Abstract
I conducted a meta-analysis to identify patterns of research efforts focused on Neotropical wasps during the last two decades. After 22 years of peer-reviewed publications, studies of Neotropical wasps are documented only from 58% of the Latin American countries, but in general, there was a noticeable increase in the number of published papers, publishing countries, and research topics on wasps. The vast majority of studies are from Brazil (55%). Social wasps have received more attention (47% of publications) compared to parasitic (36%) and solitary species (17%). During the last two decades, about 31 peer-reviewed publications were produced per year. Most studies focused on the ecology of wasps (34%) and only ≈1% of publications addressed conservation issues. Our knowledge about the conservation status of Neotropical wasps is insufficient and biased. There are few answers about the impact of wasps on Neotropical ecosystems. Two decades of studies have demonstrated that the research interest on Neotropical wasps has increased, but we are still far from including these insects in the conservation agenda of most Latin American countries.