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Sweden has thousands of nameless insects!

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The Malaise trap, which has given its name to the project. Once invented by the Swedish entomologist René Malaise, they are a very efficient way of collecting insects. Photo: Kajsa Glemhorn.

I know that  nature can never be entirely mapped. And I knew that there are plants and animals unknown to humanity in the vastness of the world’s jungles, but in Sweden..?

Yes, in Sweden. There are still insects that are new to Sweden, or even to the world. And loads of them.

Within the Swedish Malaise trap project, run by the Swedish Museum of Natural History, 2003 and 2006, insects were gathered with Malaise traps in 75 different locations around Sweden. About 40 million (!!) insects were collected, and now scientists all over the world are working hard to sort them and find out what species every single one of them belong to. This is a job that will take many years, but already two years ago 1000 species that weren’t before recorded in Sweden have been found. About half of these are also unknown by international science.

´Another insect species that hasn’t been found in Sweden before, the Piogaster albina. This is an insect with a creepy story: It attacks spiders and lays its eggs on them. When the larvae comes out of the egg, it sucks the “blood” of the spider, and when the insect finally is born, the spider dies... Photo: The Swedish Malaise trap project.

The aim of this project is to create an unique scientific resource for future research on entomology (insects). In a recent interview in Dagens Nyheter (article in Swedish), Kajsa Glemhorn who leads the project, says she hopes for 5.000 insect species new to Sweden to be “discovered”.

This must be a fantastic opportunity for entomologists to make their own mark in history. Kajsa Glemhorn has for example given the name to a species until now unknown to humanity – the Platygaster Glemhornae!

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

August 6, 2012

  • Ron

    We are very fortunate to live where we do. Surrounded by countryside, farming, cows… And one of the things I enjoy most while out on family walks is finding the critters that most people walk right past.

    If more people would take a few extra minutes to actually kneel down and look at what’s going on around them, maybe they’d understand that as humans we are so outnumbered and yet our actions have a massive impact on life.

    I’ve never seen a Piogaster albina before but I’ll be sure to look for them now. Thanks for sharing!

  • Pol – Croatia

    There is still so many about our world that we don’t know and even more regarding that an average person doesn’t have nearly close all the knowledge of humanity. This insect looks interesting and even elegant, although it’s way of procreation is really horrifing. Certainly a new source of ideas for producers of Alien or Prometheus alike movies.

    Interestingly, when i was a child i used to spot lot more bugs and butterflies than today. I guess one of the reasons is also that children are smaller and play closer to the ground. Recently, i went to the countryside and was very surprised to saw an interesting flying insect that i haven’t spoted for years. It has very reflective metalic surfaces and can be of green, red, blue or (i think) even yellow color, which looks very amazing, and gives a sort of magical feeling. Maybe even close to something like meeting with a fairy. …

  • sarajeswani

    Thanks for your comments, Pol and Ron! You’re both so right about the importance of slowing down one’s steps and kneeling down once in a while. It’s just recently that I started getting my childhood fascination back for the universe that hides around us, crawling around in flowers and among blades of grass. It certainly makes my life richer.