Reliability, completeness and improvement of our knowledge on Germany’s parasitoid wasp fauna - a case study in Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera)

In this study, we evaluate our knowledge on the German fauna of Chalcidoidea, one of the most species-rich parasitoid wasps groups, for reliability and completeness. We show that more than one third of the 1,939 recorded chalcidoid species are known only from a single citation/record, and usually records are neither detailed nor vouchered. More than two thirds of the species have never been taxonomically revised.

We also found that there are 344 species recorded from neighboring countries of Germany which might also occur in Germany. In this study, we report the first records from Germany of Calosota aestivalis Curtis, 1836 (Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae: Calosotinae) and Torymus cupreus (Spinola, 1808) (Chalcidoidea: Torymidae: Toryminae). Both records are the result of close collaboration between citizen scientists and professional entomologists, and both records include detailed collecting information, life images and voucher specimens.

We note that such collaboration is very valuable to increase our knowledge on previously widely neglected taxa. The necessary strategic goal of a well-known German insect fauna, however, will only be achieved by strongly intensifying the research on biodiversity and taxonomy of all insect taxa.