Superfamily ICHNEUMONOIDEA 319 



Short's (1959, 1970) study of final-instar larvae was more complete and detailed than that of 

 Beirne (1941), and therefore seems to have had a greater impact upon the classification of Ichne- 

 umonidae. Although some specialists who work primarily with adults have recently incorporated 

 larval studies into their taxonomic revisions, information about larvae has come chieftly from 

 scientists, like Dr. Short, who are larval specialists. I believe that the information they have 

 published has in some cases been misused by those who specialize in study of adult specimens. 

 The latter sometimes accord as great a significance to structural characters of the head sclerites 

 of final-instar larvae as to the sum total of the adult structural characters which have been stu- 

 died. For example, Townes (1969, p. 28-29) based his assertion that Ichneumoninae and Cryp- 

 tinae (=his GeUnae) are unrelated upon differences between the known larvae of the two 

 groups. Townes believed the fact that "these two subfamilies ... resemble each other to a re- 

 markable degree" ... "to be the result of hunting [for] hosts on foot," a habit shared by many 

 members of both groups, but not all the members of either. The Ichneumoninae are internal 

 pupal and larval-pupal parasites of Lepidoptera, whUe most of the Cryptinae are presumed to be 

 external parasites of a variety of hosts, including Lepidoptera. The known larvae of these two 

 groups differ accordingly. Because internal parasitism must evolve from external parasitism (or 

 vise versa), I believe that it is Ulogical to regard the known larval differences as evidence in- 

 dicating that the Ichneumoninae and Cryptinae are unrelated. I hope that this and similar 

 questions are to be addressed in Dr. Short's revised and greatly expanded work on larvae which 

 is nearly ready for publication (personal commun., J. R. T. Short, 1977). 



Sachtleben's (1962a) bibliography of of Palearctic Ichneumonidae is an extremely valuable tool 

 for those interested in the taxonomy or biology of Ichneumonidae. Additions and corrections to 

 this bibliography were published by Sachtleben (1962b, p. 726- 731), and Sachtleben (1962c) pro- 

 vided a set of subject indices to the bibliography (e.g. indices to papers on morphology, ecology, 

 physiology, parasitization of individually listed hosts, various taxonomic categories, etc.). It 

 seems likely that in compiling this set of papers Sachtleben would not have found time for veri- 

 fying dates of publication; this seems to be borne out by my observation regarding dates for 

 various papers of Holmgren, for some of which I have established dates (i.e. years) of publica- 

 tion later than those cited by Sachtleben. 



Much new species synonymy was published in the catalogs of Townes, Townes, and Gupta 

 (1961), Townes, Momoi, and Townes (1965) and Townes and Townes (1966, 1973); some improve- 

 ments in generic and supergeneric classification were also made, particularly in the 1961, 1965, 

 and 1966 catalogs. Many additional changes in classification were made by Townes (1969, 1970a, 

 1970b, 1971) in his treatment of the genera of the world (except Ichneumoninae). The fact that 

 these works on the genera have been of great importance to the present catalog will be obvious 

 from the fact that I have largely adopted Townes' arrangement of genera and supergeneric 

 categories. However, the arrangement of the taxa in any classification is a superficial matter of 

 secondary importance, and the ultimate value of Townes' volumes on the genera stems from the 

 great amount of new and old real information that they have brought together. 



Townes' (1969) estimate of the number of extant ichneumonid species as slightly fewer than 

 60,500 is rather frequently cited in publication and conversation. In a recent conversation I was 

 told of an anonymous coleopterist who has estimated the size of the Curculionidae to be "100,000 

 to 250,000" species, and I have also heard claims that the Noctuidae and Chalcidoidea may ex- 

 ceed the Ichneumonidae in size. The fact that no persons have yet assembled the collections or 

 the knowledge of them to allow them to make size estimates of the Noctuidae, Chalcidoidea, or 

 Curculionidae that they are willing to publish would seem to attest to the ability and dedication 

 of both of the Towneses. Uncertainties about the absolute and relative sizes of the groups men- 

 tioned will outlive those presently wondering about them. However, our present speculations 

 serve to remind us that the number of persons working on the various aspects of systematics 

 and biology of the taxa in any large insect group is far fewer than the number which can 

 possibly satisfy the demand for information about those taxa. 



Taxonomy: Jurine, 1801. In Panzer, Litteratur-Ztg. Erlangen, Intelligenzbl. 1: 163. 

 — Schrank, 1802. Fauna Boica, v. 2, p. 261-319. —Panzer, 1804. Faunae Ins. German., fasc. 

 88, pi. 17. -Fabricius, 1804. Systema Piezatorum, p. 35, 54-101, 112-123, 126-140. —Jurine, 

 1807. Nouv. Meth. Class. Hym. Dipt. v. 1, p. 49-51, 98-115, pi. 3, 6, 8. — Gravenhorst, 1815. 

 Monog. Ichn. Pedestrum, VIII and 110 p. —Gravenhorst, 1819 (1818). Nova Acta 

 Leopoldina 9: 281-298. —Gravenhorst, 1820. Acad. Sci. Torino, Mem. 24: 275-388. 



