Ptilomymar Annecke & Doutt Fauna 1961

PTILOMYMAR Annecke & Doutt, 1961

(Figs 851–883)

Ptilomymar Annecke & Doutt, 1961c: 24. Type species: Ptilomymar rete Annecke & Doutt, 1961, by original designation.

Diagnosis. Body length 350–665 μm (male 300). Propodeum, petiole and gt 1 with large translucent reticulate lamina (Figs 859, 860, 863, 864a, 875, 877–880); propodeal seta large and branched with its base anterior to level of spiracle (Figs 851, 860, 872, 873, 875).

Discussion. Ptilomymar belongs to the Camptoptera group of genera together with Camptoptera, Camptopteroides, Eofoersteria, Macrocamptoptera, and Stephanocampta. Tarsomere 4 in both Eofoersteria and Ptilomymar is about 2× as long as tarsomere 3, indicating in both cases that tarsomere 4 consists of a fusion of 4 and 5. The peculiar translucent structures described above occur elsewhere only in Stephanocampta (not on gt l, however) where they have a different configuration, and a few undescribed Camptoptera from the Afrotropical region.

Nearctic hosts. Unknown. Ptilomymar specimens are known to be associated with water. We hypothesize that the combination of modified propodeal seta and translucent outgrowths on propodeum and gt 1 is used to trap an air bubble that allows an individual to crawl under the water, presumably by walking down vegetation (not swimming with their wings as in Caraphractus —the air bubble would prevent it from doing that: the individual would just bob to the surface if it let go) to find and parasitize its presumed aquatic host.

Important reference. Yoshimoto (1990).