Tiny parasitic wasp named after David Attenborough for his 100th birthday

Attenboroughnculus tau © The Trustees of the NHM London

A specimen from 1983 lay forgotten at the Natural History Museum until recently, when spotted by a volunteer and identified as new genus.

He has lizards, bats, frogs, weevils, flatworms, snails and spiders named after him. But now Sir David Attenborough can celebrate his 100th birthday with an entirely new genus named in his honour.

Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London have paid tribute to the world-renowned broadcaster for his 100th birthday on 8 May by describing a new genus of parasitic wasp and a new species found within the museum’s collections.

Attenboroughnculus tau is an enigmatic ichneumon wasp with a body just 3.5mm long. The species name, tau, refers to a striking T-shaped marking on the insect’s abdomen.

The specimen was collected in 1983 in the Valdivia province of Chile but lay forgotten in an unsorted drawer in the Natural History Museum until recently, when its unusual characteristics were spotted by Augustijn De Ketelaere, a volunteer, during a detailed examination of the ichneumonid collections.

Dr Gavin Broad, principal curator for insects at the Natural History Museum, led the study of the newly described insect, which is so distinct from its closest relatives that it cannot logically fit into any established genus.

“When I was far too young, I learnt about taxonomy from David Attenborough’s Life on Earth series and resolved to be a taxonomist. Amazingly, I ended up a taxonomist, so I have Sir David to thank for that,” said Broad.

Nothing is yet known about the new species’ habits or life-cycle, apart from that its eggs are laid inside another animal.

Attenborough at the Natural History Museum in 2014. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

“One of its fairly close relatives in Australia attacks spider egg sacs so that could be what this group of species does, but who knows?” said Broad. “I am sure it will still be found in Chile, where there are some weird and wonderful species, but trying to find particular wasps is the proverbial needle in a haystack. The vast majority of ichneumonid wasps are undescribed still, and even in Britain we’re describing new species every year.”

Broad said he hoped Attenborough would be pleased with the naming, particularly with the honour of having a entire genus, a taxonomical subfamily, named after him – although “he may not be quite as excited about it compared to the echidna”. Attenborough has said the Natural History Museum is one of his favourite buildings.

A critically endangered echidna was named Zaglossus attenboroughi in 1998, after a single individual was collected in the Indonesian province of Papua in 1961. There were no sightings of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna again though until 2023, when the first video footage of a living individual was recorded.

Scientists hope that the discovery of a new subfamily of parasitic wasps will encourage other scientists and taxonomists to look again to see if further unique species are hiding in historic collections, requiring new scientific descriptions and names.

Jennifer Pullar, science communications manager at the Natural History Museum and co-author of the paper published in the Journal of Natural History, said: “We hope to inspire global scientists to take another look in their collections to see if there is something small that could contribute to our collective understanding and therefore the future of our natural world.”

Some of Britain’s rarest birds of prey are still being illegally killed despite decades of legal protection, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

 

 

 

 

 

Shooting organisations say gamebird shooting contributes to rural economies © Getty Images

The charity’s report, to be published on Wednesday, records 921 confirmed attacks between 2015 and 2024, with more than half, according to the RSPB, on or near land managed for game shooting.

Mark Thomas, head of the RSPB’s investigations unit, said the killings were “about money”, with birds of prey targeted to stop them taking young pheasants, partridges or grouse, leaving more birds to be shot by paying customers.

Shooting organisations strongly deny persecution is widespread across the industry. They say it is carried out by a small minority and condemn it outright.

But the RSPB is calling for gamebird shooting in England and Wales to be licensed, arguing estates should face tougher consequences when protected birds are killed on their land.

Targeted species include eagles, red kites, peregrine falcons, hen harriers, goshawks and barn owls. The RSPB says it only classifies cases as “confirmed” when they are backed by forensic, eyewitness or video evidence.

Its investigations unit, staffed by former police officers and bird experts, works to identify those suspected of killing protected birds. The RSPB says evidence gathered by its investigators, including hidden-camera footage, has helped secure three convictions this year.

Two involved birds being beaten to death after they were caught in traps. One case involved a buzzard, the other a goshawk. Some live-capture traps are permitted for pest control of species like crows and pigeons, but traps must be checked regularly and non-target species released unharmed.

The third case involved covert surveillance at a hen harrier roost in the Yorkshire Dales where investigators captured evidence of a planned attempt to kill one of the UK’s rarest birds of prey.

RSPB footage showed head gamekeeper Racster Dingwall arriving with a shotgun while hidden audio recorded a discussion of killing other protected birds and whether a harrier might be satellite-tagged.

Dingwall later admitted offences linked to an attempt to kill a protected hen harrier and was ordered to pay a fine of £1,520.

The RSPB says recorded incidents have fallen in recent years, but argues the long-term pattern shows criminal prosecutions alone are not enough.

It wants gamebird shooting in England and Wales to be licensed, as red grouse shooting now is in Scotland. It says licences could be suspended or withdrawn at the civil standard of proof, even where a criminal prosecution is difficult.

Shooting organisations oppose the proposals, saying it would penalise responsible estates and risk conservation work.

“What we should do is strengthen law enforcement to prosecute individuals who commit these crimes. They have no place in the modern shooting community,” Dr Marnie Lovejoy, of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, told the BBC.

She said licensing would add another layer of regulation to activities already covered by law and would affect everyone involved in shooting.

She added that the sector makes a significant contribution to nature recovery, spending around £500m a year on conservation work – the equivalent, BASC estimates, of 26,000 full-time jobs and 14m workdays.

The government has not backed the RSPB’s proposals, but says it will work with the shooting sector and others to explore wider measures, including licensing.

A Defra spokesperson told the BBC: “Many estates already meet high environmental standards, and we want all estates to achieve these same high standards.”

Professor Davy McCracken, from Scotland’s Rural College, has spent 35 years studying upland management and wildlife. He says the tension between protecting birds of prey and managing land for grouse shooting is ultimately economic: “That is where the root of the conflict actually lands.”

But he agrees persecution is carried out by a minority of those with game-shooting interests, and says focusing only on them can obscure conservation work elsewhere in the sector.

Butterfly Conservation has helped to hide 4,000 microscopic moth eggs on a Scottish hillside using paintbrushes.

Photo: Mark Parsons

Staff and volunteers joined a team of 20 in the Cairngorms National Park to release the eggs of the endangered Dark Bordered Beauty which were bred in captivity.

The painstaking procedure was part of a long-running Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms (RIC) project with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and RSPB Scotland. The team hope to establish a new population for this rare species.

RZSS conservationist Adam Button said: “It was quite the occasion, bringing together so many faces from the project – including our CEO, David Field – to release this remarkable species. There was a real sense of celebration and optimism in the air. It was a wonderful day and I look forward to returning to see how the eggs have fared.”

David Hill, Butterfly Conservation Head of Nature Recovery for Scotland, added: “This project clearly demonstrates the importance of working together in partnership to take effective action for species and their habitats.

“Healthy aspen woodlands are incredibly important for a range of invertebrates in the Cairngorms, and the WildLand estate have done a great job here. We hope this egg release is a big step forward in securing the future of Dark-bordered Beauty in the Cairngorms.”

The Dark Bordered Beauty was once widespread across northern England and Scotland, but habitat loss has caused a serious decline, and it is now restricted to just three small sites: Deeside and RSPB Insh Marshes in Scotland, and one site in Yorkshire.

The project partners have been breeding individuals in captivity for several years in order to start new colonies in the Cairngorms and produce a much larger, more stable population.

Last year, the team were able to collect and release 400 eggs. This year, they released ten times that number.

The location chosen was a hillside clearing at Kinrara, part of WildLand Cairngorms: this location is rich with the moth’s favourite plants – aspen suckers, wildflowers and thick, damp mossy ground cover.

Using a paintbrush, the conservationists carefully placed the eggs onto the base of the aspen suckers, replicating the moth’s suspected natural egg-laying behaviour. They now hope that the caterpillars will hatch, survive and pupate into adult moths.

Members of the team will return to the site in July and August and use light traps to detect adults and find out whether this year’s release has been a success.

Carl Allott, RIC project officer, said: “With so many eggs released this year it’s a really exciting prospect to find dark bordered beauty moths in the traps in July and August. With the great aspen habitat at this site, it will be fantastic to see the population expand and recover. Getting to this point has involved a lot of hard work from partners, volunteers and land managers.”

Follow up monitoring will allow the team to refine reintroduction strategies, increase population numbers and reconnect fragmented populations.

The conservation breeding and release project for this species is delivered as part of the RIC project. This is a partnership between RZSS, Butterfly Conservation Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Buglife Scotland and NatureScot.

This work is possible thanks to the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Cheeky Panda, players of Postcode Lottery, The John Swires Trust 1989, The Cairngorms Trust and the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot.

Nightingales Return to Kent Nature Reserve

Photo: Ben Andrew

The early morning air at RSPB Northward Hill in Kent resonates with a symphony of bird songs, creating one of Britain’s most vibrant dawn choruses. Robins deliver their melodic phrases while cuckoos call in distinctive two-tone notes, and whitethroats add their characteristic scratchy warbles to the mix. Even the sounds from neighbouring Thames marshes—honking geese and lowing cattle—contribute to this natural orchestra.

But the star performer arrives in late April after an epic journey from West Africa. The nightingale, one of nature’s most celebrated vocalists, transforms the soundscape with its complex repertoire that ranges from soul-stirring melodies to rapid-fire sequences that can sound almost mechanical in their intensity. These elusive birds sing through the night and into early morning as males work to attract mates and establish territories in the reserve’s suitable habitat.

The nightingale population at Northward Hill appears to be holding steady, offering a glimmer of hope for this species that has faced significant challenges across the UK. However, conservationists remain cautious about the long-term outlook, pointing to ongoing habitat loss as a primary threat to these remarkable migrants. The birds require specific woodland conditions with dense undergrowth for nesting and foraging—habitat that continues to disappear across their range.

While the current sounds of hope echo through the Kent marshes, the nightingale’s future depends on protecting and restoring the scrubland and woodland edge habitats these extraordinary songsters need to survive.