Natural History of Tropical Parasitoid Wasps

The order Hymenoptera currently includes the impressive number of more than 115000 known species. The tropical hymenopteran fauna, however, is poorly known and this number probably represents just a small fraction of the real richness of the group. A great part of the species within Hymenoptera is composed of parasitoids, animals that exploit other organisms to death in order to acquire the food resources required to their development. Here I present a brief overview of the natural history of these interesting animals, focusing on the interactions with their hosts. I also present details of some study cases in a few families to illustrate the diversity of the behaviors within the group. Finally, I describe some cases in which the interactions with the hosts culminate with changes in their normal behaviors, increasing the survivorship of the manipulative parasitoids