Hymenoptera Collection

Hymenoptera are one of the four megadiverse insect orders. They are divided into the paraphyletic “Symphyta” with 25 families (11 of which are only fossilised) and the Apocrita 103 (25 of which are fossilised). According to a recent survey (Rassmussen et al., in press), 8358 (and 683 ) genera 152734 (and 2426 ) species are currently known. Many of these forms are represented in the type-rich collection of the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute (SDEI).

Due to the high diversity and limited personnel capacities, research here at the institute is focussed on the suborder of plant wasps (Symphyta). In addition to cataloguing the world fauna of the suborder (Electronic World Catalog of Symphyta: ECatSym), the hymenopterists at the SDEI work on various groups of plant wasps that play an important role in the natural environment and for which there are very few or no other specialists on a global scale. In addition to working on the leaf wasp subfamily Nematinae, which is being funded by the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative (STI) (“The Swedish Nematinae” project), research is focussing on the protoleaf wasps (Xyelidae), the spider wasp family Megalodontesidae and the large leaf wasp genus Tenthredo Linné. Great attention is also paid to the parasitoid Orussidae and invasive species.

The publications of the staff appear in internationally recognised journals or in anthologies dealing with the cataloguing, description, inventory and classification of forms and their phylogenetic reconstruction.