75 Introduction

Introduction

This lab covers only a single order, Hymenoptera. Your goal is to learn how to identify various Hymenoptera to order, superfamily, and/or family level using the keys in your text, online resources, other students, and me (when in doubt, ask an entomologist). The lab should take you approximately three hours to complete. A short quiz will be available when you have finished the lab, so that you can practice your identification skills.

Hymenoptera is an amazingly diverse order, with many species yet undocumented especially in the “micro-Hymenoptera” category. Considerable taxonomic revisions are both underway and necessary. If your collection includes orders or families not covered in the lab, they still need to be identified to family. If you need help with that, please let me know. As always, if you are having difficulty seeing what the key asks for, you aren’t sure what a photo shows, or you can’t quite match up the photos available with what the keys in the back of your text ask you to assess – please ask!

There are two distinct suborders, Symphyta and Apocrita, with the greatest diversity occurring in the Apocrita.