Insects: Generallntroduction. Abundance and seasonal dynamícs of insects in Coiba. The case of the hymenoptera. An introduction to the insects is presented withln the global flora and fauna project of inventory of the National Park of lhe 1 land of Coiba (Panama). Preliminary results on entomology are conrribulcd in four artieles: One first work i devoted to investigate the abundance and temporal dynamic ' of insecls, cspecially hymenoplera, as measured by Malaise traps catches, in North of Coiba island. A second work presents faunistical results of the inventory of selected families of Hymenoptera parasítica Cynipoidea and Chalcidoidea: Figitidae, Chalcididae, Encyrtidae and Eucharitidae. A thlrd artiele deals with the butterflies of Coiba and fmally, the fourth work, presents a list of Odonata from the island. Field work data comes from three collecting trips to Coiba (two-five weeks long) between 1994 and 1996. Wet and dry seasons were sampled. Thirty one sites in the National Park were sampled representing almo. l aJl the main terrestrial habitats of Coiba. Sampling methods used were: Malai e trap, weep nct, yellow pan traps, pitfall traps and light trap, but most colIected dlUa come from Ihe rwo first techniques. Local abundance of insect orders and famílies of Hymenoptera, measured by Malaise traps samples from the north of the Coiba island, was investigated and the results compared with data from the Iiterature and unpublished author's Malaise traps data from two sítes in the centre of the Iberian Península. Local abundance of insects was comparatively higher than that registered in other tropicallocalities and intermediate in relatíon to the two sites in the Iberian Península. Local abundance of Hymenoptera was in average higher than those indicated by bibliographical data for other sites and countries but it was equal or lower in relation to the two sites in the lberian Península. Seasonal dynamícs of Ihe families of Hymenoptera: Eucoilidae, Figitidae, Chalcididae, Eucharitidae, Pteromalidae and Symphyta were investígaled from samples of a single Malaise trap operatíng along the whole 1994 annual cycle. Figitidae and Symphyta showed short phenological cycles from May to August and the other farnilies presented flight activity along the whole year. Eucoilidae, Chalcididae y Eucharitidae were, along one full year, more abundant in Coiba, as a whole, than in the two sites in central Spain; Pteromalidae y Figitidae showed an intermediate abundance in comparison with that localities and Symphyta was much less abundant in Coiba island

Este trabajo ha sido posible gracias a la colaboración de muchas personas a las que, desde aquí, queremo expre ar nuestro agradecimiento. En primer lugar a Santiago Castroviejo a quien debemos la invitación para participar en el proyecto de inventario de Coiba y la ayuda prestada en todo momento. Carmen Moreno y Timoteo Guijarro de la AECI en Panamá pusieron los medios, en la financiación, y todo su esfuerzo, eficacia y amabilidad en la logística de las expedición a la isla. Raúl Brenes, director del Parque Nacional Coiba y Juan Cuadras, como guía de la expedición fueron de inestimable ayuda. En especial queremos agradecer la e laboración del recluso Mali Mali por atender la operatividad de la trampa Malaise instalada en la estación Biológica a lo largo de todo el año 1994. Elvira Mingo, Vicenta Llorente Mª Paz Martín, Arabia Sánchez y Florita Tordesillas del MNCN colaboraron en la tarea de separación de ordenes de insectos en las muestras de Trampas Malaise, Carmen Rey en la separación de Hymenoptera Aculeata e /chneumonoidea y Ma Luisa Hinojosa en el montaje de ejemplares.

18 paginas, 7 figuras y 11 tables

Peer reviewed