Corresponding author: Mostafa Ghafouri Moghaddam (
Academic editor: Michael Ohl
Ghafouri Moghaddam M, Arias-Penna DC, Heidari Latibari M (2022) Book review: Ichneumonid wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae): their classification and biology. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 89: 245–247.
Many of us have encountered the difficulty of identifying a specimen due to the paucity and scattered availability of specialized papers and books. This shortage of information applies to all hierarchical levels. However, things are changing for good that allied to a rather fluid taxonomy as our knowledge has evolved. The handbook entitled Ichneumonid Wasps (
Front/back covers and authors of the present book. Left to right: Mark. R. Shaw, Michael G. Fitton and Gavin R. Broad (Photo credit: Lucy Broad).
This manual offers a massive amount of information for the identification of ichneumonid wasps circumscribed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Nevertheless, the identification keys and the detailed account for each of the 35 subfamilies are useful to identify ichneumonids from surrounding areas as well as worldwide, data that are seldom brought together in one place. Despite the rapidly changing concepts of higher classification of this family, the authors, Dr. Broad, Dr. Shaw, and Dr. Fitton (Fig.
In summary, Ichneumonid Wasps (
We gratefully acknowledge Edward Baker (Diversity and Informatics Division of the Natural History Museum, London, UK), who checked and improved the draft manuscript linguistically. We greatly appreciate to Jose L. Fernandez-Triana (Canadian National Collection of Insects, Ottawa, Canada), whose careful reading and freely offered and helpful suggestions resulted in many improvements to the paper. We would also like to thank subject editor, Michael Ohl (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany), who put forward the valuable comments to this paper.