"AM I MAD?" - A RESPONSE TO SCOTT SHAW.
by Michael J. Sharkey
B.R.D., Agriculture Canada
In a letter to the editorial department of this newsletter Dr. Wahl took some objection
to the article by Dr. S. Shaw. Specifically he was rather miffed by the
suggestion that the name Ichneumon-flies was ridiculed. In his letter Dr. Wahl noted that it is the
braconologist's who lack a common name for their group. Being the magnanimous individual that he is,
Dr. Wahl has kindly passed along a few suggestions that Braconologists can deliberate. "The oldest
common name for the Braconidae known to Dr. Wahl is 'The supplementary Ichneumon-flies'. The
reference is Sharpe, D. 1895. Peripatus, Myripods, Insects (Vol. 5 of Cambridge Natural history Series).,
p. 558. Another name is 'Garbage Ichneumons'." According to Dr. Wahl this probably refers to the
propensity of some alysiines and opiines to habituate foul environments. One could simplify these names
to 'garbage wasps' or 'filth wasps' of 'filth garbage wasps' and have quite a catchy name; although,
personally I would like to have one of these names apply strictly to the Opiinae and Alysiinae (and this
opinion is unrelated to the fact that I would be able to say that Bob Wharton is a specialist in filth wasps).
By the way, if Dr. Wahl is right in thinking that Ichneumonologists are content with the common name
Ichneumon-flies, perhaps Braconologists might do well to consider Braconid-bugs?
All this bantering still leaves the superfamily without a common name; and I agree wholeheartedly
with Dr. Shaw that coining one is a valuable aim. I'm of the opinion that 'death wasps' is a little too
dramatic and offer a drier suggestion, 'silk wasps or cocoon wasps'. This name refers to the fact that
Ichneumonoidea have retained the ability, as larvae, to produce silk with labial silk glands. Ichneumonoids
(with the rare loss) use labial silk to spin cocoons and to tie leaves. Besides the Aculeata, the only other
hymenopterans to have functional labial silk glands are the Aulacidae, Gasteruptiidae and Trigonalidae.
These latter groups can be safely ignored, and as for the aculeates, well, they already have their own
common name. Cladists might be thinking that the lack of functional labial silk glands might be a
synapomorphy for the remainder of the Apocrita, i.e. he Apocrita minus (-) Aculeata, Ichneumonoidea,
Trigonalidade, Gasteruptiidae and Aulacidae). I believe that they would be right.
To the chalcidologists: yes, some chalcids do spin silken cocoons, but with anal silk
glands. It seems fitting somehow, where chalcidoids manifest a reversal, thy get it ass backwards. Please
give us your suggestions for the next issue of Ichnews.
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