Introduction

Abstract

Abstract With more than 115,000 described species, ranging from diminutive ‘fairy-flies’ which are less than 0.2 mm in length and develop within the single egg of a leafhopper, to colossal tarantula-hawks—spiderhunting wasps with a wingspan of more than ten centimetres—the Hymenoptera is one of the largest and most diverse of all insect orders. However, the variety and composition of the group often remains unappreciated, a fact that is perhaps best reflected by their lack of a common name in either the English or Spanish languages.