Chalcidoidea of the World John Heraty and James Woolley (eds.)

My first impression of Chalcidoidea of the World was amazement. I have written enough (much smaller) publications to recognize that this book represents an extraordinary amount of work, and decades of it. Simply coordinating the fifty-five contributors is itself an achievement, attesting to the cohesion of the Chalcidoidea community and the value of collaboration. The scope is extensive, addressing nearly all aspects of these organisms: host associations, developmental biology, behavior, phylogenetics, morphology, evolution, and paleontology. The language is well crafted, and the illustrations are exquisite. One does not need to be a hymenopterist—or even an entomologist—to marvel at the morphological diversity and exoskeletal beauty of Chalcidoidea presented throughout this book. During the review process, Chalcidoidea of the World frequented a coffee table in my home, perused by non-scientists and enjoyed for its aesthetic appeal. ONE DOES NOT NEED TO BE A HYMENOPTERIST—OR EVEN AN ENTOMOLOGIST—TO MARVEL AT THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND EXOSKELETAL BEAUTY OF CHALCIDOIDEA PRESENTED THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK. The key to families is likely to be the most used part of the book and is perhaps the most central and synthetic aspect, its production requiring knowledge of the group’s vast diversity and the myriad exceptions to taxon limits. The style of the key follows Hymenoptera of the World (Goulet and Huber 1993), with couplets primarily illustrated with black-and-white drawings that effectively direct attention to the salient characters. Each chalcidoid family is treated in its own chapter, often with keys to lower taxonomic levels that are illustrated with varying combinations of photography, scanning electron microscopy, and drawings. These chapters are presented with a consistent structure, with topics expanded or omitted according to available knowledge. Natural history, the fossil record, and biological control are presented as stand-alone chapters, and in a more nuanced form for each family. Future study of these topics will likely be family-specific; thus, this approach efficiently delivers the information in a manner appropriate for how it will be used. Some of the content in Chalcidoidea of the World is highly technical, as one would expect, requiring familiarity with an array of morphological terms. To prepare the reader, the authors present the necessary information to understand morphological characters used in the keys and methodologies of collecting and preserving small parasitoid wasps. In this regard, they make Chalcidoidea far more accessible, and not just for newcomers to Hymenoptera. Even though I am a specialist on parasitoid wasps (not Chalcidoidea), I can attest that identification of specimens in the “pteromaloid lineage” has generally felt impossible. Here, the taxon concepts refined by Burks et al. (2022) are distilled into an identification tool that, simply put, works! I tested the keys on a handful of specimens, resulting in identifications that I could confirm by comparing the specimens to the diagnoses. The introduction details the history of the project, outlining the progression of efforts and building of the community required for the undertaking. This can be seen as a template for those with similar ambitions for other taxa, and highlights the human aspect of the endeavor, an aspect that cannot be overemphasized. Fittingly, the final chapter profiles earlier scientists with summaries of their contributions. Our predecessors are, after all, the giants on whose shoulders we stand. With Chalcidoidea of the World, we can all see farther. Elijah Talamas received his B.S. in the science of Earth systems from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in entomology from The Ohio State University, where he studied platygastroid wasps. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship with the Systematic Entomology Laboratory (USDA-ARS) to work on parasitoid wasps associated with the brown marmorated stink bug. He is currently a research scientist and curator of Hymenoptera at the Florida State Collection of Arthropods, where his work on Platygastroidea continues.