Numbers
A single described species in our area:
Caenocholax fenyesi Pierce, 1909 sensu lato
Range
Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas; Mexico per Kathirithamby & Taylor (2005).
South Carolina was added to this sp. range by Kathirithamby et al. (2007).
Remarks
The family Myrmecolacidae exhibits an extreme form of parasitism where males develop in ants, and the females in grasshoppers, crickets and mantids. This feature, together with the fact that the sexes exhibit extreme dimorphism in Strepsiptera, means that it is impossible to match females and males morphologically. The males and females of only two species of this family have been described so far, and even these matches might be conjectural. Among the 108 Myrmecolacidae described, the ant hosts of only eight species of males are known. The rest of the species have been described from free-living males that have been caught in traps. (Kathirithamby & Johnston 2004).
Internet References
Kathirithamby, J. & J.S. Johnston. 2004. The discovery after 94 years of the elusive female of a myrmecolacid (Strepsiptera), and the cryptic species of Caenocholax fenyesi Pierce sensu lato. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B (3) 271, S5–S8.
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Kathirithamby, J. & S.J. Taylor. 2005. A new species of Halictophagus (Insecta: Strepsiptera: Halictophagidae) from Texas, and a checklist of Strepsiptera from the United States and Canada. Zootaxa 1056: 1-18.
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Kathirithamby, J., S.J. Taylor & R. Lareau. 2007. New state record and northeastern range extension for Caenocholax fenyesi sensu lato (Strepsiptera: Myrmecolacidae). Florida Entomologist 90(4): 762.
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Contributed by
Mike Quinn on 20 January, 2009 - 3:21pm
Additional contributions by
PaleoJonLast updated 15 January, 2023 - 8:22am