UPSC Articles
New genus of parasitoid wasp
Part of: Prelims and GS III – Environment
Context: A new genus of Braconid wasp has been named ‘Atree’, after the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), a leading research institution and environmental think tank based in Bengaluru.
- This is said to be the first time in India that an institute has an eponymous insect genus.
- The development comes with the discovery of a new species of wasp, Atree rajathae and two other already known species.
- The newly described species is a parasitoid wasp.
- An ATREE statement explained that parasitoids are the most important natural enemies of other insects, and humans exploit this behaviour for the biological control of crop pests.
News Source: TH
