PEET: Monographic Research on Parasitic Hymenoptera

寄生蜂的种类非常多。 至少有一半的物种尚未被正式描述，72，000种描述的物种中有许多相对知之甚少，并且难以识别。 事实上，所有的寄生蜂都会攻击和杀死其他昆虫，而且许多寄生蜂似乎都是针对特定宿主的。 因此，它们是自然生态系统复杂食物网中的重要组成部分，并为受管理的生态系统中的害虫提供了宝贵的天敌来源。 研究寄生蜂的一些最大科的专家逐渐减少，导致了这样一种情况，即识别属和描述物种所必需的知识体系现在只掌握在极少数年老的个体身上。 这个问题将通过一个指导过程来解决，受训者将在三个更大、更困难的寄生蜂群体中向专家学习。通过具体的合作协议，学生将受益于优秀的专家谁监督无与伦比的收集资源，他们的专业知识，在这些重点群体（类群）将很快失去。 学员将描述许多新物种，并准备全面的分类学论文（专著），这将有助于识别，并为这些昆虫的所有未来工作提供必要的基础。 随着专题研究不可避免地走向完全电子输出，全面的图像数据库将成为必不可少的成分。 专题过程中成像方面的协作努力的协同性质为我们的学员提供了一个令人兴奋的机会，直接参与（并作出重大贡献）这一发展。 受训人员将为大约130个分类群准备专题治疗（110属的栉孔扇贝和两栖类Diapriidae和约10种的每一个在鱼属Pantorhaestes Foerster和figitid属Agrostocynips迪亚兹）。 还将编制一份急需的目录，澄清所描述的大约900种假叶榕科物种的地位和属的位置。 下一代科学家的培训是PEET计划的重要组成部分，该项目的合作性质，以及其各种各样的优秀专家，将为学生提供现代，收集为基础的系统学研究的各个方面非常广泛的培训和经验。 一个博士后，三个博士。学生将在这个项目下接受培训，一些本科生将协助管理和成像。 在该方案下，受训人员提供的改进的寄生蜂分类法和更自然的分类法将使生物多样性得到更好的表征和管理。 寄生蜂在应用程序（如生物控制）中的效用意味着该项目还直接支持针对更可持续农业的研究，对环境的负面影响更少。

Parasitic wasps are extraordinarily diverse. At least half of the species have not yet been formally described, and many of the 72,000 described species are comparatively poorly known and notoriously difficult to identify. Virtually all parasitic wasps attack and kill other insects and many appear to be quite host-specific. They are therefore essential components in the complex food webs of natural ecosystems and they provide a valuable source of natural enemies for pest insects in managed ecosystems. The gradual attrition of specialists on some of the largest families of parasitic wasps has led to a situation in which the body of knowledge necessary to recognize genera and describe species now resides with a very few, aging individuals. This problem will be addressed by a mentoring process whereby trainees are apprenticed to specialists in three of the larger, more difficult groups of parasitic wasps. Through specific cooperative agreements, students will benefit from outstanding specialists who oversee unmatched collection resources and whose expertise in these focal groups (taxa) will soon be lost. Trainees will describe numerous new species and prepare comprehensive taxonomic treatises (monographs) that will facilitate identification and provide the essential foundation for all future work on these insects. As monographic research heads inexorably towards fully electronic output, comprehensive image databases will become essential ingredients. The synergistic nature of the collaborative effort on the imaging aspects of the monographic process provides our trainees with an exciting opportunity to participate directly (and contribute substantially) to this development. Trainees will prepare monographic treatments for approximately 130 taxa (110 genera in the ctenopelmatine Ichneumonidae and ambositrine Diapriidae and about 10 species each in the ichneumonid genus Pantorhaestes Foerster and the figitid genus Agrostocynips Diaz). A badly needed catalog clarifying the status and generic placement of the approximately 900 described species of eucoiline Figitidae will also be prepared. Training of the next generation of scientists is an essential component of the PEET program, and the collaborative nature of the project, with its diverse array of outstanding specialists, will provide exceptionally broad training and experience for the students in all aspects of modern, collection-based systematics research. One postdoctoral and three Ph.D. students will be trained under this program, and several undergraduate students will assist with curation and imaging. The improved taxonomy and more natural classifications of parasitic wasps provided by trainees under this program will enable better characterization and management of biological diversity. The utility of parasitic wasps in applied programs (such as biological control) means that this project also directly supports research that targets a more sustainable agriculture with fewer negative impacts on the environment.