Dimensions and Borderlines of Parasitoid Hymenoptera Species: A Paradigm Shift?

Abstract

An analysis of the main problems of species taxonomy of parasitoid Hymenoptera as well as of the existing and prospective solutions of these problems is given. An increasing significance of molecular, chromosomal and other modern techniques for detecting and describing new species of parasitic wasps is shown. Special attention is paid to the detection of specialized cryptic species within complexes which were previously considered as single polyphagous species. The morphological study of parasitoids is therefore an important but by no means decisive stage of analysis of their taxonomic diversity. In particular, each of the detected morphospecies can be subject to a thorough study aiming for the recognition of cryptic taxa using modern techniques.