Hymenoptera

Venoms of the Hymenoptera: Biochemical, Pharmacological, and Behavioral Aspects contains papers that deals with the study of the venoms and toxins produced by insects belonging to the order of the Hymenoptera. The book provides a considerable amount of information in the study of the venoms of the Hymenoptera. There are chapters that focus on the history of the research made on the order of the Hymenoptera; the stinging apparatus; venom collection; physiological effects of venoms produced by particular insects belonging to the order; and the pharmacological uses of the venoms and toxins. Entomologists, physiologists, pharmacologists, biochemists, and researchers developing drugs and pesticides will find this text extremely useful.

This publication is the result of a course on identification of Hymenoptera given three times since 1985 at the Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research. The considerable interest in these courses indicated the need for a comprehensive identification guide to all extant families of Hymenoptera. The main emphasis is on family identification using the keys, which are complemented by family sketches. The sketches include a taxonomic diagnosis to supplement the keys, a summary of the biology, the size and distribution, and important literature references.

The Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of terrestrial anthropods and compromises the sawflies, wasps, ants, bees and parasitic wasps. This book examines the current state of all major areas of research for this important group of insects, including systematics, biological control, behaviour and use in education.

Explores the biology, importance of, and methods of encouragement of bees, wasps, and ants found in a garden.

Hymenoptera, the bees, wasps and ant, are one of the largest insect orders, and have massive ecological importance as pollinators and as predators or parasitoids of other insects. These roles have brought them forcefully to human notice , as governors of some key ecological services that strongly influence human food supply. Recent declines of pollinators and introductions of alien pests or biological control agents are only part of the current concerns for conservation of Hymenoptera, and of the interactions in which they participate in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. Both pests and beneficial species abound within the order, sometimes closely related within the same families. Many taxa are both difficult to identify, and very poorly known. This global overview, the first such account for the whole of the Hymenoptera, discusses a broad range of themes to introduce the insects and their conservation roles and needs, and how their wellbeing may be approached. The book is intended as a source of information for research workers, students, conservation managers and naturalists as an introduction to the importance of this dominant insect order.

Bees, ants, and solitary wasps are all members of the order Hymenoptera, an important group of insects that includes the sawflies, woodwasps, gallwasps, and parasitoids. This book provides the non-specialist and the professional zoologist with an introductory survey of the BritishHymenoptera. Drawing on the resources of the British Museum (Natural History) as well as their own wide experience, the editors present an account of each family: a diagnosis of the taxon; comments on the size and geographical distribution of the family; and a synopsis of the biology of the group. Key works forthe identification of British species are listed, and new keys are provided to the families and superfamilies represented in Britain. Introductory sections cover natural history, biology, evolution, classification, structure, and economic importance. Although the emphasis is on the 6500 recorded British species, the identification keys are relevant to the rest of western Europe and also largely to North America, whose species bear close resemblance to those in Britain at family and subfamily levels. An extensive bibliography is included.

The late Professor S. I. Malyshev, who died from a cerebral haemorrhage on 9 May 1967 at the age of 83 in the train while travelling to field work, was one of the foremost European students of the Hymenoptera, in particular of the habits of solitary bees, a subject on which he had published many papers since 1908, mostly in Russian. In 1935 he published an important paper on part of his work, and I helped to edit the publication, which was in English. A few years ago some of my friends in California asked me if I could not persuade him to complete his early paper on solitary bees, offering if necessary to arrange for a translation. When I wrote to Professor Malyshev making this suggestion he no longer had the health to produce a new work, but he sent me a copy of his recent book on the evolution of the Hymenoptera which he thought might be worth trans lating. Sir Boris Uvarov was good enough to translate for me the chapter and section headings, and it seemed to both of us that a lot of new ground was covered in a highly original way. The explanation of the changes in behaviour that must have taken place when the simple, plant-feeding saw flies developed into highly specialized parasites or into industrious, food collecting, social insects such as the ants, bees, and wasps can well be regarded as one of the major challenges to zoologists.