New species of parasitoid wasp named after Brad Pitt
Conobregma bradpitti lays its eggs in caterpillars, which then become food for the emerging larvae.
It's not uncommon to name new species after people. It's usually a scientist, but sometimes celebrities get a look-in too, as in the case of the newly discovered Conobregma bradpitti. This tiny species of parasitoid wasp measures less than two millimetres in length, and lays its eggs in caterpillars, which the merging larvae then eat from the inside out.
Another species of parisitoid wasp was named and described in the same paper. Conobregma bradpitti is from South Africa and Facitorus nasseri is from India. Although they sound quite horrifying, parisitoid wasps such as these are actually useful in keeping down populations of other pest species.
According to DNA India, the wasp was so named because lead author Buntika A. Butcher used to study in a laboratory underneath a poster of Brad Pitt. It could also be, however, that the research team knows something about Brad Pitt that the rest of us do not...