Family Embolemidae Förster

Dryinidae sectio II: Walker 1837: 411. Embolemoidae Förster 1856: 94

Embolimidae (sic) Marshall 1873: 7. Emboleminae Ashmead 1893: 26.

Embolemidae Berland 1928: 170 .

Type genus: Embolemus Westwood, 1833, according to Art. 63 of ICZN (1999).

Diagnosis. Female: micropterous, or brachypterous, or macropterous; third segment of maxillary palpi much larger than other segments; antenna 10-segmented; antennae of extant species and fossil species in amber articulated on two prominent contiguous frontal processes far above the clypeus; in macropterous species, fore wing with long tubular development of Rs+M and the distal abscissa of M ((RS+M) + 2-M) and desclerotization of Cu beyond its separation from M (desclerotization complete or partial); tibial spurs 1/2/2.

Male: macropterous; third segment of maxillary palpi much larger than other segments; antenna 10-segmented; antennae of extant species and fossil species in amber articulated on two prominent contiguous frontal processes far above the clypeus; in macropterous species, fore wing with long tubular development of Rs+M and the distal abscissa of M ((RS+M) + 2-M) and desclerotization of Cu beyond its separation from M (desclerotization complete or partial); tibial spurs 1/2/2.

Distribution. Worldwide.

Hosts. Nymphs of Cixiidae feeding on roots and living in the soil (Varrone & Olmi 2012) and Achilidae feeding on on fungus and living in rotten logs (Bridwell 1958. Wharton 1989, Guglielmino & Bückle 2013, Olmi et al. 2014b).

World genera. Six genera are known, two in Japan (one of them is described in this paper). World species. One hundred and four species are known, including ten fossil species (Olmi et al. 2010; 2014a, b).