Parasitoid wasps from three Jamaican localities: A pilot study

Parasitoid wasps are an extremely speciose, ecologically and economically crucial group of insects. Despite this, they have received disproportionally little attention from scientists, in particular in certain areas of the world. One such area is the Caribbean, where studies are scarce despite the importance of parasitoid wasps, and the uniqueness and diversity of the Caribbean islands. To verify whether an adequate diversity of parasitoid wasps at family level can be found to warrant future studies, this study carries out preliminary sampling in three localities in Jamaica. A total of 1522 individual parasitoid wasps, belonging to at least 16 different families collected during 16 events provide preliminary evidence there is in fact a high diversity of parasitoid wasps in Jamaica, and that future studies there, as in the rest of the Caribbean are definitely worthwhile