A Murray State University biology professor has been credited with the discovery of a new species of parasitic fly.
Neomintho beckersi – a long, black and brown insect that resembles a common house fly – is named for its founder, MSU researcher and associate professor of biology Oliver Beckers.
Beckers was in northern Florida collecting katydids – insects related to grasshoppers and crickets that sometimes are shaped like leaves – for a research project in 2021. He brought some katydids back to Murray, and could tell by markings on their bellies that these specimens were parasitized by a fly. Beckers found some fly pupae – casings where insects undergo metamorphosis between their larva and adult stages – inside of his katydid cage, but these pupa looked different from the ones he had been researching before.
The pupa he previously studied were white and round, whereas these new ones were black and long. He was in Florida on a grant funded research project, and happened to find this new species of fly. Beckers raised these flies to adulthood, which gave him further confirmation that these flies weren’t like the ones from his prior research.
That’s when he reached out to a specialist in Canada who studies this group of flies. That researcher ultimately confirmed that what Beckers had uncovered was actually a new species.
“I didn't plan on finding this, it was one of those lucky catches where you are [in] the right time at the right place,” Beckers said.
TThere are a few ways to confirm whether a lifeform belongs to a previously undiscovered species, Beckers said. The first way is to look at the morphology, or features, of the animal to see if it is similar to other organisms. Then, researchers take genetic material from the specimen and see if its gene sequencing matches other lifeforms.
With the discovery of this new parasitic fly species, Beckers still has one glaring question about it: how it finds hosts. Parasitic flies usually have ears on their shoulders to hear the calls of katydids, but Beckers said this new species doesn’t have any ears. They also are active during the day, when their hosts are not calling.
Beckers said further research into this new species, and how it finds its hosts, could prove to be useful for other fields and industries.
“ Can we use information we learn about parasitic flies, in this case, that we could potentially use for agriculture, for other pests, so that could can we transfer some knowledge from studying these animals that kill another animal?” he said.
Sterling Wright, professor and chair of Murray State’s Department of Biological Sciences, said in a press release that this discovery adds to Beckers’ existing work on the relationships between katydids and parasitoid flies.
“The fact that the new fly species cannot hear will undoubtedly keep Dr. Beckers very busy while he studies the dynamics of this interesting relationship,” Wright said.
Beckers said Neomintho beckersi can be found in parts of Florida and the Cayman Islands.
This isn’t the first new species discovery for Beckers’ family. His wife, Murray State biology professor Laura Sullivan Beckers and their daughter Sylvie, discovered a new treehopper species back in 2016 while tending to their new flower bed.
Beckers, with his new find, has now tied the species discovery record between him and his wife. He’s now challenged her to see who can find the next new species first.
