Scientists discover a ‘gruesome’ wasp species which hatches INSIDE other insects and eats its way out, as well as a gorilla-sized penguin in record annual haul

The “hideous” wasp, which hatches inside other insects and eats its way out, is one of a record 815 new species discovered by the Natural History Museum this year.

Scientists have also discovered the largest penguin ever known, a fearsome armored dinosaur, and a new species of moth discovered in Ealing that is actually native to it. Western Australia.

LondonThe Natural History Museum in Italy has counted the number of new species it describes every year since 2018, and 815 is the record so far.

The total includes 619 new species of wasps, including 14 named Dalek after the villains in Dr Who.

This is because they are short, strong, and metallic in color, as well as having a deadly lifestyle.

The museum has also named 58 new species of beetle including a number of dark green, pink and orange beetles from China and Laos.

How many new species have been discovered?

In total, 815 new species have been named by the Natural History Museum in 2023.

This includes:

• 619 species of wasps
• 58 species of beetle
• 24 species of frogs
• 15 species of algae
• 8 species of moth
• 4 fossil birds
• 1 new dinosaur

Of the 24 new frogs found this year, 20 are miniature species. Pictured is Hyperolius okaguroensis

“These wasps are a bit of science fiction, because they gruesomely lay their eggs inside an insect called a plant louse,” Dr. Gavin Broad, resident wasp expert at the Natural History Museum, said in describing the Dalek wasps.

“When the eggs hatch, the tiny wasps eat their way out of the lice from the inside, ensuring they have a food supply of fresh meat.

“It shows how ingenious wasps are, as other parasitic wasps that use insects in this way can paralyze their hosts or even use mind control – manipulating spiders to spin different webs, which is much more beneficial to the wasps.”

Last year, when the Natural History Museum unveiled 351 new species, wasps made up the majority of the new discoveries.

In 2022, 85 new species of wasps were discovered, including some that could be useful as a biological control agent in agriculture.

A tiny parasitic wasp with feather-like wings, one of the smallest insects ever discovered, infests the eggs of thrips – an insect that destroys crops.

The new species discovered in 2023 also includes the largest penguin ever known, the Kumano fordese, which weighs about as much as a gorilla, tipping the scales at an estimated 330 pounds (150 kg).

The giant penguin, which roamed New Zealand's seas and beaches more than 50 million years ago, was three times heavier than the modern emperor penguin.

One of the species discovered is the Comano fordese, which is the largest penguin ever to exist and is estimated to weigh 330 pounds (150 kg).

Another surprising discovery was a new species of moth, found by an amateur in Ealing which turned out to be native to Western Australia.

Meanwhile, last month an amateur discovered a small brown moth in her moth trap in a park in Ealing which turned out to be a new species from Western Australia, which has also established itself in part of west London.

The insect is named Tachystola mulliganae after the moth lover, Barbara Mulligan, who found it.

The 619 new species of wasps, including tiny Dalek wasps that are only 0.08 inches (2 mm) long, are largely the result of a research trip to Costa Rica, which found more than 550 new wasps.

Experts say the hornets are vital in killing pest insects, such as mealybugs, which otherwise threaten to destroy vital food supplies such as Africa's cassava crop.

In total, 619 new species of wasps have been discovered including Anicetus lysithe which is thought to parasitize gall-forming insects

There are 58 new species of beetle named, including a number of dark green and pink-orange beetles from China and Laos, and four new long-snouted weevils from South Africa.

Other insects include six stick insects from Australia, one of which was first found on the side of a bin, and nine new species of bristleworms, including two that eat bones.

There are 24 new species of frogs, including 20 miniature species from the forests of Madagascar.

The collection includes Hyperolius ukaguruensis, a cane frog from Tanzania known as “voiceless” because it is among the few frogs that does not make a sound to other frogs.

This year also saw four new species of fossil birds, including an ancient toothed bird called Janavis venaledins, which was flying around the time an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, and a species of Mauritian ground thrush that likely became extinct in the 20th century. The seventeenth century after the seventeenth century. Introducing black mice.

A number of the museum's finds have long since become extinct, just like this ground bird which soon succumbed to the introduction of black rats

The Natural History Museum also found a new species of armored dinosaur called Vectipelta barretti, which was found on the Isle of Wight.

A new dinosaur with a serrated, blade-like carapace is the first armored dinosaur to be named on the Isle of Wight in 142 years.

Also discovered infecting the roots of 400 million-year-old plants was the first pathogenic fungus ever discovered, which was named Potteromyces asteroxylicola after Peter Rabbit author and fungi enthusiast Beatrix Potter.

There were also 14 new meteorites described by museum scientists.

As part of the Darwin Tree of Life Project, any new species found in the UK will have its DNA fingerprint sequenced and uploaded to an extensive database.