Mymarommatidae
Temporal range:
Specimens of Mymaromella mira
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Superfamily: Mymarommatoidea
Family: Mymarommatidae
Debauche, 1948
Genera

†Archaeromma Yoshimoto, 1975
Mymaromella Girault, 1931
Mymaromma Girault, 1920†
†Palaeomymar Meunier, 1901
Zealaromma Gibson, Read and Huber, 2007

The Mymarommatidae, sometimes referred to as false fairy wasps, are a very small family of microscopic parasitic wasps. Only about half of the known species are living taxa (the others are fossils), but they are found worldwide.[1]

Little is known about the biology of these insects, but because of their size, and simple ovipositors, entomologists assumed they were idiobiont parasitoids on the eggs of insects, similar to other extremely small parasitic wasps such as fairyflies. Psocoptera, long suspected as their hosts based on circumstantial evidence,[2] was confirmed to be the hosts of at least some mymarommatids in 2022, after specimens of Mymaromma menehune were observed emerging from the eggs of a member of the pscopteran family Lepidopsocidae.[3] They are placed in the superfamily Mymarommatoidea, with a number of extinct families known from Cretaceous amber. Mymarommatids are distinguished by the presence of a pleated (folded) membrane connecting the front and back halves of the head extending from the mandible to the top of the head, which is presumably expanded by muscle or hydrostatic pressure, likely to aid in breaking open the walls of the egg capsule. Specimens are often found in leaf litter and are usually rare, but occasionally appear in significant numbers.[2]

Classification

As taxonomists have examined this group more closely, they have become less certain about which other group of wasps represents the nearest living relatives of the Mymarommatidae. In recent years, it has been proposed that the nearest relatives of Mymarommatoidea are the extinct Serphitoidea, including the family Serphitidae, and therefore claim the Mymarommatidae are essentially "living fossils".

†Palaeomymar is known from a single species (P. succini Meunier) from Eocene aged Baltic amber.

†Archaeromma is known from 10 species spread across Laurasia during the Cretaceous dating from the Albian to the Campanian.[4]

Mymaromma has 11 described extant species.[5][3]

Mymaromella has 6 described extant species.[6] Another species of Mymaromella, M. duerrenfeldi, is known from Miocene amber in Sicily.[7]

Zealaromma has two extant species: Z. insulare and Z. valentinei. Both species are known from New Zealand.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Gibson, G.A.P.; Read, J.; Huber, J.T. (2007) Diversity, classification and higher relationships of Mymarommatoidea (Hymenoptera).Journal of Hymenoptera Research 16: 51–146
  2. 1 2 Huber, John T.; Gibson, Gary A. P.; Bauer, Leah S.; Liu, Houping; Gates, Michael (2008). "The genus Mymaromella (Hymenoptera: Mymarommatidae) in North America, with a key to described extant species". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 17 (2): 175–194.
  3. 1 2 Honsberger DN, Huber JT, Wright MG (2022) A new Mymaromma sp. (Mymarommatoidea, Mymarommatidae) in Hawai‘i and first host record for the superfamily. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 89: 73-87. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.89.77931
  4. ↑ "Fossilworks: Archaeromma". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  5. ↑ Universal Chalcidoidea Database - Mymaromma - Accessed 27 Jan 2021
  6. ↑ Universal Chalcidoidea Database - Mymaromella - Accessed 27 Jan 2021
  7. ↑ T. Schlüter and R. Kohring. 1990. Die zwergwespengattung Palaeomymar (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea: Serphitidae) aus dem mio/pliozänen Simetit Siziliens. Berliner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, Reihe A 124:115-121
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