The Rotoitidae are a very small family of rare,
relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.
Biology
A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas.
Geology and geomorphology
In geology, a r ...
ual
parasitic wasp
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 ...
s in the superfamily
Chalcidoidea
Chalcid wasps (, , for their metallic colour) are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, me ...
, known primarily from fossils (14 extinct species in two genera, ''
Baeomorpha'' and ''
Taimyromorpha'').
[Huber JT, Shih C, Dong R (2019) A new species of ''Baeomorpha'' (Hymenoptera, Rotoitidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 72: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.72.35502] Only two extant species are known, each in its own genus, one from
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and one from
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, and little is known about their biology. Females of the Chilean species, ''
Chiloe micropteron'', have their wings reduced to tiny bristles. Most fossil species are known from the Late Cretaceous (
Santonian
The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya (million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 mya. The ...
)
Taimyr amber Taymyr or Taimyr may refer to:
Places
*Taymyr Peninsula, a peninsula in Siberia
*Taymyr Gulf
*Taymyra, a river in the Taymyr Peninsula
*Lake Taymyr
*Taymyr Island, an island in the Kara Sea
*Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, a former federal subject of Rus ...
of Russia and Late Cretaceous (
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 ...
) Canadian amber,
but one species, ''Baeomorpha liorum'' is known from the mid Creaceous (late
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 ...
-earliest
Cenomanian
The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...
)
Burmese amber
Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...
.
Rotoitids are very close to the base of the chalcidoid family tree, presently considered to be the first "branch" taxon after the
Mymaridae
The Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies or fairy wasps, are a family (biology), family of chalcid wasp, chalcidoid wasps found in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world. The family contains around 100 genera with 1400 species.
F ...
.
References
External links
Universal Chalcidoid Database
Fauna of Chile
Chalcidoidea
Insects of South America
Apocrita families
{{Chalcidoidea-stub