Scientists discover rare wasp species in the U.S. for the first time

Biologist's lab is part of a larger initiative to explore the diversity of oak gall wasps and their parasites

Binghamton University

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Two species of Bootanomyia dorsalis wasps introduced to North America from Europe A, B variation in the extent of wing infumation from a single collection of B. dorsalis sp. 2 from Neuroterus washingtonensis in Metchosin, BC C a male B. dorsalis sp. 1 collected from New York D a female B. dorsalis sp. 2 from the Pacific coast of North America. Body coloration of both C and D wasps are representative of their respective species regardless of sex.

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Credit: Journal of Hymenoptera Research

A research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York have identified two previously unknown species of parasitic wasps living in the United States.A research team including facutly at Binghamton University, State University of New York have identified two previously unknown species of parasitic wasps living in the United States.

Oak gall wasps and their predators don’t have the panache of butterflies, but they’re attracting growing interest among both scientists and naturalists.

Only 1 to 8 millimeters long, these small insects create the tumor-like plant growths known as “galls.” Small as a pinhead or large as an apple, galls can take striking shapes, with some resembling sea urchins or saucers, explained Binghamton University Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Kirsten Prior, who also co-leads Binghamton’s Natural Global Environmental Change Center.

And if these wasps are a mascot for anything, it’s biodiversity. North America has around 90 different species of oak trees, and around 800 species of oak gall wasps that live upon them. Parasitic wasps lay their eggs in the galls and go on to devour the entire oak gall wasp.

But how many species of parasitoid wasps are out there? That’s a question that scientists — both academic researchers traveling the globe and everyday citizens in their own backyard — are working to answer.

A recent article in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, “Discovery of two Palearctic Bootanomyia Girault (Hymenoptera, Megastigmidae) parasitic wasp species introduced to North America,” gives insight into a previously unknown level of species diversity. In addition to Prior, co-authors include current graduate student Kathy Fridrich and former graduate student Dylan G. Jones, as well as Guerin Brown, Corey Lewis, Christian Weinrich, MaKella Steffensen and Andrew Forbes of the University of Iowa, and Elijah Goodwin of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Tarrytown, N.Y.

This discovery is part of a larger research effort. In 2024, the National Science Foundation awarded a $305,209 grant to Binghamton University for research into the diversity of oak gall wasps and parasitoids throughout North America. The project is a collaboration between Prior, Forbes at the University of Iowa, Glen Hood at Wayne State University and Adam Kranz, one of the creators behind the website Gallformers.org, which helps people learn about and identify galls on North American plants.

The NSF grant investigates a core question: How do gall-forming insects escape diverse and evolving clades of parasitic wasps — and how do parasites catch up? To answer that question, researchers are collecting oak gall wasps around North America and using genetic sequencing to determine which parasitic wasps emerge from the galls. Among them are Fridrich and fellow Binghamton graduate student Zachary Prete, who spent the summer on a gall- and parasitoid-collection trip from New York to Florida.

“We are interested in how oak gall characteristics act as defenses against parasites and affect the evolutionary trajectories of both oak gall wasps and the parasites they host. The scale of this study will make it the most extensive cophylogenetic study of its kind,” Prior said. “Only when we have a large, concerted effort to search for biodiversity can we uncover surprises — like new or introduced species.”

Discovering unknown species

Over the past several years, researchers with Prior’s lab traveled the West Coast from California to British Columbia, collecting approximately 25 oak gall wasp species and rearing tens of thousands of parasitic wasps, which were ultimately identified as more than 100 different species.

Some of the parasitoids, reared from oak gall wasp species from several locations, turned out to be the European species Bootanomyia dorsalis in the wasp family Megastigmidae. Researchers at the University of Iowa identified a similar wasp from collections they made in New York state.

“Finding this putative European species on the two coasts of North America inspired our group to confirm this parasitic species’ identity and whether it was, in fact, an introduced parasite from Europe,” Prior explained.

Parasitic wasps are small and challenging to identify based on features alone. Because of this, researchers use genetic tools to confirm a species’ identity, sequencing “the universal barcoding gene,” Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (mtCOI), and comparing their results to reference libraries. What they discovered is that the European species B. dorsalis came in two separate varieties, or clades: the New York samples were related to species in Portugal, Iran and Italy, while the Pacific coast wasps were related to those from Spain, Hungary and Iran.

“The sequences from two clades were different enough from each other that they could be considered different species. This suggests that B. dorsalis was introduced at least twice, and that the New York and West Coast introductions were separate,” Prior said.

And while they were found in at least four different oak gall wasp species from Oregon to British Columbia, all the West Coast B. dorsalis wasps were genetically identical, which means that their introduction was small and localized. The East Coast wasps had slightly more genetic diversity, which could indicate that there was less of a population bottleneck, or that the species was introduced more than once.

How did the European species get here? One possibility is that non-native oak species were intentionally introduced to North America. English oak, or Quercus robur, was widely planted for wood since the 17th century, and is found in British Columbia as well as several northeastern states and provinces. Turkey oak, Q. cerris, is an ornamental tree now found along the East Coast — including a spot near where B. dorsalis was discovered in New York.

There are other possibilities. Adult parasitic wasps can live for 27 days, so they could have hitchhiked on a plane, Prior said.

Researchers don’t yet know if these introduced species pose a hazard to native North American species. Other introduced parasite species are known to impact populations of native insects, she acknowledged.

“We did find that they can parasitize multiple oak gall wasp species and that they can spread, given that we know that the population in the west likely spread across regions and host species from a localized small introduction,” Prior said. “They could be affecting populations of native oak gall wasp species or other native parasites of oak gall wasps.”

Naturalists and citizen scientists play an important role in biodiversity research, such as the project that led to the discovery of the two B. dorsalis clades. Gall Week, a project hosted on the platform iNaturalist, encourages citizen scientists to collect galls during two seasons, and specimens from the NSF-funded study will be posted on the naturalist site Gallformers.org. Binghamton University ecology classes have participated in Gall Week, and also logged galls during University’s annual Ecoblitz biodiversity event.

Biodiversity is a key component to healthy and functioning ecosystems — and one that is increasingly under threat due to global change.

“Parasitic wasps are likely the most diverse group of animals on the planet and are extremely important in ecological systems, acting as biological control agents to keep insects in check, including those that are crop or forest pests,” Prior explained.

Binghamton University Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Kirsten Prior (center) and graduate students Rosebelle Ines (left) and Aly Milks (right) collect oak galls in the Binghamton University Nature Preserve. 

Binghamton University Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Kirsten Prior and graduate student Aly Milks collect oak galls in the Binghamton University Nature Preserve. Image Credit: Jonathan Cohen.

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Journal

Journal of Hymenoptera Research

DOI

10.3897/jhr.98.152867 

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Discovery of two Palearctic Bootanomyia Girault (Hymenoptera, Megastigmidae) parasitic wasp species introduced to North America

AMERIKAN EXCEPTIONALISM

Firearm suicides are increasing among older women at an alarming rate

While firearm suicides are higher among older men than older women, a new study found that this method of suicide is rising sharply among women 65 and older, underscoring the need for increased mental health support for older populations

Boston University School of Public Health

Older men are 13 times more likely to die by firearm suicide than women, but a new study by Boston University School of Public Health and the University of California, Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs has found that suicides by gun are increasing rapidly among older women.

Firearms were involved in nearly 40 percent of suicides among older women from 2014-2023, up from 34.9 percent in 2014, according to the study in JAMA Network Open. Women represent nearly half of all new gun owners in the United States; as female gun ownership surges across many states, these findings highlight a need to better understand the immediate and long-term consequences of firearm suicides among older women, as well as develop tailored interventions to mitigate firearm suicides among all older adults. 

“Based on the most recent decade of federal data on firearm mortality, we found alarmingly high proportions of firearm suicides to all suicides among both older women and older men, and the trend among older women outpaced that of older men,” says study lead and corresponding author Dr. Ziming Xuan, professor of community health sciences at BUSPH.

The research team, which also included senior author Dr. Mark Kaplan, research professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and coauthor Mr. William Xuan, a student at Brookline High School in Brookline, Mass., analyzed firearm suicide data among older adults from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The team calculated the ratio of firearm suicides to all suicides, by sex and by state, for each year between January 2014 and December 2023. 

More than 90 percent of the 63,599 individuals ages 65 and older who died by firearm suicide in the US during this decade were men. For older women, the proportion of firearm suicides to all suicides increased by approximately five percentage points, to 38.5 percent, reversing a steady decline that had begun in 1991. Even though older men had substantially higher firearm suicide rates than older women, the rates among older men remained relatively stable throughout the study period. 

This disparity in firearm suicides between men and women was surprising, says Dr. Kaplan, and the findings reflect the unique risks that older gun owners face. Firearm suicide is the leading method of suicide for adults 65 and older, and as the population of older Americans continues to increase, firearm suicide rates may remain high without proper interventions to reverse these trends. A combination of physical, mental, and social factors may influence gun ownership and suicidal ideation among this age group, such as chronic illness and pain, depression, stress, loneliness, financial concerns, and greater access to guns, among other reasons.

“Firearms have become a disturbingly common method of suicide for older adults, both men and women,” Dr. Kaplan says. “When firearms are involved, older adults are less likely to survive a suicide attempt, as the chances of rescue in these situations are significantly reduced.”

Notably, the researchers found that the proportion of firearm suicides to all suicides varied substantially by state, with southern states generally encompassing the greatest proportion of suicides by gun. Alabama and Mississippi maintained the highest proportions of firearm suicides for both men (92.7 percent and 91.3 percent, respectively) and women (68.1 percent and 68 percent, respectively). 

“States with stricter firearm laws, such as New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and California, tended to have fewer firearm-related suicides among older adults,” Dr. Kaplan says. 

Policies and programs that address the disproportionate rates of depression and other mental health conditions among this population should remain a public health priority, the researchers say. “Healthcare providers should engage older patients experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts by inquiring about their access to firearms,” says Dr. Kaplan. “Open discussions regarding firearm safety can be a crucial step in ensuring their well-being.”

The proportion of older adults in the US is expected to grow from 17.3 percent in 2022 to 21.6 percent by 2040, with women accounting for the largest share of this increase. “As older women account for the majority of an aging population in the United States, it is crucial to provide enhanced access to mental health care for older adults, particularly in states with high levels of firearm ownership,” Dr. Xuan says.

** 

About Boston University School of Public Health 

Founded in 1976, Boston University School of Public Health is one of the top ten ranked schools of public health in the world. It offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments conduct policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations—especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable—locally and globally.

About UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs brings together the fields of social welfare, urban planning, and public policy to advance solutions for society’s most pressing problems. With a strong focus on community engagement, equity, and research-informed action, the School plays a central role in shaping public discourse and practice in California and beyond.

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Journal

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.28709 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Sex Differences in Trends of Firearm Suicides among Older Adults, 2014 to 2023

Article Publication Date

25-Aug-2025

Disclaimer: AA

 

Mouth to gut bacteria migration explains why smoking is good for inflamed bowels

SMOKING WHAT?!

RIKEN

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Diagram showing the mechanism discovered in the study. Inflammation of the intestines in ulcerative colitis results from an excessive helper Th2 immune response. Smoking leads to aromatic compounds like hydroquinone in the colonic mucosa. This allows oral bacteria like Streptococcus to thrive there, which triggers an immune response in the form of helper Th1 cell activation. Th1 cells suppress the Th2-immune response, thus alleviating the inflammation and protecting against ulcerative colitis.

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Credit: RIKEN

Researchers led by Hiroshi Ohno at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan have discovered why smoking tobacco helps people suffering from ulcerative colitis, a chronic disease typified by inflammation of the large intestine. Published in the scientific journal Gut on August 25, the study shows that smoking produces metabolites that encourage bacteria from the mouth to grow in the large intestines where they trigger an immune response. These findings imply that protection against ulcerative colitis can be achieved through prebiotics like hydroquinone or probiotic therapy with bacteria like Streptococcus mitis, thus eliminating the need to smoke and all the associated risks for other diseases.

Inflammatory bowel disease comes in two main varieties, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Although both cause chronic abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue and weight loss, their causes and the exact type and location of the inflammation differ. Along with these differences is a mystery that has puzzled doctors and scientists for over 40 years; smoking increases the risk of Crohn’s disease but somehow protects against ulcerative colitis. As both diseases are related to gut inflammation—which is an immune response— and gut immunity depends in part on the types of bacteria in the gut, Ohno and his team at RIKEN IMS set out to investigate whether the differential effects of smoking on these diseases can be explained by gut bacteria.

The researchers used a combination of human clinical data and experiments with mice to reach their conclusions. Among those with ulcerative colitis, they found that smokers had certain bacteria usually found in the mouth, such as Streptococcus, growing in the gut, specifically in the colonic mucosa that cover the inner lining of the intestines. This phenomenon did not occur in ex-smokers. Thus, while these bacteria normally pass all the way through the digestive system as we swallow saliva throughout the day, smoking somehow allows them to settle down in the gut mucosa.

The next question was why? The researchers also examined gut metabolites—small substances produced in the gut when food is broken down and processed by the body and gut bacteria. They found that levels of several gut metabolites were higher in smokers with ulcerative colitis than in ex-smokers with colitis. In mice, the researchers found that one of these metabolites, called hydroquinone, promoted the growth of Streptococcus in the gut mucosa. So, smoking-related metabolites like hydroquinone allow mouth bacteria like Streptococcus to flourish in the mucus layer that covers the inner lining of the intestines. But how do these bacteria help reduce inflammation? And why don’t they help in Crohn’s disease?

The researchers then went back to the oral bacteria that they had discovered was growing in the gut mucosa of smokers with ulcerative colitis, and isolated 10 strains from the saliva of smokers. When they treated mouse models of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis with each of these 10 strains for five days, they found that giving the mice Streptococcusmitis had almost the same effect as smoking. Inflammation was reduced in mice with ulcerative colitis and exacerbated in mice with Crohn’s disease.

Analysis showed that S. mitis triggered the emergence of helper Th1 cells, which are an important part of the gut’s immune response to invaders. In Crohn’s disease this likely worsens the condition because the original inflammation is actually caused by these same helper Th1 cells. But in colitis, the Th1 cells fight against an initial Th2-immune response, and this ends up reducing inflammation.

As smoking poses high risks for cancer, heart disease, and many other illnesses, it is not a sustainable treatment for ulcerative colitis. “Our results indicate the relocation of bacteria from the mouth to the gut, particularly those of the Streptococcus genus, and the subsequent immune response in the gut, is the mechanism through which smoking helps protect against the disease,” says Ohno. “Logically, direct treatment with this kind of bacteria, or indirect treatment with hydroquinone, is thus likely to mimic the beneficial effects of smoking but avoid all the negative effects.”

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Journal

Gut

DOI

10.1136/gutjnl-2025-334922 

How researchers recreated faces of 2,500-year-old skulls found in India

Cherylann Mollan - BBC News
Sat, August 23, 2025

The facial reconstruction of a 2,500-year-old skull excavated at Kondagai [Face Lab/Liverpool John Moores University]

In a modest-sized university lab in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, researchers are using a tiny drill to scrape away enamel from a 2,500-year-old tooth.

Researchers at Madurai Kamaraj University say the tooth belongs to one of two human skulls that they have used as models to digitally reconstruct faces to understand what the region's early inhabitants might have looked like.

The skulls, both belonging to men, were excavated from Kondagai, an ancient burial site about 4km (2.5 miles) from Keeladi - an archaeological site that has become a political flashpoint in India.

Tamil Nadu state department archaeologists say an urban civilisation dating back to 580BC existed in Keeladi, a claim that adds a new dimension to the story of the Indian subcontinent.

The Indus Valley Civilisation, that emerged over 5,000 years ago in the northern and central parts of present-day India, is the country's first major civilisation - and narratives around urbanisation have so far been confined to the north.

But state archaeologists say the findings at Keeladi indicate for the first time that an ancient independent civilisation existed in southern India as well.

They say the people of Keeladi were literate, highly-skilled and engaged in trade across the subcontinent and abroad. They lived in brick houses and buried their dead along with daily necessities like food grains and pots in massive burial urns in Kondagai.

Archaeologists have excavated about 50 such urns from the site so far.

Burial urns at Kondagai have been found to contain human remains and goods [Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology]

Researchers at Madurai Kamaraj University are now extracting DNA from human bones and other goods found in these urns to better understand who the inhabitants of Keeladi were and what their lifestyle was like.

But a more profound quest seems to be under way.

"We want to understand our ancestry and the migration routes of our ancestors," says professor G Kumaresan, who heads the genetics department at the university. "It's a journey towards answering the larger question of 'who are we and how did we come to exist here'," he adds.

The exercise of reconstructing faces of the 2,500-year-old skulls has revealed clues that can answer at least one part of this question.

"The faces mainly have features of Ancient Ancestral South Indians - a population group believed to be the first inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent," says Prof Kumaresan.

The features also reveal traces of Middle-East Eurasian and Austro-Asiactic ancestries, hinting at global migration and the mixing of ancient population groups. But Prof Kumaresan says that more research is needed to properly establish the ancestries of Keeladi's residents.

The facial reconstruction of the skulls began with researchers at Madurai Kamaraj University creating 3D scans of the skulls.

These digital scans were then sent to Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. Face Lab specialises in creating digital craniofacial reconstructions using forensic, artistic and scientific principles and technologies.

Experts at the lab used computer softwares to add muscles, flesh and skin to the scans of skulls, bringing out their facial features. These additions were made according to standard human anatomical proportions and measurements.

A researcher at work at the ancient DNA lab in Madurai Kamaraj University [BBC]

Then came the big challenge: adding colour to the images.

This brought up questions like which shade of brown should the men be, what colour should their eyes have and how should their hair look?

Prof Kumaresan says the standard practice of using colours that matched physical traits of people currently living in Tamil Nadu was followed, but the digital portraits still evoked lively discussions on social media.

They underscored longstanding divisions in Indian society - around race, culture and heritage.

Historical narratives championing Aryans (a term commonly used to describe people who settled in the northern part of India) as the "original citizens" of the country clashed with those that ascribed this title to Dravidians (a term used to describe people living primarily in India's southern states).

India has always been plagued by a north-south divide that stems partly from the popular belief that Indian civilisation - and everything associated with it, like language, culture and even religion - took root in the north and shaped the rest of the country.

But Prof Kumaresan says the facial portraits of the Keeladi skulls reveal a message that's more complex and inclusive.

"The message we can all take home is that we are more diverse than we realise, and the proof of this lies in our DNA," he says.

This isn't the first time that researchers in India have attempted to recreate faces from ancient skulls.

In 2019, scientists reconstructed faces of two skulls found at a cemetery in Rakhigarhi - an important Indus Valley Civilisation site in India. But the sketches lack colour and other physical traits.

"As humans, we have a fascination with faces – our ability to recognise and interpret faces is part of our success as a social species," says Caroline Wilkinson, who headed the Face Lab team that worked on the Keeladi men.

"These facial depictions also encourage the audience to understand ancient remains as people rather than artefacts, and to establish a connection through personal narrative rather than a wider population history," she adds.

A digital portrait of the other skull excavated at Kondagai [Face Lab/Liverpool John Moores University]

At the Madurai Kamaraj University, efforts are under way to study Keeladi as thoroughly as the Indus Valley Civilisation.

"So far, we have learnt that the people of Keeladi were involved in agriculture, trade and cattle-rearing. They kept deer, goats and wild pigs and ate lots of rice and millets," says Prof Kumaresan.

"Interestingly, we have found evidence that they also consumed dates, even though the date palm isn't ubiquitous in Tamil Nadu at present," he adds.

But the most challenging task for his team remains extracting sufficient DNA from human skeletons found at Kondagai to create a gene library. Because the skeletons are badly degraded, the DNA extracted from them is low and of poor quality. But Prof Kumaresan is hopeful that some good will come out of these endeavours.

"Ancient DNA libraries are like portals to the past; they can reveal fascinating insights about life as it was and life as we know it to be," he says.

Tiny waves, big impact: study finds new way to control fluid in space

Researchers use water’s shape, behavior to control liquid in new study

University of Mississippi

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The shape of water can help researchers manipulate how much energy flows through a barrier. Likun Zhang (right) senior scientist at the National Center for Physical Acoustics, and Zhengwu Wang, a doctoral student in physics, take photos of the water passing through a barrier while manipulating the angle of the water’s meniscus, the curve caused by surface tension near barriers.

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Credit: Photo by Clara Turnage/University Marketing and Communications

OXFORD, Miss. – Liquids can provide some especially tricky challenges for space travelers, but new research from the University of Mississippi could help engineer smarter, more efficient fluid control in zero- and low-gravity environments. 

Likun Zhang, senior scientist at the National Center for Physical Acoustics and associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, led a research team studying how liquid waves move through barriers in low-gravity environments. Their results were published in Physical Review Letters.  

“In low-gravity cases like the space station, surface tension dominates everything,” said Zhengwu Wang, a fourth-year Ole Miss doctoral student in physics and co-author of the study. “The curvature of the water – the meniscus – is going to appear around structures, and we wanted to know how that meniscus would affect how waves move across barriers.” 

When water meets a partially submerged barrier – think of a leaf on a pond – the surface tension of the liquid causes the liquid to curve upward where it meets the barrier; in this case, the leaf. Zhang and Wang’s research shows that this curve, called the meniscus, can be manipulated to reduce or increase the amount of energy that passes through that barrier.  

If the meniscus’ curve is slight, more energy passes through. But as the meniscus curves more steeply, it reduces the energy conveyed by the fluid.  

“Our common sense tells us a barrier should block waves, but here we found certain meniscus shapes can make waves pass through more easily,” Zhang said. “Only a tiny, 1.5-millimeter change in the meniscus shape caused the transmission to drop from about 60% to just a few percent. Tiny meniscus, huge impact.” 

Space travelers use liquids for all manner of applications: from fuel and water-recycling systems to life support and cooling systems. Being able to better control the fluid in these systems can make them more efficient and lighter – a key for space travel. 

“These are really tiny effects in daily life, but they can have a huge impact in microgravity environments,” Wang said.   

To conduct the experiment, the researchers simulated low gravity by generating small, frequent surface waves. Then, they placed a partial barrier in the path of those waves and used acoustics to measure the meniscus' movement.  

By changing the barrier’s height and using a surface coating to make it water-attracting or water-repelling, the researchers controlled the meniscus – and how much energy passed through the barrier.  

“As physicists, we are looking at very fundamental problems – the like problem of wave dynamics and barriers,” Zhang said. “But being able to control fluid behavior in low gravity is crucial – whether you’re talking about water recycling systems or fuel tanks – because you can’t rely on gravity to separate liquids and gases.” 

The applications could prove useful in earthbound manufacturing and biomedical engineering, too, where microfluidic devices move fluids through channels just millimeters wide, Zhang said. These devices range from printers to DNA chips to lab-on-a-chip technology.  

“This is the first experiment studying this behavior in fluid, but it opens the door to new phenomena and new physics,” he said. “This work is valuable because it shows a new way to control fluid for the first time.”  

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation grant no. 2306106.  

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Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/qb1x-qv6x 

Article Publication Date

21-Aug-2025