title: Unprecedented ichneumonid parasitoid wasp diversity in tropical forests.
abstract: The megadiverse parasitoid wasp family Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) is classically considered an exception to the extensively studied latitudinal diversity gradient: the majority of ichneumonid species are described from temperate regions. The gradient has been hypothesized to be dependent on the biology of the wasps, but recently questions of sampling and description biases have been raised. Here, we show with primary data that the species richness of Ichneumonidae is markedly underestimated in tropical areas and that latitudinal diversity patterns in the family remain uncharacterized. We discovered a startling 177 likely undescribed orthocentrine species with relatively low sampling effort in the forests of Central America and Amazonian Ecuador, over three times the previously known orthocentrine diversity in the world's tropics. Species accumulation curves reveal that we are just beginning to unveil the true extent of tropical orthocentrine diversity. We also found evidence for cryptic species; our DNA analysis revealed additional species not easily distinguishable using morphological characteristics. The difficulty in establishing species richness patterns of Ichneumonidae probably follows from the relative lack of taxonomic expertise and the low density of ichneumonid species throughout the landscape.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland. anu.veijalainen@utu.fi
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Veijalainen
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wahlberg
authors.forename: Gavin R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Broad
authors.forename: Terry L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Erwin
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Longino
authors.forename: Ilari E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Sääksjärvi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002489:Central America; D004484:Ecuador; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D014197:Trees / Q000469:parasitology; D014329:Tropical Climate; D014863:Wasps / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV