Inventory and Curation of a Collection of Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera)

该项目将支持对赤眼蜂科（膜翅目）寄生蜂的管理和盘点。这个科的黄蜂是其他昆虫卵的内部寄生虫。已发现73属，约650种。它们是已知的最小的昆虫之一。由于它们通常寄生在几种农业害虫的卵上，这些黄蜂对生物控制特别感兴趣。然而，它们体积小的问题阻碍了昆虫学家建立必要的收藏。因此，家庭的分类学处于一种极不令人满意的状态。大多数属的物种鉴定是不可能的。通用识别也有问题。由于这个科的样本很少，多样性、地理分布和生物学特征仍然没有得到重视。加州大学河滨分校已经收集了大量赤眼蜂科的标本。该系列覆盖全球，但重点是北美。到目前为止，这是该集团在北美乃至全世界最大的持股。支持将用于盘点和收藏。最大的一部分是在酒精中，由于这些黄蜂的脆弱天性，它们处于危险之中。标本需要立即移除和临界点干燥。收集数据的计算机化也在计划之中，这将使标本信息可供其他研究人员使用。为了鼓励对这一鲜为人知但重要的昆虫卵寄生虫家族进行分类研究，需要大量精心整理的藏品。

This project will support the curation and inventory of a collection of parasitic wasps in the Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera). Wasps of this family are internal parasites of the eggs of other insects. 73 genera and about 650 species have been described. They are among the smallest insects known. Because they commonly parasitize the eggs of several agricultural pests, these wasps have been of particular interest to biological control. Problems associated with their small size, however have deterred entomologists from building requisite collections. Consequently the taxonomy of the family is in an extremely unsatisfactory state. Species identifications are impossible for most genera. Generic identifications also are problematic. Because the family is so poorly sampled, diversity, geographic distributions and biological characteristics remain unappreciated. A large collection of Trichogrammatidae has now been put together at the University of California at Riverside. The collection is world wide in coverage but stresses North America. It, by far, represents the largest holdings of this group in North America and probably the world. Support will be used to inventory and curate the collection. The largest portion is in alcohol and in peril because of the fragile nature of these wasps. Specimens require immediate removal and critical point drying. Computerization of collection data also is planned and will make specimen information available to other researchers. A large and well curated collection is required to encourage future taxonomic studies of this poorly known but important family of insect egg parasites.