Ichneumonidae

1Insect parasitoids comprise a large fraction of terrestrial biodiversity. Because of this diversity, species-level conservation of most parasitoid species is impractical and habitat conservation must substitute. However, habitat indicators of parasitoid abundance and diversity are poorly known.2To identify such habitat indicators, parasitoid wasps in four ichneumonid subfamilies were sampled in the field herb layer of 15 woodlands in the Vale of York, UK, using Malaise traps. The catch was related to vegetation characteristics.3A total of 1543 individuals in 60 species was recorded, representing 36% of UK species in the taxa sampled. Parasitoids tended to be more abundant and species rich in woodlands with a high broadleaf content and tree species richness. This pattern was observed in the ichneumonid subfamilies Pimplinae, Poemeniinae and Diacritinae.4However, the ichneumonid subfamily Diplazontinae was found to vary in abundance and richness within rather than between woodlands and showed no association with measured habitat variables.5Reserve selection analyses indicated that coniferous woodlands, and woodlands with a low abundance and richness of parasitoids, none the less can contribute to maximizing parasitoid diversity at the landscape scale.6Synthesis and applications. At the individual woodland scale, broadleaved woodlands with high tree species richness appear best for conserving parasitoid abundance and diversity. At a landscape scale however, a variety of woodland habitat types can maximize diversity of all parasitoid taxa. We hypothesize that the degree of association between parasitoid abundance and diversity, and characteristics of the vegetation within habitats will decrease with an increase in the number of trophic links that separate them.Insect parasitoids comprise a large fraction of terrestrial biodiversity. Because of this diversity, species-level conservation of most parasitoid species is impractical and habitat conservation must substitute. However, habitat indicators of parasitoid abundance and diversity are poorly known.To identify such habitat indicators, parasitoid wasps in four ichneumonid subfamilies were sampled in the field herb layer of 15 woodlands in the Vale of York, UK, using Malaise traps. The catch was related to vegetation characteristics.A total of 1543 individuals in 60 species was recorded, representing 36% of UK species in the taxa sampled. Parasitoids tended to be more abundant and species rich in woodlands with a high broadleaf content and tree species richness. This pattern was observed in the ichneumonid subfamilies Pimplinae, Poemeniinae and Diacritinae.However, the ichneumonid subfamily Diplazontinae was found to vary in abundance and richness within rather than between woodlands and showed no association with measured habitat variables.Reserve selection analyses indicated that coniferous woodlands, and woodlands with a low abundance and richness of parasitoids, none the less can contribute to maximizing parasitoid diversity at the landscape scale.Synthesis and applications. At the individual woodland scale, broadleaved woodlands with high tree species richness appear best for conserving parasitoid abundance and diversity. At a landscape scale however, a variety of woodland habitat types can maximize diversity of all parasitoid taxa. We hypothesize that the degree of association between parasitoid abundance and diversity, and characteristics of the vegetation within habitats will decrease with an increase in the number of trophic links that separate them.

Abstract. 1Parasitoid wasps are species-rich and likely to be sensitive indicators of environmental change. Malaise traps are widely used for sampling certain taxa of parasitic Hymenoptera, but little is known about how they should best be used to monitor the community at an individual site.2To investigate the effects of sample duration, trap location and replication on the parasitoid assemblage, we sampled four ichneumonid subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) intensively using Malaise traps in two farm woods in the Vale of York, UK.3Species accumulation curves showed that even with 16 Malaise traps per wood, the community is incompletely sampled. Despite this, we caught up to 28% of all UK species in a single wood, implying that local parasitoid diversity may be very high.4Abundance and species richness of parasitoids differed significantly between sample periods (fortnights) and between traps, but did not differ overall between core and edge locations.5Parasitoid community composition differed between core and edge traps, but differences were much stronger in one wood than the other. One subfamily, the Poemeniinae, was found predominantly in edge locations. Catch differences became greater with increasing distance between traps.6The previous year, two traps in each of the same woods caught only half as many species, but species abundance was positively correlated between years.7Our results suggest that a small number of traps can contain useful information about the parasitoid community but is likely to seriously underestimate total species richness. To achieve extensive species coverage, sampling should continue over several weeks, with widely separated traps sampling both core and edge locations. Our focal taxa should prove excellent for monitoring the effects of environmental change on biodiversity.Parasitoid wasps are species-rich and likely to be sensitive indicators of environmental change. Malaise traps are widely used for sampling certain taxa of parasitic Hymenoptera, but little is known about how they should best be used to monitor the community at an individual site.To investigate the effects of sample duration, trap location and replication on the parasitoid assemblage, we sampled four ichneumonid subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) intensively using Malaise traps in two farm woods in the Vale of York, UK.Species accumulation curves showed that even with 16 Malaise traps per wood, the community is incompletely sampled. Despite this, we caught up to 28% of all UK species in a single wood, implying that local parasitoid diversity may be very high.Abundance and species richness of parasitoids differed significantly between sample periods (fortnights) and between traps, but did not differ overall between core and edge locations.Parasitoid community composition differed between core and edge traps, but differences were much stronger in one wood than the other. One subfamily, the Poemeniinae, was found predominantly in edge locations. Catch differences became greater with increasing distance between traps.The previous year, two traps in each of the same woods caught only half as many species, but species abundance was positively correlated between years.Our results suggest that a small number of traps can contain useful information about the parasitoid community but is likely to seriously underestimate total species richness. To achieve extensive species coverage, sampling should continue over several weeks, with widely separated traps sampling both core and edge locations. Our focal taxa should prove excellent for monitoring the effects of environmental change on biodiversity.

Dolichomitus Smith is a widely distributed pimpline genus with more than seventy known species. There are eight species previously reported from South America: D. annulicornis (Cameron), D. bivittatus Townes, D. hypermeces Townes, D. jatai Loffredo & Penteado-Dias, D. longicauda Smith, D. megalourus (Morley), D. moacyri Loffredo & Penteado-Dias and D. zonatus (Cresson). In this paper, we describe five new species: D. mariajosae Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. menai Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. orejuelai Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. pimmi Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., and D. rendoni Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov. All have been collected in cloud forests in the Colombian tropical Andes. An illustrated key to the South American species of the genus is also provided.

ABSTRACT The biology and behavior of insects are strongly inßuenced by environmental conditions
such as temperature and precipitation. Because some of these factors present a within day
variation, they may be causing variations on insect diurnal ßight activity, but scant information exists
on the issue. The aim of this work was to describe the patterns on diurnal variation of the abundance
of Ichneumonoidea and their relation with relative humidity, temperature, light intensity, and wind
speed. The study site was a tropical dry forest at Rõ´a Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, Mexico; where
correlations between environmental factors (relative humidity, temperature, light, and wind speed)
and abundance of Ichneumonidae and Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) were estimated.
The best regression model for explaining abundance variation was selected using the second order
Akaike Information Criterion. The optimum values of temperature, humidity, and light for ßight
activity of both families were also estimated. Ichneumonid and braconid abundances were signiÞcantly
correlated to relative humidity, temperature, and light intensity; ichneumonid also showed signiÞcant
correlations to wind speed. The second order Akaike Information Criterion suggests that in tropical
dry conditions, relative humidity is more important that temperature for Ichneumonoidea diurnal
activity. Ichneumonid wasps selected toward intermediate values of relative humidity, temperature
and the lowest wind speeds; while Braconidae selected for low values of relative humidity. For light
intensity, braconids presented a positive selection for moderately high values.

Seven new species of Hymenoepimecis Viereck are described from Peruvian Andes and Amazonia, French Guiana and Ecuador: H. andina Pádua & Sääksjärvi, sp. nov., H. castilloi Pádua & Sääksjärvi, sp. nov., H. dolichocarinata Pádua & Sääksjärvi, sp. nov., H. ecuatoriana Pádua & Sääksjärvi, sp. nov., H. longilobus Pádua & Sääksjärvi, sp. nov., H. pucallpina Pádua & Sääksjärvi, sp. nov., and H. rafaelmartinezi Pádua & Sääksjärvi, sp. nov. In addition, the male of the Hymenoepimecis kleini Pádua & Sobczak, 2015 is described, new faunistic records for the genus provided, as well as an illustrated identification key to all known species of the genus.

The subfamily Cryptinae Kirby, 1837 is considered the largest group in the Ichneumonidae with more than 400 described genera including around 4500 species. The subfamily has a worldwide distribution and its members play a key role in the biological control as parasitoids of many important pests. The study provides a new and updated overview of the Slovakian ichneumonid fauna after 28 years. So far over 750 species of Ichneumonidae have been reported from Slovakia, including around 150 species in the subfamily Cryptinae. Our study presents a complete checklist of Cryptinae and adds 32 species to the Slovakian fauna.

Background Dolichomitus Smith, 1877 is a genus of Darwin wasps characterised by their large bodies and long ovipositors, that includes more than 75 species worldwide, 20 of which occur in the Neotropical Region. Due to recent efforts, the number of species of this genus continues to increase in South America. New information A new iridescent species of Pimplinae, Dolichomitus meii sp. nov., is described and illustrated. It was discovered from the biological station of Yanayacu located in the north-‡ § | ¶ # © Di Giovanni F et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. eastern slopes of the tropical Andes. It may be separated from all other species of Dolichomitus Smith by the striking colour pattern and apically strongly decurved ovipositor.

A new tersilochine species, Aneuclis aenigmatica Khalaim et Ruíz-Cancino, sp.n., is described from the State of Jalisco in Southwestern Mexico. In spite of the fact that the species is represented by a single poorly preserved male without antennae, it is immediately distinguished from all North American congeners by the head lacking occipital carina dorsally, infumate with brown wings and very short metacarpus.

This study was conducted to collect and identify ichneumonid parasitoids of tephritid fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) feeding on the plants of the family Asteraceae in the northwest of Iran during 2013-2015. Five species of ichneumon wasps on five species of fruit flies were reared. They were as follows: Cremastus lineatus on Urophora terebrans; Diadegma maculatum on Hypenidium robrowskii; Scambus brevicornis on Sphenella marginata, Scambus rufator on Terellia gynacochroma and Urophora sp. and Tranosema sp. on Tephritis sp. dioscurea group. Of them, Cremastus lineatus, S. rufator and Tranosema sp. are new records for ichneumonid fauna of Iran. All host-parasitoid-plant associations were newly established to the science. General distribution of these parasitoids and their biological associations were discussed.

Endasys is a genus of Ichneumonidae distributed in the North Hemisphere with 123 species.
Eleven species have been recorded previously in Mexico. Three new records are reported here: E. santacruzensis Luhman, 1990, E. subclavatus (Say, 1835), and E. tyloidiphorus Luhman, 1990. Currently 14 species of Endasys are known in Mexico.

Diradops is an endemic genus of the family Ichneumonidae in the American Continent; the majority of its species in the Neotropical Region. Seven species are present in Mexico, including a new record for Mexico, D. bionica Ugalde & Gauld, 2002 (previously recorded only from Costa Rica); D. hyphantriae Kasparyan & Pinson, 2007 and D. pulcher Kasparyan, 2007 are new records for the State
of Oaxaca.

Some Ichneumonidae wasps, including the genus Acrotaphus Townes, 1960 (Ephialtini: Pimplinae), induce behavioral modification in their spider hosts. Acrotaphus is a New World parasitoid wasp genus with 26 described species. This genus belongs to the Polysphincta genus group, which are ectoparasitoids of spiders of the Araneidae. In this study, we describe a new species (Acrotaphus wagnerianae sp. n.) found in the Brazilian Amazon. In addition, we discuss for the first time the behavioral modification of spiders of the Wagneriana genus (Araneidae) by wasps of the Polysphincta genus group.

Agathilla Westwood is an endemic genus of the family
Ichneumonidae in North America, with three species from the United States of America and two from Mexico (A. fulvopicta Westwood in Belén Barranca ―no state name in label― and Durango; A. bohartorum Wahl in Durango, Estado de México, Jalisco and Zacatecas). This is the first record of A. bohartorum collected on Bidens pilosa Linnaeus (Asteraceae).

In the State of Oaxaca, taxonomical research has been made with ichneumonoid wasps. A list of 261 genera and 207 determined species, besides another 157 morphospecies, was done. Material from Oaxaca deposited in national and foreign collections were studied. A database in Paradox 11.0 program were done.

Los tersilochinos son avispas parasitoides poco communes
en las colecciones mexicanas de la familia Ichneumonidae.
Solo tres géneros y ocho especies han sido encontradas previamente en México. Se registra por primera vez a Sathropterus pumilus (Holmgren) en México de los estados de Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí y Morelos.