Fairyfly - Taxonomy and Etymology

Taxonomy and Etymology

The family Mymaridae is the most primitive member of the chalcid wasp superfamily (Chalcidoidea). There are approximately 1424 species of fairyflies grouped in about 100 genera. The largest genera are Anagrus, Anaphes, Gonatocerus, and Polynema, which comprise approximately half of all known species. They are the most commonly encountered fairyflies, followed by Alaptus, Camptoptera, Erythmelus, Ooctonus, and Stethynium, which make up a further quarter of known species. Mymaridae are considered to be monophyletic, but their exact relationships with other chalcid wasps remain unclear.

No commonly accepted subfamilies have been acknowledged, but there are two notable proposals. Annecke and Doutte (1961) proposed the subfamilies Alaptinae and Mymarinae based on the morphology of the gaster. Peck et al. (1964) proposed the subfamilies Gonatocerinae and Mymarinae based on the number of segments (tarsomeres) in the tarsi. Both systems included further tribal categories. A fossil subfamily was also proposed for a genus recovered from Canadian amber.

Of the extant fairyfly genera, the genus Eustochomorpha is the most primitive. For the list of subordinate taxa, see the section below.

The generic name Mymar (and by extension, Mymaridae) was derived by Curtis from the Greek word μΰμαρ (mumar), an Aeolian variant of the standard Greek μῶμος (mōmos, "spot" or "blot", also "blame", "reproach", or "disgrace").