Recently in far east of Russia, a new specie of wasp has been discovered. Serguei V. Triapitsyn, lead scientist at University of California, named the new wasp after the college. Ganotocerus ucri is a very small species of wasp, ranging from 1.1 to 1.2 millimeters in length. Although this wasp's exact diet is unknown, several related wasps parasitize upon the eggs of the leaf hopper, a pest to modern agriculture. The wasp was discovered in a study in Primorsky Kray, Russia. Primorsky Kray has little in the means of population and is known for its rich fauna with the wasp family. A trap utilizing alcohol as bait and preservative was used to catch random insect specimens, among them this new one was discovered. Triapitsyn will soon be describing another new parasitic wasp species, this one found in southern California. TOS:
1) Science is collaborative- it took different teams of scientist to conduct the study, by setting traps, checking them, and recovering the results.
2) Role of motivation and curiosity- few people wake up with the urge to go hunting for new species of parasitic wasps, lucky for us, Triapitsyn was one of those people. Without scientists dedicated to things many may not consider, a lot of discoveries waiting to be found and studied may never be acknowledged.
