Attaining a PhD is difficult, and that is how it is supposed to be. Students need to be willing to put in the hard work to attain this honor, no matter what field it is in.

Every once in a while, however, they catch a break.

While working on his PhD at Kyushu University, Ryota Seki had to study ladybirds, which are small insects that often eat spider mites. While commonly red with black spots, this species of lady bug is all black. In a statement on his work, she explained what she did:

“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. Normally, insect collectors do not pay much attention to pine trees, which is perhaps why scientists have overlooked this species for so long.”

That’s right, while studying the tiny insects, she noticed that some of them were not any known species. This isn’t something that is easy to tell either, because they are so small. In fact, to separate them out, it is necessary to look closely under a microscope. She went on to explain:

“Small black ladybirds like these have not been studied much because they are incredibly difficult to identify. They are barely larger than a grain of sand, and they all look identical. You cannot tell the species apart without dissecting them and examining their reproductive organs under a microscope. Because of this difficulty, there were many misidentifications in past records.”

Once she had the required evidence to show that it was indeed a new species, she named it Parastethorus pinicola, which means pine dweller.

Interestingly, while doing this work, she also found that the Stethorus japonicus and the Stethorus siphonulus, which were previously thought to be two separate species, were actually the same. The first was common in Japan, and the second on the mainland, so they were assumed to be different, but his research showed that they were actually of the same species.

His work is published in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae. His supervising professor, Munetoshi Maruyama, commented on the fact that the tiny insects were located so close by:

“People rarely notice such small insects. But as our study showed, even in a city or on a university campus, there are unknown species living right beside us. These ‘minor’ insects support our ecosystems. I hope this discovery makes people interested in the diverse and fascinating world that exists unnoticed at our feet.”

You never know what you will discover when you start looking around in nature, even if it is right in your own backyard.

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