Keys to the Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea: A Collaborative Project

提出了一个合作项目， 能够识别小蜂总科的所有属（一个大的类群 指寄生蜂）已知产于北美包括温带 墨西哥的地区。 小蜂总科是地球上 黄蜂，包含约16，000种已描述的物种。 因为所有 物种是其他昆虫的寄生虫，它们是巨大的 作为害虫的天敌， 在生态系统中具有根本的重要性， 以植物为食的昆虫 然而，足够的检索表，以确定属 目前不存在的大多数20个家庭目前在 本地区 17位科学家已正式承诺， 参与这个项目，每个家庭都有一个或 更多贡献者 关于《公约》范围、内容和格式的协定 该项目是在1989年举行的一次讲习班上达成的。 该办法将 是一个务实的综合现有信息使用当前 属和高等分类群（科和亚科）的概念。 输出将是一个单一的手册。 介绍性章节将 包括小蜂科检索表和解剖学部分 解释本公约全文使用的统一术语的术语 手册. 这些键将使用带注释的格式来提供 关于分布、物种数量和宿主的信息， 适用于每一个属。 提议举办第二次规划讲习班 用于章节的整合和草稿键的实际测试 所有参与者。 由此产生的手册将使许多 生物学家将Neartic chalcidoids确定为属，并将大大 为系统化工作提供便利。

A collaborative project is proposed to produce illustrated keys to enable identification of all genera of Chalcidoidea (a large group of parasitic wasps) known from North America including temperate areas of Mexico. The Chalcidoidea are one of the largest groups of wasps, containing about 16,000 described species. Because all species are parasites of other insects, they are of great importance to agriculture as natural enemies of insect pests and of fundamental importance in ecological systems as regulators of plant-feeding insects. However, adequate keys to identify genera presently do not exist for most of the twenty families present in the region. Seventeen scientists have made formal commitments to participate in this project and each family is covered by one or more contributors. Agreements on scope, content and format of the project was reached at a workshop held in 1989. The approach will be a pragmatic synthesis of available information using current concepts of genera and higher taxa (families and subfamilies). The output will be a single manual. Introductory chapters will include a key to chalcidoid families and a section on anatomical terms explaining the uniform terminology to be used throughout the manual. The keys will use an annotated format to provide information on distributions, numbers of species, and hosts when practical for each genus. A second planning workshop is proposed for integration of the chapters and hands-on testing of draft keys by all participants. The resulting manual will enable many biologists to identify Neartic chalcidoids to genus and will vastly facilitate this task for systematics.