Micreriodes Yoshimoto, 1962

Noort, Simon van, Buffington, Matthew L. & Forshage, Mattias, 2015, Afrotropical Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera), ZooKeys 493, pp. 1-176 : 117-118

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Figitidae

Micreriodes Yoshimoto, 1962

Remarks.

Rare in Afrotropical region. Previously known only from the Pacific, but actually distributed worldwide.

Diagnosis.

Tiny wasps with a well-developed set of “dwarfication” characters: a globular head, short antennae, sometimes a reduction in antennomere number, a narrow scutellum, very narrow wings with very long hair fringe, wing venation of uneven width, and fore wing marginal cell short and wide open. Similar to Endecameris and to some Rhoptromeris in some or all of these characters, but separated from the latter by the combination of having a pronotum with open lateral foveae, and lacking a mesopleural line.

Distribution.

Previously only known from the Pacific region, but are in fact widespread in the Old World tropics and recently a specimen was found in North America. Afrotropical records: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Nigeria, Reunion, Sierra Leone, Uganda (here).

Biology.

Hosts unknown, assumed to be Drosophilidae .

Species richness.

Undescribed species.