The Mymarommatidae, sometimes referred to as false fairy wasps. are a very small family of microscopic

parasitic wasps Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causin ...

. Only about half of the known species are living taxa (the others are fossils), but they are found worldwide.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 Little is known about the

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

of these insects, but because of their size, and simple

ovipositor The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

s assumed they were

idiobiont In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasiti ...

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

s on the

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

of insects, similar to other extremely small parasitic wasps such as fairyflies.

Psocoptera Psocoptera are a paraphyletic group of insects that are commonly known as booklice, barklice or barkflies. The name Psocoptera has been replaced with Psocodea in recent literature, with the inclusion of the former order Phthiraptera into Psocode ...

, long suspected as their hosts based on circumstantial evidence, 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 Lepidopsocidae are an insect family of bark lice belonging to the suborder Trogiomorpha. Colloquially, Lepidopsocidae are referred to as the Scaly-winged Barklice. There are more than 220 species described worldwide. Phylogenetic DNA analysis of ...

.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 They are placed in the superfamily

Mymarommatoidea The Mymarommatoidea are a very small superfamily of microscopic fairyfly-like parasitic wasps. It contains only a single living family, Mymarommatidae, and three other extinct families known from Cretaceous aged amber. Less than half of all descr ...

, with a number of extinct families known from

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

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.

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 Serphitidae is a family of microscopic parasitic wasps known from the Cretaceous period. Taxonomy This family was described in 1937 by the American entomologist Charles Thomas Brues to classify a fossil insect caught in an amber piece from Cana ...

, and therefore claim the Mymarommatidae are essentially "

living fossil A living fossil is an extant taxon that cosmetically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of origin of the extant clade. Living fossi ...

s". †'' Palaeomymar'' is known from a single species (''P. succini'' Meunier) from

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

aged

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

. †'' Archaeromma'' is known from 10 species spread across

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ...

during the

dating from the

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

to the

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

. ''Mymaromma'' has 11 described extant species. ''Mymaromella'' has 6 described extant species. Another species of ''Mymaromella, M. duerrenfeldi'', is known from

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

amber in Sicily.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 ''Zealaromma'' has two extant species: ''Z. insulare'' and ''Z. valentinei.'' Both species are known from New Zealand.

References

External links

Family MYMAROMMATIDAE of the MymarommatoideaUniversal Chalcidoidea Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q140675 Parasitica Apocrita families Extant Cretaceous first appearances