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Africa has a rich representation of wasp, bee
and ant diversity with 65 of the world’s 85 families present on the
continent. Ants and bees are simply wasps that have evolved social
behavior and although they are distinguished by the lay person, both
groups are in fact derived wasps closely related to other wasp
families.
There are about 145 000 described species in
the world with around 20 000 of these occurring in Africa. South
Africa has about 6 000 known species, but the majority of species
are still undiscovered and the true species total is probably 10-20
times higher than these figures. These species play valuable
roles in all ecosystems, providing
important pollination services, controlling insect populations, and
recycling nutrients. As pollinators, wasps and bees play a critical
role in the functioning of any ecosystem including the maintenance
and evolution of floral species richness. Many (in particular the
ants) have the potential to play a valuable role as indicator
species in conservation and ecological monitoring. Parasitoid wasps
play a vital ecological role as natural controllers of insect
populations, including those that are detrimental to agriculture,
forestry, human and animal health, and have vast potential for use
in managed bio-control programs.
All of these species make up the order
Hymenoptera, which means “membrane wings”. Although many other
insect groups such as flies and lacewings also have membrane wings,
the wasps, bees and ants have a unique mechanism that couples the
fore and hind wings together in flight. Many species have
secondarily lost their wings as adaptations to their life style.
Worker ants are an obvious example. However, the reproductive males
and females of ants still possess wings and these look just like
wasps.
The task of discovering and
documenting the unknown species entails expeditions to many
remote, unexplored areas of Africa, but also continues in our own
back yards! Many species are only millimeters in length and this
small size, combined with the high diversity means that new species
are easily overlooked.
Specialized collecting methods and traps are
deployed to sample these insects. Iziko scientist’s Simon van Noort,
Hamish Robertson and Nokuthula Mbanyana are at the fore front of
this discovery and drive the subsequent scientific research needed
to name, classify and describe the new species. They also unravel
the biology, evolution and ecological relationships of these
insects.
Three of the many diverse ecological
interactions of wasps are showcased in this exhibition. This
information represents ongoing research currently being conducted by
Simon van Noort. Many facets of these interactions are still not
fully understood or documented. This research is fundamental to
knowledge generation and understanding of the world we live in.
Museum exhibitions are one of many ways of disseminating new
discoveries to you, the public. |
