Oligotomidae Enderlein 1909

Lucañas, Cristian C. & Lit, Ireneo L., 2018, Oligotomidae (Insecta: Embioptera) of Mt. Makiling, Los Baños, Philippines, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4415 (1), pp. 173-182 : 175

Family Oligotomidae Enderlein 1909

Oligotomidae is one of the 13 extant families of Embioptera . It is distinguished from the other families by the combination of the following characteristics: male terminalia strongly asymmetrical; left basal cercus (LC1) not fused, elongate and slender; mandibles robust with prominent teeth; 10th tergite (10T) incompletely divided to 10LP and 10RP; MA vein not bifurcated ( Ross 2007; Miller et al. 2012). The family is composed of six genera, Aposthonia Krauss 1911 , Bulbosembia Ross 2007 , Eosembia Ross 2007 , Haploembia Verhoeff 1904 , Lobosembia Ross 2007 , and Oligotoma Westwood 1837 .

Type genus: Oligotoma Westwood 1837

Distribution: Asia, Australasia, Mediterranean but some species have been introduced to other parts of the world ( Ross 2007).

Remarks: Oligotomidae is one of the four families of webspinners found in Southeast Asia, the other three being Embonychidae Navas , Ptilocerembiidae Miller and Edgerly , and Teratembiidae Krauss ( Ross 2007, Poolprasert 2014). So far, it is the only family recorded in the Philippines.