D3495: What's new with the Braconidae and Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) collections at the Smithsonian Institution NMNH?

The Braconidae and Ichneumonidae collections at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History (SI-NMNH) are among the largest in the world collectively with ~780,000 specimens and 4,500 primary type specimens. The collections serve as a primary source of data not only for systematics research but for research in many areas in biology, including, but not limited to, agricultural production, all levels of ecology, conservation biology, climate change, and invasive species detection and regulation. The effective use of data in natural history collections depends highly on the extent of holdings in the collection and the ability to navigate those holdings efficiently to obtain data. We provide a summary of recent curatorial improvements to the Braconidae and Ichneumonidae collections at the SI-NMNH and highlight research that relied on those collections as a unique source of data for those projects.