Dr Robert Longair Talk on the Elephant Wasp

      On Nov. 24 Dr Robert Longair gave a thought provoking presentation on the African Elephant Wasp to the Red Deer River Naturalists.

      Dr. Longair teaches  at the University of Calgary in the area of biodiversity . Dr. Longair's interest in insects began as a youngster.


      Dr. Longair started out telling us of the description of the Elephant wasp which was from 1912. He then went on to give a history of the region and it's many political struggles. It has been difficult to enter this region to make any studies to hunt for the wasp. The original description only described the wasp and did not say where or in what habitat so the search had very few clues to go on. 


      So at this date Dr. Longair is still searching for the elusive Elephant Wasp not knowing if it is still present or if the one that was first identified was  hybrid or other adaptation.


      The presentation was interesting in that the beginning and end of the story included a detailed history of the area and how that influenced the search for the wasp.