Muhaka icipe (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae: Eucoilinae: Kleidotomini)
Muhaka icipe is the tiny star of this week’s insect of the week (51). Unknown until 2013, we collected the species in a Malaise trap within Muhaka forest (see image), a patch of indigenous forest and one of ICIPE’s field stations. We knew immediately that the wasp belonged to the family Figitidae (superfamily Cynipoidea), by virtue of its diagnostic wing venation. However the species was completely new to us so we contacted Dr. Matt Buffington of the US Department of Agriculture, an expert on cynipoid taxonomy. He was keen to examine the 3 male specimens (image attached) we had collected and in short order determined that the species was new to science, that it belonged in the tribe Kleidotomini and that it did not fit in either of the two known genera of that tribe. We had discovered a new genus. Matt agreed to describe the new genus and species and we settled on Muhaka as the genus name and for the species epithet (the 2nd name of a species) we chose the name of the institution that supported our work in Kenya (ICIPE, the acronym of International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology). The paper that reported on the discovery, description and naming of this new genus was published in 2015, and so Muhaka icipe entered the literature. Nothing is known of its biology, but species of the large genus Kleidotoma, its closest relative, are parasitoids of the larvae of flies that are usually found in decomposing organic matter such as fruits, dung, and carrion. The function of the prominent shovel-like projections on the head of adults suggest that they are used to dig their way out from beneath the soil after an adult emerges from its pupa. More recently, we collected a single female (image attached) of M. icipe, distinctive itself with emarginate fore wings (absent in males that have "normal" wings).
With an area of approximately 1.5 km2 Muhaka is one of the smaller forests that dot the near-coastline from southern Somalia to the Limpopo river in Mocambique. Taken together they make up the megadiverse East African Coastal Forests hotspot, known for the great diversity and large number of endemic species of both animals and plants. The hotspot is further divided into two regions, the Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane Coastal Forest mosaic and the Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane Coastal Forest mosaic, the latter of which includes the Kenyan coastal forests. Kenya has over 100 coastal forests of varying size, the largest being Arabuko-Sokoke forest (370 km2) that, in comparison, is 250 times larger than Muhaka forest. Nearly ½ of the forests, including Muhaka, are kayas, small, sacred forests that serve as private areas of the Mijikenda people in which to conduct cultural and religious rites. At one time the kayas served as protection from invading Galla warriors. Kayas are still used and village elders may provide a measure of protection against human encroachment by tree poachers and farmers who favour conversion of forests to cropland.
Credits: Dr Robert Copeland