Tiny wasps, huge diversity - A review of German Pteromalidae with new generic and species records (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite their ecological and economic importance, hymenopteran parasitoids are severely understudied. Even in countries with a long taxonomic history such as Germany, dating back to the 18th century and including prolific figures like Christian Gottfired Nees von Esenbeck and Otto Schmiedeknecht, those species-rich groups are seldom the subject of comprehensive research efforts, leaving their true diversity unknown. This is often due to their small size of a few millimetres on average, leading to difficulties in their identification and examination. The chalcidoid family Pteromalidae is no exception to this neglect. So far, 735 species have been reported from Germany. Estimating the diversity of this group is not possible, but it has to be assumed that many more species

SUBMITTER: Haas M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8671368 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature