@article {531,
	title = {Reared microgastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Yanayacu Biological Station and environs (Napo Province, Ecuador): diversity and host specialization.},
	journal = {Journal of insect science (Online)},
	volume = {9},
	year = {2009},
	pages = {1-22},
	abstract = {The microgastrine braconid wasps recovered up through 2007 by the NSF-sponsored rearing project "Caterpillars and Parasitoids of the Eastern Andes in Ecuador" are summarized in terms of their host specialization and faunistic uniqueness. Two hundred fifty eight rearings of caterpillars resulted in records of Microgastrinae, distributed among 14 genera (Apanteles F{\"o}rster, Choeras Mason, Cotesia Cameron, Diolcogaster Ashmead, Distatrix Mason, Dolichogenidea Viereck, Exix Mason, Glyptapanteles Ashmead, Hypomicrogaster Ashmead, Papanteles Mason, Parapanteles Ashmead, Protapanteles Ashmead, Sathon Mason and Venanus Mason). Eleven records of hyperparasitoids of Microgastrinae are also summarized; Mesochorus Gravenhorst (Ichneumonidae) and Perilampidae are both recorded. The results are compared to those recovered by surveys in other parts of the world, especially by the Janzen-Hallwachs survey of the Area de Conservaci{\'o}n Guanacaste (ACG) in Costa Rica. An annotated list of microgastrine genera not yet recorded at Yanayacu, but which we expect to eventually find there based on extrapolation from their known geographic distributions, is provided.},
	keywords = {Animals, biodiversity, ecuador, Host-Parasite Interactions, Host-Parasite Interactions: physiology, lepidoptera, Lepidoptera: parasitology, Species Specificity, Wasps, Wasps: growth \& development, Wasps: physiology},
	author = {Whitfield, J.B. and Rodriguez, J.J. and Masonick, P.K.}
}
@article {446,
	title = {Stable structural color patterns displayed on transparent insect wings.},
	journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
	volume = {108},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {668-673},
	abstract = {Color patterns play central roles in the behavior of insects, and are important traits for taxonomic studies. Here we report striking and stable structural color patterns--wing interference patterns (WIPs)--in the transparent wings of small Hymenoptera and Diptera, patterns that have been largely overlooked by biologists. These extremely thin wings reflect vivid color patterns caused by thin film interference. The visibility of these patterns is affected by the way the insects display their wings against various backgrounds with different light properties. The specific color sequence displayed lacks pure red and matches the color vision of most insects, strongly suggesting that the biological significance of WIPs lies in visual signaling. Taxon-specific color patterns are formed by uneven membrane thickness, pigmentation, venation, and hair placement. The optically refracted pattern is also stabilized by microstructures of the wing such as membrane corrugations and spherical cell structures that reinforce the pattern and make it essentially noniridescent over a large range of light incidences. WIPs can be applied to map the micromorphology of wings through direct observation and are useful in several fields of biology. We demonstrate their usefulness as identification patterns to solve cases of cryptic species complexes in tiny parasitic wasps, and indicate their potentials for research on the genetic control of wing development through direct links between the transregulatory wing landscape and interference patterns we observe in Drosophila model species. Some species display sexually dimorphic WIPs, suggesting sexual selection as one of the driving forces for their evolution.},
	keywords = {Animal, Animals, biodiversity, Body Patterning, Drosophila, Drosophila: physiology, Electron, Female, Genetic Variation, insects, Male, Microscopy, Pigmentation, Scanning, Sex Factors, Sexual Behavior, Species Specificity, Wing, Wing: metabolism, Wing: physiology},
	author = {Shevtsova, Ekaterina and Hansson, Christer and Janzen, D.H. and Kj{\ae}randsen, Jostein}
}
@article {452,
	title = {Extreme diversity of tropical parasitoid wasps exposed by iterative integration of natural history, DNA barcoding, morphology, and collections.},
	journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
	volume = {105},
	year = {2008},
	pages = {12359-12364},
	abstract = {We DNA barcoded 2,597 parasitoid wasps belonging to 6 microgastrine braconid genera reared from parapatric tropical dry forest, cloud forest, and rain forest in Area de Conservaci{\'o}n Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica and combined these data with records of caterpillar hosts and morphological analyses. We asked whether barcoding and morphology discover the same provisional species and whether the biological entities revealed by our analysis are congruent with wasp host specificity. Morphological analysis revealed 171 provisional species, but barcoding exposed an additional 142 provisional species; 95\% of the total is likely to be undescribed. These 313 provisional species are extraordinarily host specific; more than 90\% attack only 1 or 2 species of caterpillars out of more than 3,500 species sampled. The most extreme case of overlooked diversity is the morphospecies Apanteles leucostigmus. This minute black wasp with a distinctive white wing stigma was thought to parasitize 32 species of ACG hesperiid caterpillars, but barcoding revealed 36 provisional species, each attacking one or a very few closely related species of caterpillars. When host records and/or within-ACG distributions suggested that DNA barcoding had missed a species-pair, or when provisional species were separated only by slight differences in their barcodes, we examined nuclear sequences to test hypotheses of presumptive species boundaries and to further probe host specificity. Our iterative process of combining morphological analysis, ecology, and DNA barcoding and reiteratively using specimens maintained in permanent collections has resulted in a much more fine-scaled understanding of parasitoid diversity and host specificity than any one of these elements could have produced on its own.},
	keywords = {Animals, Automatic Data Processing, biodiversity, Costa Rica, Data Collection, Data Collection: methods, DNA, Genes, Host-Parasite Interactions, Insect, lepidoptera, Lepidoptera: parasitology, Molecular Sequence Data, Morphogenesis, Natural History, Parasites, Wasps, Wasps: classification, Wasps: genetics},
	author = {Smith, M Alex and Rodriguez, J.J. and Whitfield, J.B. and Deans, A.R. and Janzen, D.H. and Hallwachs, Winnie and Hebert, Paul D N}
}
@article {375,
	title = {Diversity and distribution of Braconidae, a family of parasitoid wasps in the central European peatbogs of South Bohemia, Czech Republic.},
	journal = {Journal of insect science (Online)},
	volume = {10},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {1-21},
	abstract = {An ecological overview of seven years investigation of Braconidae, a family of parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) and a tyrpho-classification of parasitoids in peatbog areas of South Bohemia, Czech Republic are given. A total of 350 species were recorded in investigated sites, but only five tyrphobionts (1.4\%) are proposed: Microchelonus basalis, Microchelonus koponeni, Coloneura ate, Coloneura danica and Myiocephalus niger. All of these species have a boreal-alpine distribution that, in Central Europe, is associated only with peatbogs. Tyrphophilous behaviour is seen in at least four (1.1\%) species: Microchelonus pedator, Microchelonus subpedator, Microchelonus karadagi and Microchelonus gravenhorstii; however, a number of other braconids prefer peatbogs because they were more frequently encountered within, rather than outside, the bog habitat. The rest of the braconids (342 species, 97.5\%) are tyrphoneutrals, many of them being eurytopic components of various habitats throughout their current ranges. Lists of tyrphobiontic braconids and a brief commentary on species composition, distributional picture of actual ranges, and parasitoid association to bog landscape are provided. Being true refugial habitats for populations in an ever-changing world, peatbogs play a significant role in harboring insect communities.},
	keywords = {Animal, Animals, Behavior, biodiversity, Circadian Rhythm, Czech Republic, Host-Parasite Interactions, lepidoptera, Lepidoptera: parasitology, Wasps, Wasps: physiology, Wetlands},
	author = {Lozan, A.I. and Belokobylskij, S.A. and Achterberg, C. van and Monaghan, M.T.}
}
@article {310,
	title = {Gender identification of five genera of stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini) based on wing morphology.},
	journal = {Genetics and molecular research : GMR},
	volume = {8},
	year = {2009},
	pages = {207-14},
	abstract = {Currently, the identification of pollinators is a critical necessity of conservation programs. After it was found that features extracted from patterns of wing venation are sufficient to discriminate among insect species, various studies have focused on this structure. We examined wing venation patterns of males and workers of five stingless bee species in order to determine if there are differences between sexes and if these differences are greater within than between species. Geometric morphometric analyses were made of the forewings of males and workers of Nannotrigona testaceicornis, Melipona quadrifasciata, Frieseomelitta varia, and Scaptotrigona aff. depilis and Plebeia remota. The patterns of males and workers from the same species were more similar than the patterns of individuals of the same sex from different species, and the patterns of both males and workers, when analyzed alone, were sufficiently different to distinguish among these five species. This demonstrates that we can use this kind of analysis for the identification of stingless bee species and that the sex of the individual does not impede identification. Computer-assisted morphometric analysis of bee wing images can be a useful tool for biodiversity studies and conservation programs.},
	keywords = {Animals, Bees, Bees: anatomy \& histology, Bees: classification, biodiversity, Male, Sex Characteristics, Wing, Wing: anatomy \& histology},
	author = {Francoy, T M and Silva, R.A.O. and Nunes-Silva, P and Menezes, C and Imperatriz-Fonseca, V L}
}
@article {258,
	title = {Parasitoid diversity (Hymenoptera: Braconidae and Figitidae) on frugivorous larvae (Diptera: Tephritidae and Lonchaeidae) at Adolpho Ducke Forest reserve, central amazon region, Manaus, Brazil.},
	journal = {Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia},
	volume = {69},
	year = {2009},
	pages = {363-70},
	abstract = {This study aimed to identify parasitoid species of frugivorous larvae and to describe the tritrophic interactions involving wild fruits, frugivorous insects and their natural enemies at Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve (RFAD) (Manaus, AM, Brazil). Collections were performed in four 1 km2 quadrants in the corners of the RFAD. The wild fruits were collected inside the forest in access trails leading to each collection area and in trails that surrounded the quadrants, up to five metres from the trail on each side. The fruits were placed in plastic containers covered with thin fabric, with a vermiculite layer on the base to allow the emergence of flies or parasitoids. Seven Braconidae species were collected, distributed among Opiinae: Doryctobracon areolatus (Sz{\'e}pligeti, 1911), Utetes anastrephae (Viereck, 1913), and Opius sp., and Alysiinae: Asobara anastrephae (Muesebeck, 1958), Phaenocarpa pericarpa Wharton and Carrejo, 1999, Idiasta delicata Papp, 1969, and Asobara sp. Parasitism rates by braconids and figitids are presented. Doryctobracon areolatus was the most frequent, parasitizing the highest number of fly species, and showing the highest parasitism percentage in larvae feeding on Micropholis williamii fruits. The collected figitids belong to Aganaspis nordlanderi Wharton, 1998 and A. pelleranoi (Brethes, 1924). All 15 tritrophic associations are new records for the Brazilian Amazon region. The RFAD is an important natural reservoir of frugivorous larvae parasitoids.},
	keywords = {Animals, biodiversity, Brazil, diptera, Diptera: classification, Diptera: parasitology, Fruit, Fruit: classification, Fruit: parasitology, Host-Parasite Interactions, Hymenoptera, Hymenoptera: classification, Hymenoptera: physiology, Larva, Larva: parasitology, Tephritidae, Tephritidae: parasitology},
	author = {Costa, S G M and Querino, R B and Ronchi-Teles, B and Penteado-Dias, A.M.M. and Zucchi, R.A}
}
@article {178,
	title = {Cryptic species as a window on diversity and conservation.},
	journal = {Trends in ecology \& evolution},
	volume = {22},
	year = {2007},
	pages = {148-55},
	abstract = {The taxonomic challenge posed by cryptic species (two or more distinct species classified as a single species) has been recognized for nearly 300 years, but the advent of relatively inexpensive and rapid DNA sequencing has given biologists a new tool for detecting and differentiating morphologically similar species. Here, we synthesize the literature on cryptic and sibling species and discuss trends in their discovery. However, a lack of systematic studies leaves many questions open, such as whether cryptic species are more common in particular habitats, latitudes or taxonomic groups. The discovery of cryptic species is likely to be non-random with regard to taxon and biome and, hence, could have profound implications for evolutionary theory, biogeography and conservation planning.},
	keywords = {Adaptation, Biological, Adaptation, Biological: genetics, Animals, biodiversity, Biological Evolution, Conservation of Natural Resources, Ecology, Ecosystem, Genetic Variation, Geography, phylogeny, RNA Splice Sites, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Species Specificity},
	author = {Bickford, David and Lohman, David J and Sodhi, Navjot S and Ng, P.K.L. and Meier, Rudolf and Winker, Kevin and Ingram, Krista K and Das, Indraneil}
}
