The recently renamed killer hornet might want to have a branding discussion with some of Fundy National Park’s newly discovered species — like the shadowy psyllid killer, the four-toothed mason wasp, or the serrated ambush bug.
These are just some of the 50 species of insects that have been identified for the first time in the park in 2021, according to park officials.
But despite their often creepy-sounding names, none of the new species matter to local scientists.
In fact, University of New Brunswick entomologist and biology professor Stephen Heard said the discovery of so many new insects in the park is good news.
“Most of these new insects are good. They are insects that are part of the natural environment.”
And, he said, many of them have probably been around for a long time without being formally noticed by scientists.
The Canadian miner bee was one of 19 bee species identified for the first time in Fundy National Park in 2021. (Denis Doucet/Parks Canada)
“We know too little about insects,” said Hurd, who was not involved in the Fundy project.
“And so these may be new species that have been attracted because of [the park’s] work in the pollinator garden. They may have been species that have always been there that we didn’t know about.”
Heard said it’s not unusual for new species of insects to move through New Brunswick, and the vast majority are not problematic.
“Most of these species we’re talking about here are native insects that just haven’t been recorded in Fundy before,” he said. “We didn’t know they were there, but they showed up, and that’s great.”
Looking over Fundy’s list of new species, Heard said there were several he was unfamiliar with, including every single species of fly.
The list also includes bees, beetles, moths, wasps and butterflies. More than half of all new species were identified in the park’s pollinator garden, an area of 400 square meters that includes about 80 native plant species.
Pollinators can also include birds, but Neil Vinson, resource management officer for Fundy National Park, said no bird species were added to the list in 2021.
Fundy National Park’s Pollinator Garden is home to about 80 native plant species. (Submitted by Julie Ouellette)
Although none of the species are considered invasive, if some of the newly discovered insects are indeed new to the park, their arrival could change things for some other species.
Cuckoo bees, for example, lay their eggs with the eggs of other species. When they hatch, the larvae feed on the host’s eggs.
Other species in the park are carnivorous, such as bee wolves, which are also known as bee-killer wasps because they feed on honey bees.
Heard said it’s likely that if a species is truly new to Fundy — or to New Brunswick — there’s probably already a similar species here. Several of the newly discovered bee species, for example, are quite similar to each other and to many other common ones.
“There are probably 25,000 species of insects in New Brunswick,” Hurd said. “This is complete speculation. No one knows the answer.”
That, he said, is where “citizen science” comes in. With so many eyes — both human eyes and iPhones — it’s inevitable that new-to-the-area species will be identified and recorded using online applications.
Biologist Stephen Hurd said none of the new-to-Fundy species pose a threat to the local ecosystem. (Gary Moore/CBC)
Hurd said this is very useful when it comes to identifying new invasive species that could threaten “our ecosystems or our livelihoods.”
He said it could also help scientists “understand how our natural systems will change as our climate changes.”
“We can’t know how it has changed in 20 years unless we know what it looks like now.” So there’s a baseline aspect to that.”
Vinson agreed.
“I think it’s important to keep track of it, because how are we going to know what we’re losing if we don’t know what’s there to begin with?”
Vinson works at the Fundy Park Pollinator Garden, where more than half of the new species were discovered. (Submitted by Julie Ouellette)
He also thinks we’re just “scratching the surface in terms of understanding what’s out there.”
Vinson hopes the pollinator garden will help inspire New Brunswickers to add native species to their garden.
“Without native plants, we have no bugs. Without bugs we have no birds. And we just go up from there. …We are also part of this food chain. And without them we suffer as well.”
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