Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera, the order that includes ants, bees, sawflies, and wasps is one of the most diverse groups of animals. The largest family, Ichneumonidae, includes more species than those of all birds and mammals combined, but it is only one among a number of large families in the order. Hymenoptera are valuable to both man and the environment. Bees, especially, are well known for pollinating agricultural crops and other plants. Even the relatively few kinds of wasps that are apt to sting man when their nests are disturbed are usually predaceous on plant-feeding insects and are decidedly beneficial. Perhaps most beneficial of all are the myriad natural enemies of insects found among the non-social wasps and, especially, the parasitoid wasps.