Book Review. Annotated Keys to the Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Gary A. P. Gibson, John T. Huber and James B. Woolley (eds.). NRC Research Press, Ottawa, 1997, xi + 794 p. PDF
Preview Book Review. Annotated Keys to the Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Gary A. P. Gibson, John T. Huber and James B. Woolley (eds.). NRC Research Press, Ottawa, 1997, xi + 794 p.
J.HYM.RES. Vol.7(1) 1998,pp.124-126 BOOK REVIEW Annotated Keys to the Genera ofNearctic ofpracticalvaluetoall.Indeed,thisisnot Chalcidoidea(Hi/nienoptern).GaryA.P.Gib- onlyimperativeingivingcredencetothe son,JohnT.HuberandJamesB.Woolley idealsoftheConventiononBiologicalDi- (Editors.). NRC Research Press, Ottawa, versity, but also in provingthe worthof 1997. xi+794 pp. Price: Canada insectsystematistsinaworldofchanging CAN$64.95,othercountriestheequivalent attitudestoscience. ofUS$64.95(hardcover).ISBN066016669-0. The17authorsofAnnotatedKeystothe Ithasbeensaid thatitisdangerousto Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea receive study the Parasitic Hymenoptera, for fullcreditforhavingdoneexactlythat.In those who do are inclined tobecome al- harnessingtheircollectiveskillstothefull coholicsorendupinmentalinstitutions. they have produced an outstandingsyn- Notionsofsuchdespairundoubtedlystem opsisofthe19familiesand706chalcidoid from the daunting task that confronts generaknowntooccurintheregion.But thosewhoventuretounraveltheidentity thetruevalueofthisbookliesfarbeyond ofthisvastandtaxonomicallycomplexas- that of a manual merely for identifying semblageofenigmaticwasps. specimens.Ititsalsoanimpressiverefer- The superfamily Chalcidoidea alone encework, crammedwithinvaluableno- comprisescloseto 19,000validspeciesin menclatural, bibliographical and host in- 2,000genera,withestimatesoftheactual formationontheNearcticchalcidoidfau- numberofspecies rangingfrombetween na. 60,000to100,000worldwide.Compound- Thebookcomprises22chapters.Thein- ingthedifficultiesincomingtogripswith troduction, which contains interesting the identity of this bewildering array of backgroundinformationonthehistoryof mostlypoorlyknowntaxaistheplethora ChalcidologyinNorthAmerica,numbers ofscatteredandofteninaccessibledescrip- oftaxaandtherateatwhichgenerahave tiveliteraturespanningsome200yearsof been described from the region through taxonomic endeavour on the group. The theyears,isfollowedbyachapteronmor- task is made even more arduous by a phology. Morphological termspertaining shortage of essential identification tools tothekeysandvariousfamilydiagnoses such as modern catalogues, revisions, are conveniently highlighted in bold, keys and adequately documented refer- clearlyexplainedanddepictedinaseries ence collections. In Britain, arguably the of uncluttered line drawings and good cradle of Chalcidology, there are for in- quality scamiing electron micrographs. stance no modern identification keys for For quick reference, terms are listed al- morethanhalfofthe5,000orsospecies phabetically ina separateappendixwith Eonft.HyRmees.no8p7:te2r0a3),(Wmeaenkysoeftawlh.i1c9h97b,eBluolnlg. utrheeisr. Aabbsreecvoinadtioanpspeannddixrecrfoesrse-nrceefetroenfciegs- tochalcidoidgroups. the abbreviations with terms. The disad- Whatisclearlyneeded,istotakestock vantage ofhaving this information sepa- ofwhat is known, collateand synthesize rate, and notinfigurelegendsbelowthe the vast pool of scattered knowledge, plates, isthatsomepagingisrequired to muchofwhichisburied ina fewinquir- determine the meanings of the abbrevia- ingminds,and makeitreadilyaccessible tionsdepictedintheillustrations. insuchawaythatitisbothpalatableand Chapterthreeprovides,besidesakeyto Volume7,Number1,1998 125 families,anoverviewoftheChalcidoidea recognition, systematics, biology, fauna and covers topics such as recognition of andliterature.Forlargerfamiliesauseful the group, mode of parasitism (feeding indextogenerabasedoncoupletnumbers types), hostrangesand relationships,be- isalsoincluded.Thesetopicsareallwell haviour, collecting methods and voucher covered, serving as a concise and infor- specimens.Writteninclearlanguage,this mative introduction to the 19 familiesas is essential reading matter which should representedintheNearcticregion. appeal in particular to the non-specialist Inessence,thisbookisallaboutgeneric seeking general background information keys to Nearctic chalcidoids, and its real onthesuperfamilyataglance. value will ultimately be judged by how The family key is primarily a derived well these keys perform. So I decided to combination of those found in A Hand- put some of them to the test, selecting book of the families of Nearctic Chalci- specimensnotonlyfromtheNearcticre- doideaandHymenopteraoftheWorld.In gion,butalsofromfurtherafield.There- recognizing 19 families, theauthorshave sultswereexcellent,bearingtestimonyto optedforthetraditionalsystemofclassi- theskillful and competentway in which fyingchalcidoidsatthislevel.Considering these keys have been constructed. The theintendedpurposeofthebookandthe contentsofthecoupletsareunambiguous instability of the higher classification of andthetaxonomiclanguageeasytocom- thesewasps,inwhichanythingfromnine prehend.Iwaspleasedtoseethattheau- to24 familieshavebeenrecognized, this thors have, in all but one of the tested isasensiblechoice. keys, managed toavoid usingthehandy Precedingthekeyisaflowchartwhich butdreadful"either/or"methodofsepa- givesapleasingvisualimpressionofhow rating taxa. All ofthisaddsmuch to the the19familiesarekeyedoutinthe40cou- relativeeasewithwhichtheuserisguided plets.Thekeyitselfisvisuallylesspleas- throughthekeys,eveninthecaseofgen- ing. Placing the figures associated with erawhicharedifficulttodefine.Although eachalternateofacoupletdirectlyabove thesekeyshavebeendesignedspecifically itallowsforeasycomparisonbetweenfig- fortheNearcticregion, theywill, ifused uresand text,butoftenresultsininsuffi- with the necessary insight and care, also cientspaceforbothalternatesonthesame serveasaveryusefultoolinthestudyof page. Consequently, many pages are left extra-limital forms, as was evident from withunsightlyblankspaces,whiletheal- the large selection of Afrotropical speci- ternates ofsome couplets appear ondif- mens which keyed out perfectly well. ferent pages, making comparisons some- Greatlyenhancingthevalueofthesekeys what cumbersome. More important arebriefannotationstoeach genuscom- though,isthefactthatthekeyworkswell. prisingreferencestoexistingspecieskeys, Evidently,muchcarefulthoughthasgone estimated numberofspecies, knowndis- intomakingitbothaccurateandworkable tributionandhostrangeintheregion. forthenoviceandspecialistalike.Chosen The use of the keys is facilitated by for diagnostic reliability rather than con- 1,880linedrawingsandscanningelectron venience, thecharactersarenotnecessar- n\icrographs which, despite the inputs ily"easy"touse,butbeingappropriately fromavarietyofillustrators,areofacon- andclearlyillustratedthereshouldbeno sistentlyhighaestheticandtechnicalstan- probleminkeyingspecimensout. dard.Withtheintendedreadershipofthe Thebulkoftheremainingtextisdevot- book in mind, a few more eye-catching edtothefamilytreatments.Eachofthe19 habitus drawings, which are completely chaptersreviewsonefamilyandincludes, lacking for some families, would have apart from a generic key, sections on its addedaspecialtouch. 126 JournalofHymenopteraResearch Thebookconcludeswithfourveryuse- arcticchalcidoids,forourknowledgeand fulindices.Thefirstonecomprisesabout understanding of the fauna is far from 130 generic and subgeneric chalcidoid complete.Buttheauthorshavesucceeded names (with their nomenclatural fate) admirably in synthesizing what is pres- which have become invalid since publi- entlyknownwhileprovidinganexcellent cationofthemostrecent(1979)editionof framework for further revisionary work Catalog of Hymenoptera in America on the group. 1 recommend thisbookas NorthofMexico.Followingthisindexare anindispensablereferenceandidentifica- separate lists of plant and animal hosts, tiontool foranyone, specialistsand gen- andsupraspecificchalcidoidnames. eralistsalike,involvedinthestudyofpar- Insummary, I applaud thecontentsof asiticwasps. this book, hence the lack of any serious Gerhard Prinsloo, Biosystematics Divi- criticism. Naturally, this is not the last sionARC-PlantProtectionResearchInstitute wordonthesupraspecificidentityofNe- Pretoria,SouthAfrica.
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