Hi everyone,

I’m a graduate student at USU studying ichneumonid systematics with a special research interest in Nearctic Ichneumoninae and the worldwide genera of Phaeogenini. If I correct an observation and don’t say why, please feel free to comment or message me for more details. Also, feel free to ask me if you have any questions about ichneumonines in general. They are a hard group to ID due to the incredibly high species richness and the sometimes minor (and difficult to photograph) differences between genera. Often times, an ID can’t be taken below the subfamily or tribal level.

I encourage anyone who is interested in ichneumonids to collect physical specimens. It’s hard to overstate how beneficial collections are for taxa as diverse and understudied as ichneumonines (but also ichneumonids in general). Many species await discovery, so it’s quite likely you could collect what could become a new holotype. Just in my small collection, I likely have about 10-15 undescribed ichneumonine species (uncertain as to the number of new ichneumonid species). If you have any questions about building and maintaining an insect collection let me know! It’s not as onerous and expensive as most people think.

Alternatively, I run Malaise traps so let me know if you would be interested in by-catch trades. Or, if anyone would just like to run a trap for me in their local area that would be amazing.