From Brazil to the ACT, CSIRO entomologist spots new charismatic treehopper with fresh eyes

The CSIRO entomologist, a senior curator at the National Insect Collection who relocated to Australia from Brazil in 2018, was on a field trip in the southern part of the ACT when she made an unusual find.

Entomologists do literally go beating around the bush, using nets and sheets to collect fallen insects from bushes they shake as part of work to survey an area's biodiversity.

Occasionally, something out of the ordinary turns up.

"Immediately, I knew this was special, because I already had a good grasp of the classification," Dr Evangelista said of her find.

"When I saw it, I thought, you know, this is something that I'm not quite sure how to identify the genus."

Back at the base camp - stationed at Birrigai Outdoor School - other experts wanted to know what this insect was. Dr Evangelista was not certain when her colleagues asked what it was.

After careful analysis back in the lab, it turned out to be a new species of treehopper, the first to be identified in Australia in 22 years.

Not bad for the first field trip Dr Evangelista ever made in Australia.

"In the home town I grew up in, the treehopper of the town is considered a symbol of good luck. The children collect them," she said.

"In Brazil, there is one type of treehopper that is actually an emblem of how insects are cute and fun, because usually a lot of people have bad reactions with insects, right? But that's not the case with treehoppers at all."

Dr Evangelista said treehoppers were charismatic, pretty and colourful - "photographers love them" - and they were a world away from the negative connotations many people have of bugs.

The treehopper is found all over the world, with about 3200 species identified.

Wallaciana namadgi - Dr Evangelista's discovery - is named for the national park in which it was located. A new genus was also needed to classify the treehopper correctly.

"It's a very satisfying feeling when you've got a hunch and you find out you were correct," she said of confirming it was a new species.

Ecologist Max Day was the last scientist to publish a monograph on treehoppers in Australia. He took up the project after he retired from the CSIRO in 1980; he died in 2017, aged 101.

The two-week field trip on which Dr Evangelista made the discovery was organised by Bush Blitz, a species discovery program run since 2010 in partnership with the federal government, Parks Australia, BHP and Earthwatch.

"That's a very important initiative to accelerate species discovery in Australia," Dr Evangelista said.

"And of course they're interested in integrating specialists from underrepresented groups, and that's where I come in, because I'm a specialist in bugs and there's very few bug specialists in Australia."

Dr Evangelista said it was important to keep looking for new species of insects, to understand the true extent and true meaning of biodiversity. There was also simply value in humanity knowing what it was sharing the ecosystem with.

While Dr Evangelista never expected to be looking at Australian fauna, she said the experience has been enriching.

"It's something that I definitely look [at] with a fresh set of eyes, because it's something that, unlike my motherland, I don't have that sense of familiarity," she said.

"But while this can be daunting for some people, it's actually fascinating to discover something new to you."

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