Parasitoid wasps from three Jamaican localities: A pilot study

By

Ceccarelli, Fadia Sara
Robinson, Dwight
Clebsch, Hans
Zaldivar-Riverón, Alejandro

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2014

Original Publication

Journal of Hymenoptera research

Volume

37

Pages

127-135

Subjects

Biodiversity , Caribbean , parasitoids

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Washington, D.C International Society of Hymenopterists

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.37.7081

 

Abstract

Parasitoid wasps are an extremely speciose, ecologically and economically crucial group of insects. Despite this, they have received disproportionally little attention from scientists, in particular in certain areas of the world. One such area is the Caribbean, where studies are scarce despite the importance of parasitoid wasps, and the uniqueness and diversity of the Caribbean islands. To verify whether an adequate diversity of parasitoid wasps at family level can be found to warrant future studies, this study carries out preliminary sampling in three localities in Jamaica. A total of 1522 individual parasitoid wasps, belonging to at least 16 different families collected during 16 events provide preliminary evidence there is in fact a high diversity of parasitoid wasps in Jamaica, and that future studies there, as in the rest of the Caribbean are definitely worthwhile.