2011-08-21

Huge Warrior Wasp Discovered in Indonesia

UC Davis entomologist discovers wasp in Indonesia - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/19/3849100/uc-davis-entomologist-discovers.html
  • A predator wasp as long as a pinkie finger has been discovered on a remote Indonesian island by a UC Davis entomologist.
    Lynn Kimsey, affectionately known around campus as the "Wasp Woman" for her entomological expertise on the flying insect, said the male wasp she discovered is about two-and-a-half inches in length. The black wasp was found on the island of Sulawesi on a recent expedition.

  • Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis with her newly discovered species, a male warrior wasp.
Posts Tagged: warrior wasp - The California Garden Web
http://cagardenweb.ucdavis.edu/?blogtag=warrior%20wasp&blogasset=42184

  • The male's jaws "are so large that they wrap up either side of the head when closed," Kimsey says. "When the jaws are open they are actually longer than the male’s front legs. I don’t know how it can walk."



    Kimsey discovered the warrior wasp on the Mekongga Mountains in southeastern Sulawesi on a recent biodiversity expedition funded by a five-year grant from the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program.
     The insect-eating predator belongs to the genus Dalara and family Crabronidae.
UC Davis Department of Entomology - UC Davis Entomologist Discovers New Species of Wasp: Gigantic Wasp with Long, Powerful Jaws
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/news/warriorwaspnewspecies.html
  • Kimsey discovered the warrior wasp on the Mekongga Mountains in southeastern Sulawesi on a recent biodiversity expedition funded by a five-year grant from the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program.
  • Sulawesi, a large Indonesian island located between Borneo and New Guinea, is known not only for its endemic biodiversity, but its rainforest and its proximity (three degrees) to the equator.  Development threatens plant and animal life.
  • The International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program is a multi-agency program led by the National Institutes of Health with contributions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.