after C. Charesh, laboratory assistant attached to the ZSI, Kozhikode, who has contributed immensely for the collection of the species.
The researchers said that the species Dolichurus chareshi was also found from Aravalli mountain ranges of Rajasthan.
Another wasp of the same genus, Dolichurus aridulus known only from Sri Lanka was also recorded for the first time from Tamil Nadu and Kerala during their present study. With this seven Dolichurus species are presently listed from India, Ms. Anagha said.
She said that the findings have been published in the latest issue of Zootaxa, an internationally peer reviewed journal of animal taxonomy.
She said that the wasps of the genus Dolichurus Latreille were among the smallest sphecoid wasps, commonly called ‘cockroach wasps’. These wasps use cockroaches as prey for their larvae and are generally seen on leaf litter, dead stumps, and on tree trunks. Dolichurus are distributed in the Nearctic , the Neotropical , the Palearctic, the Ethiopian, the Oriental and the Australian regions.
A total of 51 species have been so far discovered globally with only eight from the Indian subcontinent. Of these, five, namely, Dolichurus amamiensis, Dolichurus albifacies, Dolichurus gilberti, Dolichurus taprobanae and Dolichurus venkataramani, are from India, Ms. Anagha said.
