Researchers Discover 1 New Wasp Species in China, Naming It After Hemingway

Q: Why did scientists name a parasite that threatens agricultural pest control after literary giant Ernest Hemingway?

Scientists named the new wasp *Chlorocytus papahemii* after Ernest Hemingway as a tribute to the writer, specifically to his famous nickname, “Papa.” The species name “papahemii” is a direct nod to that moniker rather than to the insect’s role in agriculture. The naming appears to have been honorary and symbolic, not a comment on the wasp’s harmful effect on pest control. The research team said the species was named in honor of Hemingway, one of the 20th century’s best-known literary figures. Publishers promoting the study also tied the announcement to Hemingway’s birthday, reinforcing that the choice was commemorative. That the insect is a hyperparasitoid — a parasite of a parasite — is scientifically important because it attacks *Eurytoma curculionum*, a beneficial wasp that kills the sugar beet pest *Lixus subtilis*. By reducing populations of that primary parasitoid, the new species could complicate biological control efforts in Xinjiang’s sugar beet fields. So the answer is essentially literary, not agricultural: researchers were honoring Hemingway’s cultural stature and his “Papa Hemingway” identity, even though the species itself plays a potentially troublesome ecological role in crop protection.

1 articles · Updated · Morning Ag Clips - · Jul 21

Xinjiang fieldwork uncovered Chlorocytus papahemii, a newly identified pteromalid wasp, and also recorded Eurytoma curculionum in China for the first time.
Sugar beet researchers found the species by rearing larvae from leaf petioles damaged by Lixus subtilis, a destructive weevil that has repeatedly broken out in Xinjiang.
Chlorocytus papahemii sits at a fourth trophic level: it parasitizes Eurytoma curculionum, which itself attacks the crop-damaging weevil larvae.
That hyperparasitoid role could complicate biological pest control because it kills a beneficial primary parasitoid even as the study maps the fuller food chain needed for better weevil management.