Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#167519
unknown wasp

unknown wasp
Aromas, San Benito County, California, USA
January 26, 2008
Size: ~3mm
Saw this tiny guy on Argyranthemum frutescens. (live oak/chaparral habitat). Not a particularly sharp photo, but the only one I was able to get of this specimen.

Moved
Moved from Eucoilidae.

Great photo!
I think that fringe of hairs on the wings and the reduced venation must be clues, but I can't help, I'm afraid. I hope someone else can...

 
Your'e right Ken, they are. T
Your'e right Ken, they are. This is in the family Mymaridae (Fairyflies). The reduced venation (with the fringe of hairs), and the long knobbed antennae are good characters for these tiny wasps. They are insect egg parasites.

 
Wonderful!
We only have five images of this entire family, as far as I can tell, and all from the East coast. Gary strikes a blow for the West!

 
Alas... Eucoilid Wasp (Family Eucoilidae)
We'll have to wait for "Western" images of Fairy Flies, because this tiny female is actually a small member of the Eucoilidae (superfamily Cynipoidea).
Many small taxa of this family do have fringed forewings just like Mymarids, but venation is distinctive: the open triangular marginal cell, without a costal vein, is the hallmark for most Cynipoids. And this is well visible, although not obvious at a first glance, on this picture.
My first insight was not a Mymarid either, but rather a small Diapriinae (Trichopria or allied genus). But the not quite clubbed enough antennae, and the proposal of a Mymarid by Dennis, needed a closer examination.
Now I'm quite sure this one is a small Eucoilid Wasp. Most members of this family are solitary parasitoids of puparia of Cyclorraphous Diptera.
Tiny species like this one must parasitize very small Acalyptrate Flies.

 
OK
(he says more cautiously) - we still only have 4 images of this family, and it also appears to be the first photo west of the Rockies? I need to work on these small flies and wasps a lot more...
Sigh.

 
Sorry about that! After I pos
Sorry about that! After I posted the identification I began to have gnawing doubts about the thing because of the venation, but my boss dragged me off to a meeting and I couldn't get back to it until this morning.

We do have Mymarids out west here, and I'm sure we can get one on the site in no time at all once the weather warms a little more.

Thanks Richard.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.