Idris Elba Has Inspired the Name of a New Species of Wasp

The Idris lives off of stink bug eggs and protects broccoli crops

Wasp photo by Richard Bartz

BY Josiah HughesPublished Nov 19, 2019

Idris Elba is a man of many hats, including a respected actor, director and DJ. He's also now the namesake for a new species of wasps that lives off of stink bug eggs.

As Al Jazeera reports, scientists have recently named a newly discovered species of wasp after the celeb. The Idris wasp was detected in Guanajuato, Mexico.

The same genus of the wasp had been described back in 1856, but it was previously known to only feast on spider eggs. The new Idris wasp is different in that it thrives on eating eggs belonging to stink bugs. 

Not only does this mean there's a newly discovered species of wasp with a name taken from The Wire, but it also means that the Idris will help control the stink bug population, thereby protecting Guanajuato's broccoli crops.

In other words, Idris Elba the wasp might be an even more important human/creature hybrid than Idris Elba in CATS.

 

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