Discovered in search for the winter moth
AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation
and Forestry’s Maine Forest Service announced that a new species of wasp has
been found in Maine. Hillary Morin Peterson of Brunswick Maine discovered a new
species of Pteromalidae wasp while conducting her thesis work in collaboration with
the Maine Forest Service. The new discovery is detailed in a recently published
paper.
Hillary named the wasp after the motto of her home state of
Maine, Ormocerus
dirigoius Morin & Gates. Hillary was born and raised in Maine, before attending
and graduating from the University of Maine. In addition to supporting her
thesis work, the Maine Forest Service also supported her continued research at
the Smithsonian. She is now a graduate student in the Department of Entomology at
Penn State University.
Ormocerus
dirigoius
Ormocerus dirigoius, the new species of wasp (pictured), is about 2.7 mm long (the
size of a grain of rice). These tiny, non-stinging wasps actually have nothing
to do with winter moth but were swept up as by-catch. They are in a genus that
are believed to be either parasitoids of gall inducing cynipid wasps or
inqulines (that kill the gall inducers by outcompeting them for the gall tissue
that they eat). Little is known about the biology of O. dirigoius, although it may be associated with galls on red
oak trees. The specimens were all collected in oak dominated forest stands and
four specimens were collected from beatings of oak trees.
Hillary’s senior honors thesis was on research into the relationship between
predatory and parasitoid Hymenoptera (wasps) and the invasive winter moth
species (Operophtera brumata) inside
and outside of the infestation area in Harpswell, Maine. In order to learn more
about identifying wasps, Hillary attended the Hymenoptera Blitz at Acadia
National Park in 2015 with financial support from the Maine Entomological
Society and carpooled to the Blitz with Dr. Robert Kula. Hillary continued
identifying the Hymenoptera after she graduated and was able to secure an
internship in Dr. Kula’s lab, where she met and also collaborated with Dr. Michael
Gates at the Smithsonian to further her work.
H. D. Morin, Mikó, I. and Gates, M. October 2017. A New
Species of Ormocerus Walker (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) from
North America and a Range Expansion for Ormocerus latus Walker.
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 119(4):619-628.
Contact: Hillary Morin Peterson, (207) 841-0581
Charlene Donahue, Maine Forest Service, (207) 287-3244
 Ormocerus dirigoius
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