Erythmelus Enock, 1909

Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Berezovskiy, Vladimir V., Hoddle, Mark S. & Morse, Joseph G., 2007, A review of the Nearctic species of Erythmelus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), with a key and new additions to the New World fauna, Zootaxa 1641 (1), pp. 1-64 : 5-6

Erythmelus Enock, 1909

( Figs 1–89)

Parallelaptera Enock 1909: 454 . Type species: Parallelaptera panis Enock , by monotypy. Synonymized under Erythmelus by Schauff 1984: 45.

Erythmelus Enock 1909: 454 . Type species: Erythmelus goochi Enock , by monotypy. Girault 1929: 7–8; Ogloblin 1934: 243–245; Debauche 1948: 192–194; Doutt 1949: 81; Peck 1963: 29–31 (catalog); De Santis 1967: 107–108 (catalog); De Santis 1979: 369 (catalog); Schauff 1984: 45–46; Yoshimoto 1990: 45–46; Beardsley & Huber 2000: 13–15 (key to subgenera, synopsis of the Hawaiian species); Triapitsyn 2003: 4–5 (diagnosis, key to subgenera and species groups of Erythmelus s. str.); Donev 2004: 119–120 (redefinition of subgenera).

Enaesius Enock 1909: 456 . Type species: Enaesius agilis Enock , designated by Gahan & Fagan 1923: 50. Synonymized under Erythmelus by Schauff 1984: 45.

Anthemiella Girault 1911b: 187 . Type species: Anthemiella rex Girault , by original designation. Synonymized under Erythmelus by Schauff 1984: 45.

Eurythmelus Enock : Ogloblin 1934: 243 (misspelling).

Erythmelellus Viggiani & Jesu 1985: 487 (as a subgenus of Erythmelus ). Type species: E. lygivorus Viggiani & Jesu , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Head very short in dorsal and lateral views, with gena extremely narrow behind eye; preorbital and supraorbital trabeculae appear as broken lines in slide-mounted specimens; vertex usually transversely striate, rarely with a faint cellulate sculpture; mandible without teeth, reduced to a small stub; funicle of female antenna 5– or 6–segmented, very rarely apparently 4–segmented; clava with 5 or 6 (very rarely 7) longitudinal sensilla; flagellum of male antenna 10– or 11–segmented, very rarely 9–segmented; pronotum and propodeum mediolongitudinally divided, scutellar placoid sensilla very close to each other and touching transscutal articulation, dorsellum distinct and more or less projecting over propodeum as a small triangular lobe; tarsi 4–segmented; metasoma subsessile (petiole in dorsal view notably wider than long, more or less conspicuous in slide-mounted specimens); female gaster with a long and conspicuous hypopygium that is much longer than preceding sterna, male genitalia often exserted in dead specimens.

Comments. Both sexes of Erythmelus are usually easily recognizable and can be distinguished from other genera of Mymaridae in the New World using the key by Yoshimoto (1990) and in the Nearctic region using the key by Huber (1997).

Hosts are known only for a few species, these are eggs of various Miridae and Tingidae ( Triapitsyn 2003) . All non-plant bug or non-lace bug host records for the species of Erythmelus need to be verified and very likely are erroneous. Biology of Erythmelus spp. is mostly unknown although some recent observations are now available (e.g., Puttler et al. 2007).