Background: The parasitic wasp genus Aphaereta Foerster, 1863, belongs to the large subfamily Alysiinae Leach, 1815 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and contains solitary or gregarious endoparasitoids of larvae of cyclorrhaphous Diptera living in decaying organic matter.
New information: A new species, Aphaereta vondelparkensis sp. n. (Braconidae, Alysiinae, Alysiini), from a city park in the centre of Amsterdam (Vondelpark) is described and illustrated. The species was discovered on a so-called taxon expedition, in which experts and citizen scientists collaborate on taxonomic projects. The finding highlights the fact that new animal species can still be discovered today, even in the busiest park of the capital of one of the best studied European countries.
Keywords: Alysiini; Netherlands; Palaearctic; decaying meat; dipterous larvae; endoparasitoid; new species.
Kees van Achterberg, Menno Schilthuizen, Marrit van der Meer, Richard Delval, Claudia Dias, Marlene Hoynck, Heko Köster, Rudie Maarschall, Norbert Peeters, Peter Venema, Ryan Zaremba, Cristina Beltrami, Florinda Nieuwenhuis, Nicole de Rop, Iva Njunjić, Joris M. Koene.