''Aha'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

. , it consists of two species: '' A. ha'', and '' A. evansi'', and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Australia. The American entomologist Arnold S. Menke named and circumscribed the genus in 1977 for his newly- described species ''A. ha'' and ''A. evansi''.

Taxonomic history

In 1977, the American entomologist Arnold S. Menke wrote a paper circumscribing the new genus ''Aha'' which was accompanied by his descriptions of its two species: ''A. ha'' and ''A. evansi''. Howard Ensign Evans and Robert Matthews had provided him with specimens of this new genus; they had collected them during expeditions in Australia in 1969–1970 and 1972. Menke designated ''A. ha'' to be the genus's

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. Menke only had access to male specimens when writing his description of the genus and both species. Ole C. Lomholdt wrote a description of the female ''A. evansi'' in 1980. When Menke named ''Aha'', he placed it in the tribe Miscophini due to its

ocelli A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...

. Lomholdt argued the genus should be in the tribe Larrini. , ''Aha'' is classified in the Miscophini tribe, of the Crabroninae subfamily of the

Crabronidae The Crabronidae is a large family of wasps within the superfamily Apoidea. Taxonomy and phylogeny This family has historically been treated as a subfamily in the now-defunct Spheciformes group under the family Sphecidae. The Spheciformes inclu ...

family.

Etymology

The etymology listed in Menke's 1977 paper is that "''Aha'' is an arbitrary combination of letters chosen for brevity". He later stated his first reaction when seeing one of these new specimens was "Aha, a new genus", making use of the English interjection '' aha''. Due to its name, it has appeared in various lists and articles on interesting or humorous taxon names. Richard Conniff wrote an article for the magazine '' Science 82'' discussing scientific names for taxa; he ended it with a paragraph on what he called "the topper", discussing the genus ''Aha''. In 1993, ''Aha'' was both included in a list authored by Menke of animal taxa names he considered "funny" or "curious" and in an article by

May Berenbaum May Roberta Berenbaum (born July 22, 1953) is an American entomologist, who is a professor of entomology at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the chemical interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plan ...

in '' American Entomologist'' on creative names for insect taxa.

Distribution

''A. has type locality is in Kununurra, Western Australia; all specimens in the

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

were found in the same area. The type locality for ''A. evansi'' is about north of Ouyen, Victoria. Additional specimens were found south of Ouyen and south of Sherlock, South Australia.

Description

Lomholdt listed six autapomorphic features of the genus. Both sexes have outer claws which are much bigger than their inner claws. They have a compressed labio-maxillairy complex. ''Aha'' neither have volsella nor do they have aedeagal teeth. The genus is also characterized by a medial sulcus on its pronotal collar. The media on its forewing diverges proximally to the cu-a cross-

vein Veins () are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and feta ...

. In Menke's key to genera in Miscophini, ''Aha'' was coupled with '' Lyroda''. His diagnostic features included the placement of the forewing media divergence, a prementum which was compressed laterally, and claws of unequal sizes.

References

Works cited

* *

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15059434 Crabronidae Endemic fauna of Australia Hymenoptera genera Hymenoptera of Australia