Entomologist names parasitoid wasp after ‘redeemed’ character Lucius Malfoy in hope of showing not all wasps are bad

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A Harry Potter fan turned entomologist has named a wasp after a redeemed villain in the series in the hope of drawing attention to the much maligned insect.

Tom Saunders named and described a New Zealand parasitoid wasp as part of his masters study at Auckland University.

The wasp, which he named Lusius malfoyi, is one of 3000 wasps endemic to New Zealand, none of which sting or cause any problems to humans.

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“The dominant narrative is wasps are bad and they sting people and they are awful,” said Saunders.

“But if you look at the diversity of wasps around the world you’ll find only a tiny fraction, less than 1% are pests and problems. And the vast majority of them play a fairly critical roles in the ecosystems they live in.”

The wasp Lusius malfoyi was named after the fictional character Lucius Malfoy, who is the father of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jason Issacs as Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Photograph: THE RONALD GRANT ARCHIVE

Throughout the series the silver-haired Malfoy is portrayed as a slimy villain, who plots against Potter and his allies and works on behalf of the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

But in the final book of the series Malfoy is somewhat redeemed when he abandons Voldemort at the Battle of Hogwarts, and later gives testimony against the Dark Lord’s supporters.

“Lucius Malfoy is kind of redeemed, he kind of atones for his sins,” said Saunders.

“And I want to redeem the reputation of wasps, because at the moment people have a negative association of them, and they have bad memories from childhood of being stung. I want people to understand that only a tiny fraction of them are harmful to people and the vast majority are neutral.”

The Lusius malfoyi is distinctive from other wasps in New Zealand because of its pale colouring, and is the only one of the Lusius genus discovered in the Australasian region, said Saunders, who is currently studying how wasps can be used to control the brown marmorated stink bug if it finds its way to New Zealand.

“If you were going to pick an animal to represent our planet it would be an insect,” said Saunders.

“Its just that most of them haven’t been found or described yet. Very little is known about native waps. We don’t know what we have or where they are. But we do know these wasps play a very important role.”