Ichneumon is a genus of parasitoid wasps in the family Ichneumonidae.

Selected species

This genus includes about 270 species:

Cultural significance

In the eighteenth century Ichneumon was regarded as an instance of the God-given balance in nature; in the nineteenth the possibility of using it as a form of biocontrol was briefly entertained. It was used as the symbol of the reformed Entomological Society of London in 1833.[1]

References

  1. ^ "The British Journal for the History of Science V48:4". Cambridge University Press.