Scientists often travel to remote forests, mountains, and islands in search of undiscovered species. But in a surprising twist, researchers at Kyushu University found a previously unknown ladybird beetle living on a pine tree right on their own campus.
The newly identified species, named Parastethorus pinicola, was discovered at Kyushu University's Hakozaki Satellite. The finding was reported in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae and emerged from a three-year project examining the classification of Stethorini, a group of tiny ladybird beetles that feed on spider mites. The study marks the first major review of this group in Japan in more than 50 years.
New Beetle Species Found on Campus
"I knew that this group of ladybirds often inhabits pine trees. Since there are Japanese black pines growing at the Hakozaki Satellite, I decided to look there, and that is where I found the new species," explains Ryōta Seki, a PhD student at the Entomological Laboratory, Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironment Sciences, and the first author of the study. "Normally, insect collectors do not pay much attention to pine trees, which is perhaps why scientists have overlooked this species for so long."
