Zootaxa 4949 (1): 079–101 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2021 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4949.1.4 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0C917F76-75A1-4F46-829B-C5143D7AEADA Four new species of parasitoid wasp (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) described through a citizen science partnership with schools in regional South Australia ERINN P. FAGAN-JEFFRIES1,2*, ANDREW D. AUSTIN1,2,4 & CITIZEN SCIENCE PARTICIPANTS OF INSECT INVESTIGATORS3 1Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Australia. 2South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australia 3Students and teachers of Cowell Area School, Macclesfield Primary School, Ramco Primary School and Waikerie Primary School, Australia. 4
[email protected] , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9602-2276 *Corresponding author.
[email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3322-6255 Abstract Involving the community in taxonomic research has the potential to increase the awareness, appreciation and value of taxonomy in the public sphere. We report here on a trial citizen science project, Insect Investigators, which partners taxonomists with school students to monitor Malaise traps and prioritise the description of new species collected. In this initial trial, four schools in regional South Australia participated in the program and all collected new species of the braconid subfamily Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). These four species are here described as new, with the names being chosen in collaboration with the participating school students: Choeras ramcomarmorata Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov., Glyptapanteles drioplanetus Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp.