UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Identifying two dozen new species of gall wasps was a crowning achievement of Louis Nastasi’s Penn State graduate education experience. A doctoral candidate in entomology, Nastasi and his collaborators, from Penn State’s Frost Entomological Museum along with the University of Iowa, the University of Edinburgh, Farmingdale State College and the Manitoba Conservation Data Centre, among others, have discovered more than 20 new species of gall wasps through their research.
Despite sounding similar to insects known for stinging, gall wasps are tiny creatures that are relatively harmless to humans. Named for galls, growths they create on plants that serve as their housing, gall wasp biodiversity has not been studied extensively in the research community. Discovering new species and learning how they interact with their environment, through research like Nastasi’s, helps broaden our understanding of the role insects play in our ecosystem. Learn more by watching this video.