The relative influence of agricultural abandonment and semi-natural habitats on parasitoid diversity and community composition.

Wild biodiversity is usually larger in semi-natural habitats than in croplands, but this pattern is not ubiquitous because it varies among taxa and geographic regions. Knowing how the diversity of natural enemies is structured at the landscape level is important to better understand when semi-natural habitats promote the conservation of natural enemies and ultimately enhance biocontrol. We explore the relative influence of agricultural abandonment and the proportion of semi-natural habitats at the landscape level on the diversity and abundance of parasitoid wasps in the Ichneumonidae family.

New Species of Grotea (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Labeninae) from Ecuador, with New Records and a Key to the Neotropical Species.

Here we describe two new Grotea species from Ecuador, G. akakana Mazón & Bordera sp. nov.

Two New Species and New Records of Metopiinae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian Metopiinae fauna currently includes 17 species, but recent intensive samplings carried out at Southern Ecuador have increased this number. In the present paper, two new species, Exochus tapiarum sp. nov.

Discovery of a new species of Trieces (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Metopiinae) questioning the traditional delimitation between Trieces and Chorinaeus.

In this paper a new species of the Metopiinae genus Trieces Townes from Spain, Trieces confusus sp. nov., is described and illustrated.

Entomofauna Associated with Agroforestry Systems of Timber Species and Cacao in the Southern Region of the Maracaibo Lake Basin (Mérida, Venezuela).

Agroforestry systems are environment-friendly production systems which help to preserve biodiversity while providing people with a way of earning a living. Cacao is a historically important crop in Venezuela that traditionally has been produced in agroforestry systems. However, few studies have evaluated how different trees used in those systems affect the dynamics and abundance of insects.

Do Refuge Plants Favour Natural Pest Control in Maize Crops?

The use of non-crop plants to provide the resources that herbivorous crop pests' natural enemies need is being increasingly incorporated into integrated pest management programs. We evaluated insect functional groups found on three refuges consisting of five different plant species each, planted next to a maize crop in Lima, Peru, to investigate which refuge favoured natural control of herbivores considered as pests of maize in Peru, and which refuge plant traits were more attractive to those desirable enemies. Insects occurring in all the plants, including the maize crop itself, were sampled weekly during the crop growing cycle, from February to June 2011.

The Neotropical species of Atractodes (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae), II: the A. pleuripunctatus species-group.

We describe three new species of parasitoid wasps of the genus Atractodes (Ichneumonidae: Cryptinae) from South America: A. colchaguensis sp. nov.

The Neotropical species of Atractodes (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae), I: the A. propodeator and A. altoandinus species-groups.

The Neotropical species of the cryptine genus Atractodes are studied, and four species-groups are proposed. In this paper, A. altoandinus and A.

Description of a new species of Aclastus Förster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Cryptinae) from the Peruvian Andes, with dimorphic females.

The aim of this paper is to describe and illustrate a new species of Aclastus with dimorphic females and to provide the diagnostic characters to distinguish it from Holarctic species of the genus. In addition, we provide data on the habitat and phenology of the species.