New cuckoo bee species discovered in Vietnam's Vũ Quang National Park
On 2 October, the leadership of Vũ Quang National Park in Hà Tĩnh province, north-central Vietnam, announced that the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), working together with the park, had described a new species of bee following a period of exploration and research.
The bee Pasites vuquang Tran, Engel, and L.T.P. Nguyen, 2024: A – lateral view; B – dorsal view. (Photo: iebr.ac.vn).
The bee has been named Pasites vuquang Tran, Engel, and L.T.P. Nguyen, 2024 (after the place where it was found). It belongs to the genus Pasites, tribe Ammobatini, family Apidae (the bee family that includes honeybees). The species was discovered in 2023, while scientists were carrying out project VAST04.07/23-24 of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.
Pasites is one of the most widespread genera of the parasitic bee tribe Ammobatini (subfamily Nomadinae), occurring from southern Africa and Madagascar to northern and southern Asia. Pasites species can be recognized by their shiny integument covered with dense punctures, and by a particularly deep, narrow notch on the apical margin of the eighth abdominal segment, among other features.
The discovery of this Pasites species also marks the first record of both the tribe Ammobatini and the genus Pasites in Vietnam, a sign that the country's biodiversity has yet to be fully explored.
Vũ Quang National Park is known as one of Vietnam's foremost biodiversity hotspots, home to many endangered and rare species that are priorities for conservation. The park lies within an ecoregion of global priority, identified as critically important for biodiversity conservation in Vietnam and worldwide.
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