From the "About" page:
"Ichneumonids of North America is an online resource for ichneumonid biodiversity. Ichneumonids are a fascinating group of parasitoid wasps with over 25,000 described species and likely over 100,000 total species. In North America (north of Mexico), there are around 5,508 described species and probably several thousand undescribed species. Like many hyper-diverse groups, identification resources and other information about ichneumonids are severely lacking in relation to their diversity. Even identifying ichneumonids to a particular subfamily can be challenging, let alone to genus or species.
The long-term term goals are 1) to make identification easier by providing a gallery of reference images and a brief overview of each genus, and 2) to help facilitate ichneumonid research for both professional and non-professional scientists. Due to our quite poor understanding of ichneumonid biodiversity, distribution, biology and behavior, there are nearly endless possibilities for research.
Due to limited time , the ichneumonines (= subfamily Ichneumoninae) of North America will be the initial focus. As time and material allows, information and images of other subfamilies will be added".
http://ichsofna.org/ |