Contribution of S.N. Myartseva to the knowledge of Mexican Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera)

Abstract

Svetlana N. Myartseva started her extensive study of Mexican Chalcidoidea in 1998 as a professor of the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico. From 2000 to 2016 she published four monographs, 15 book chapters and 91 journal articles on taxonomy, fauna and biology of Mexican Chalcidoidea. She described one new genus and 140 species belonging to five families: Aphelinidae (117 species in 10 genera), Encyrtidae (15 species in 6 genera), Eulophidae (5 species in 2 genera), Eupelmidae (1species) and Trichogrammatidae (1 species). The most valuable contribution by S.N. Myartseva was to the knowledge of the family Aphelinidae and its largest genus Encarsia Förster. As results of her investigations, the number of species in this genus in the Mexican fauna was increased from 30 in 2000 to 112 in 2016; 70 species were described by S.N. Myartseva as new. Currently, 14 genera and 214 species of Aphelinidae (1 genus and 117 species from 10 genera were described as new) are known to occur in Mexico which is almost three times more species than were known in 2000. A complete list of new taxa of Chalcidoidea described by S.N. Myartseva from Mexico and all her publications on Mexican Chalcidoidea are provided.