Flowering Plant Hosts of Adult Hymenopteran Parasitoids of Central Illinois

We tabulated flowering plant species visited by 151 species of parasitic Hymenoptera. These data were extracted from records of C. Robertson who collected >15,000 insect visitors of flowering plants in central Illinois during a 33-yr period. Species diversity of parasitoids was highest on plant species of the Apiaceae and Asteraceae. The most abundant parasitoids were 2 tiphiid and a scoliid species. Parasitoid species in 6 dominant families (Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, Chrysididae, Tiphiidae, Pteromalidae, and Eucoilidae) showed similar preferences for 10 plant species. Most parasitoid species visited a limited range of host plants, which may have implications for conservation biological control and conservation biology.