A team of entomologists from National Taiwan University have discovered a new species — a tiny wasp that relies on damselflies for procreation.
After its verification with the help of experts from the British Museum, the team announced the discovery and solved the mystery of eggs found inside the eggs of damselflies, which are laid on fallen leaves submerged in water.
Professor Ko Chiun-cheng (柯俊成) and doctoral student Shih Yuan-tung (施圓通) of the university’s Graduate Institute of Entomology first observed the wasp riding on the back of a damselfly, known as Psolodesmus mandarinus, in New Taipei City (新北市).
The newly discovered wasp belongs to a genus which contains just four other described species, all from South America.
The wasp, named Hydrophylita emporos, is the first species of its subgenus that has been found in Asia and the first observed transporting itself on another living organism. Adults of the species measure only 1.2mm in length.
“The specific epithet emporos means ‘passenger’ in Latin, reflecting the phoretic behavior of adult females,” the entomologists said in a paper published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.
They found that female wasps would wait by the water for damselflies to lay their eggs. When a damselfly arrives, a wasp would land on its back and ride on its back as it walks into the water to lay eggs, and then lay its own eggs inside the eggs of the damselfly.
It takes one to three days for the wasp eggs to hatch and the larvae feed on the damselfly eggs to survive.
The team will next study the body mechanism that allows the larvae to swim to the surface of the water, Shih said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
RSS