Polynema, Haliday, 1833

Huber, John T., Read, Jennifer D. & Triapitsyn, Serguei V., 2021, Illustrated key to the genera and catalogue of Mymaridae (Hymenoptera) in the Afrotropical region, Zootaxa 5036 (1), pp. 1-166 : 42-43

POLYNEMA Haliday, 1833

( Figs 232–238 )

Polynema Haliday, 1833a: 268 ; 1833b: 347. Type species: Polynema flavipes Walker, 1846 , by subsequent designation by Huber & Bouček, 2001: 281. See Huber et al. (2020) for generic synonyms and their type species.

Diagnosis. Body usually dark brown or black but often with antenna, petiole and legs lighter, sometimes yellow; body sculpture shallow and body appearing mostly fairly smooth; face with ( Fig. 232 ) or without ( Fig. 235 ) pits between toruli; vertex usually without pits outside ocelli; fore wing without lobe posteriorly ( Figs 236 , 237 ) so wing not or barely narrowing beyond venation and posterior margin straight or almost so behind venation; propodeum with or without ( Fig. 234 ) median carina of varying length but without V-shaped median carinae; petiole attached posteriorly to gastral tergum.

Discussion. Polynema belongs to the Polynema group of genera as defined by Triapitsyn & Berezovskiy (2007). In the Afrotropical region this group also includes Acmopolynema , Ganomymar , Mymar , Mymarilla , Palaeoneura and Stephanodes . Polynema is identified by elimination, i.e., by not having the features of five of the six other genera in the group. The only genus it is easily confused with is Palaeoneura (itself not well defined). All three subgenera of Polynema occur in the region: Polynema (Doriclytus) , Polynema (Dorypolynema) , and P. ( Polynema ). The Afrotropical species listed below cannot all be placed in a subgenus because most of the types could not be examined and their descriptions are insufficient to determine their subgeneric (or even generic) placement. Specimens (CAS, CNC) of at least one undescribed species of P. (Doriclytus) were examined.

Afrotropical hosts. Unknown. One species was recorded from Ceroplastes sp. ( Hemiptera : Coccidae ) but this is certainly incorrect as hosts of Polynema are reliably known only from Cicadellidae , Miridae , Nabidae (Hemiptera) and Orthoptera.

Important references. Debauche (1949), Triapitsyn & Berezovskiy (2007).

Figures

FIGURES 232–234. Polynema (Doriclytus) sp. 232, head, anterior; 233, antenna; 234, mesosoma, dorsal. Scale bars = 100 μm.

FIGURES 235, 236. Polynema (Dorypolynema) mboroense Risbec. 235, male head, anterior; 236, wings. Scale bars: 235 = 100 μm; 236 = 200 μm.

FIGURES 237, 238. Polynema (Polynema) sp. 237, wings; 238, mesosoma, ventral, seen through body. Scale bars: 237 = 200 μm; 238 = 60 μm.