Abstract
Chalcidoidea is one of the most abundant and speciose group of highly diverse parasitic Hymenoptera. The economic importance of the superfamily Chalcidoidea lies in their worldwide use as biological control agents. They are parasitic on economically important pests of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera and some of them are keystone species. Chalcididae is a family consisting about 90 genera and 1500 species in the world. In the present study, the diversity and distribution of family Chalcididae in Kerala, India, has been reviewed. The specimens were mainly collected from Kerala using sweep net and Malaise trap. A total of 216 species, 30 genera, and 5 subfamilies (Chalcidinae, Dirhininae, Epitraninae, Haltichellinae, Smicromorphinae, unplaced) have been recorded from India. Of this, 83 species belonging to 21 genera were reported from Kerala. Among the 21 genera, 6 are exclusively recorded from Kerala. The subfamily Haltichellinae has the largest number of recorded species (8 genera and 39 species). This is followed by Subfamily Chalcidinae with 2 genera and 24 species. Brachymeria is the predominant genus reported with 23 species from Kerala. Antrocephalus is the next with 15 species. A distribution map of chalcidids has also been provided.
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Acknowledgments
We thank our mentor Dr. T. C. Narendran for guidance. Preethi, N. expresses her gratitude to the Principal and the Registrar of Sainik School for their support. Lakshmi Devi Menon is grateful to Dr. P. A. Sebastian, S.H. College Thevara, and Fr. Johson Pallackapillil, Principal of S. H. College, for support and encouragement.
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Preethi, N., Menon, P.L.D. (2016). Diversity and Distribution of Chalcid Wasps in Kerala: Key Biological Control Agents in Cultivated Ecosystems. In: Chakravarthy, A., Sridhara, S. (eds) Arthropod Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics and Sub-tropics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1518-2_13
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