Plumariidae
| Plumariidae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Superfamily: | Chrysidoidea |
| Family: | Plumariidae Bischoff, 1914 |
Plumariidae is a family of wasps within Chysidoidea.[1] They are found in arid areas in South America and Southern Africa.[1] The South African genera are more closely related to South American genera than each other suggesting that the family formed before the breakup of Gondwana.[2] Knowledge of the wasps is based mostly on males, as females are rarely collected.[3] Males are nocturnal and attracted to light while females have been collected from under stones and in pitfall traps.[2] Very little is known of their biology however they are most likely parasitoids of other arthropods theorized to be the larvae of underground beetles.[4]
Members of the family demonstrate extreme sexual dimorphism with females being wingless and having a flattened, highly modified, thorax with strong fossorial legs suggesting a subterranean habitat.[3][2] Meanwhile males have broad wings with rich wing venation.[4][2] Both males and females are pale to dark brown and have antenna with 13 (rarely 12) segments.[4]
Taxonomy
Plumariidae is widely considered to be a sister group to the rest of Chrysidoidea with the closest related family being the extinct family Plumalexiidae.[2] Plumariidae currently contains the following 8 genera with the genus Parapenesia was originally placed within the family Bethylidae before being moved:[1]
- Maplurius Roig-Alsina, 1994
- Mapluroides Diez, Fidalgo & Roig-Alsina, 2007
- Myrmecopterina Bischoff, 1914
- Myrmecopterinella Day, 1977
- Parapenesia Kieffer, 1910
- Plumarius Philippi, 1873
- Plumaroides Brothers, 1974
- Pluroides Diez, Roig-Alsina & Fidalgo, 2010
References
- 1 2 3 van Noort, Simon; Broad, Gavin (2024). "PLUMARIID WASPS". Wasps of the World: A Guide to Every Family. Vol. 8. Princeton University Press. p. 182. doi:10.2307/jj.7514501.88. ISBN 978-0-691-23854-8.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Brothers, Denis J. (2011). "A new Late Cretaceous family of Hymenoptera, and phylogeny of the Plumariidae and Chrysidoidea (Aculeata)". ZooKeys (130): 515–542. doi:10.3897/zookeys.130.1591. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 3260779. PMID 22259297.
- 1 2 Diez, Patricia; Fidalgo, Patricio; Roig-Alsina, Arturo (2007-05-07). "A new genus and species of Plumariidae (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea) from western xeric Argentina". Zootaxa. 1467 (1). doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1467.1.3. hdl:11336/84323. ISSN 1175-5334.
- 1 2 3 Marchiori, Carlos Henrique (2024-04-05), "Family Plumariidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) as parasitoids of other arthropods.", Definitions, Qeios, doi:10.32388/drgua3.3, retrieved 2026-07-21