Subfamily composition of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) from eastern Uruguay

Abstract

The knowledge of invertebrate diversity in Uruguay is much less as compared to bird and tetrapod fauna, but some important advances have been made within some groups of insects. The Ichneumonidae constitute one of the largest families in the animal kingdom. This family is important because their larvae can be either endo- or ectoparasitoids of larvae or pupae of holometabolous insects as well as Chelicerata. In this study ichneumonid wasps were collected from three environments near the city of Castillos, Rocha Department, Uruguay between December 2014 and December 2016. A total of 5740 Ichneumonidae specimens were collected, representing 19 subfamilies, of which 3685 specimens (64.2%) correspond to three subfamilies: Campopleginae (1533 specimens/26.7%), Ichneumoninae (1303/22.7%) and Cryptinae (849/14.8%) ; all others subfamilies together represented less than 7.0% of the total specimens. In addition, 32 genera were registered for the first time in Uruguay.