Newly discovered species of wasp named after Doctor Who’s Daleks

An alien warrior race of mutants, the Daleks are the formidable bad guys in BBC’s long-running TV show.

Dalek nationi, a new species of wasp from Costa Rica named after the Dr Who monsters the Daleks (John Noyes/Natural History Museum/PA)

Fourteen newly discovered species of wasps have been named after the villainous Daleks from Doctor Who to mark the 60th anniversary of the popular sci-fi series.

The insects, which bear the genus “Dalek”, are among the 619 new wasp species described this year by London’s Natural History Museum (NHM).