ABSTRACT
Management of insect pests using predators and parasitoids is a classical history of insect pest control and hymenopteran parasitoids have a great place in biological control. Among the important hymenopteran parasitoids, Pteromalidae (Chalcidoidea: Hymenoptera) is one of the important and largest parasitic families of the super-family Chalcidoidea, found free living in nature. The majority of Pteromalid species are primary or secondary parasitoids. They remain attached to the host as endo- or ectoparasitoids; attacking a very wide range of insect species of orders Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, etc. They may attack the egg, larval, pupal and adult stages of the hosts. Pteromalids play a vital role in the biocontrol of insect pests, but this family is very difficult to define taxonomically and phenotypically by a single character due to its overlapping morphological characteristics. The systemic study of this family was initiated in 1758 by Linnaeus, who described first two species Ichneumon puparum and Sphex colon from Sweden. The family is distributed in all biogeographical areas of the world and shows a great diversity in its morphology and biology. Presently, Pteromalidae is classified and described into 34 subfamilies and about 4222 species are recorded throughout the world. Biocontrol is a natural phenomenon among organisms and when it is applied can provide a sustainable, harmonious and economical control of the insect pest problem. Pteromalid species, viz. Anisopteromalus calandrae, Cephaleta australiensis, Cheiropachus quadrum, Dinarmus basalis, Pteromalus puparum, Spalangia endius, Theocolax elegans and many more, have been recorded as successful biocontrol agents. Apart from these, Pteromalidae is one of the largest and a potential parasitic family of Hymenoptera, but very less emphasis has been given to this family, and the biology of very few species has been studied. Thus, more emphasis needs to be given to exploring the pteromalid diversity and their mass multiplication technique, because there would be many unknown species present in nature, which can also be explored, mass multiplied and applied for suppressing noxious insect pest populations.
