<p><strong>The Peruvian Amazonian species of <em>Epirhyssa</em> Cresson (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Rhyssinae), with notes on tropical species richness</strong></p>

Abstract

Epirhyssa Cresson 1865 is a large tropical genus of the family Ichneumonidae. It is the most diverse genus of the subfamily Rhyssinae with about 118 species worldwide. In this study we conducted four long-term field inventories to review the Peruvian Amazonian species of the genus. We provide illustrations, diagnosis and an identification key to the species currently known to occur in the region, including descriptions of 10 new species. In addition, we describe the female of E. wisei Porter and the male of E. pertenuis Porter, discuss the biogeographical patterns of species richness of the genus and provide new faunistic records for Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Paraguay and Peru. The Peruvian Amazonia is, according to our results, among the most species-rich areas in the world for this genus. Some of the new species described in this work were named by the public in Finland and Peru during two innovative competitions to name these beautiful species. The aims of these competitions were to draw attention to the plethora of unknown species lurking in the shades of tropical forests and the necessity to protect these highly diverse areas.

Variation in the species richness of parasitoid wasps (Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae and Rhyssinae) across sites on different continents

“…The subfamily Rhyssinae is a relatively small, cosmopolitan group with eight genera worldwide and more than 250 described species (Gómez et al ., ). According to Kamath and Gupta (), the species‐richness of Rhyssinae is highest in the lowland rainforests of South‐East Asia.…”

“…The total sampling effort of these traps was 45 MTM, and details have been described by Gómez et al . ().…”

“…Here we focus on two of the most extensively studied subfamilies in the Neotropical region, Pimplinae and Rhyssinae (e.g. Porter, ; Gauld, ; Gauld et al ., , ; Sääksjärvi et al ., ; Gómez et al ., , , ; Gómez & Yabar, ).…”

“…Although western Amazonia is famous for its high diversity in several animal and plant groups (Gentry, , ; Robbins et al ., ; Robbins & Opler, ; Patterson et al ., ), some early authors proposed that ichneumonid diversity is low in Amazonia (Porter, ). These studies were based on small data sets, and the situation has changed in the 2000s, as new studies on Amazonian ichneumonid diversity have challenged the old paradigm (Sääksjärvi et al ., ; Veijalainen et al ., ; Gómez et al ., ).…”

“…In this study, we compare observations of local species richness of pimplines and rhyssines across latitudes on the basis of field sampling we carried out in 21 sites on three continents. The two most intensively studied areas were in Peruvian Amazonia, where the sampled localities were selected so as to span different forest types (Sääksjärvi et al ., ; Gómez et al ., , ). Most sampling was done with Malaise traps, but in the two Peruvian areas, we also used other sampling methods for comparison.…”