Science reports recently described the newly discovered insect called the Neuroterus Valhalla as not having the noteworthy distinction of being the first-ever species of its kind to be defined alongside its completely sequenced genome.
And, as indicated in a Phys.org report, researchers at Rice University who discovered it are preparing to find out how the tiny, non-stinging wasps may have been affected by Houston's historic freeze in February 2021.
The name may sound legendary although it does not look, nor act the part. It is barely a millimeter in length, and spends 11 months of the year "locked in a crypt," the researchers explained.
According to the study's lead author Pedro Brandão-Dias, who first collected N. Valhalla from a massive oak tree's branches near the campus bar in 2018, it would have been "a missed opportunity," to not call the discovery something related to Valhalla or Rice.
A Brazilian, Brandão had never seen an oak tree before he visited Rice in 2015 for an undergraduate research fellowship in the laboratory of Scott Egan, an evolutionary biologist and corresponding author of the research.
N. Valhalla
N. Valhalla, which is detailed in a paper published in Systematic Entomology, as well as other gall wasps trick their host tree into sheltering and feeding their young.
Essentially, the wasps lay a biochemical cocktail along with their eggs. In addition, the chemicals entice the tree to form a gall or crypt around the egg. The gall, on the other hand, shelters the egg and feeds larvae, hatching from it.
There are nearly 1,000 identified species of gall wasps. Some come from spherical brown galls forming on the underside of oak leaves.
Other gall forms inside branches, as well as others on the flowers of trees, which is where Brandão initially collected N. Valhalla.
He explained, the tiny insects only live from three to four days. He added they don't eat and the only purpose of their existence is to "mate and lay eggs."
Developing in Galls on Flowers
One reason it took the researchers nearly four months to describe the new species is that, like many other gallers, N. Valhalla lays eggs twice each year. Finding where the species laid eggs in its interchanging generation took a while.
Brandão's team first noticed N. Valhalla on the giant tree outside Valhalla while they were collecting catkins or live oak flowers in late February and early March 2018.
They were in search of another galler species that was known for galls on flowers. When DNA tests showed two species, the study investigators took a closer look at their catch and found a few tinier insects with lighter-colored legs.
Brandão also explained these insects lay their eggs into developing catkins. He continued, the N. Valhalla species develop in galls on the flowers, then emerge after.
Such an emergence takes place in March. However, the flowers are a one-time thing every year, and by the time they appear, there are more flowers for these insects to lay eggs on. Therefore, they need to lay eggs on different tissue.
Related information about wasps is shown on BBC Studio's YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on Wasps in Science Times.
