ABSTRACT
The members of the family Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) are ecto- or endoparasitoids of members of the insect orders Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hemiptera. Braconids are of immense economic importance in agriculture owing to their role in the biocontrol of insect pests. Despite their undeniable importance, no doubt braconids are extremely challenging taxonomically as they are hyper-diverse with many cryptic species complexes. The total diversity falls under 27 subfamilies and 59 tribes with approximately 3,000 species known from Asia (tropical), and roughly 1,083 species described from India. This chapter summarises Indian diversity with more emphasis on the work done in the recent past.
