Superfamily of wasps
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 described species are living taxa (the others are fossils), but they are known from all parts of the world.[1][2] Undoubtedly, many more await discovery, as they are easily overlooked and difficult to study due to their extremely small size (most have an overall length of around 0.3 mm).
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 Mymarommatoidea.[1] They are generally placed in the Proctotrupomorpha, amongst the group that includes all members of Proctotrupomorpha other than Cynipoidea.[3] Their closest relatives seem to be the extinct superfamily Serphitoidea (including Serphitidae and Archaeoserphitidae), with both groups being united in the clade Bipetiolarida.[4][5] There is no consensus on how the four families of Mymarommatoidea relate to each other.[5]
- †Alavarommatidae Ortega-Blanco et al., 2011
- †Alavaromma Ortega-Blanco Penalver Delclòs & Engel 2011 (1 species) Spanish amber, Early Cretaceous (Albian)
- †Dipterommatidae Rasnitsyn et al. 2019
- †Gallorommatidae Gibson et al. 2007
- Mymarommatidae Debauche, 1948
Biology
There is only one confirmed host for any member of the superfamily; the species Mymaromma menehune from the Hawaiian Islands is a solitary endoparasitoid of eggs of a Lepidopsocus sp. (Psocodea: Lepidopsocidae) living on Ficus microcarpa trees.[6]
