Zoogeography of the Latin American Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera)

Abstract

Zoogeogrphy of the Latin American Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera).
With about 60,000 species, of witch some 20,000 inhabit Latin America, Ichneumonidae is the largest family in the Animal Kingdom. Ichneumonidas parasitize principally the inmature stages of other holometabolic insects, in particular Lepidoptera, and most species can use a wide range of hosts, wich they select by micro-habitat and size rather than according to taxonomic position (species, genus, family or even order). Ichneumonids also are good fliers and even tropical species may tolerate surprisingly low temperatures. All these factors encourage their dispersal. On the other hand, ichneumonid wasps need a humid environment and keep mainly to forests, so that deserts, high mountains, and large expanses of water severely limit them.