Gonatocerus Nees

Huber, John T. & Greenwalt, Dale, 2011, Compression fossil Mymaridae (Hymenoptera) from Kishenehn oil shales, with description of two new genera and review of Tertiary amber genera, ZooKeys 130, pp. 473-494 : 476

Gonatocerus Nees Figs 916

Gonatocerus is a worldwide group with numerous described extant species classified in several subgenera ( Triapitsyn et al. 2010). Its members are often the most commonly collected Mymaridae in almost any habitat so it seems surprising that it has been recorded only once as a fossil, in Baltic amber by Meunier (1905).

The three species described below definitely belong to Gonatocerus based onthe entire clava, 8-segmented funicle, similar sized gastral segments, short and probably narrow petiole, and 5-segmented tarsi (at least in the one species where they can be counted). Because they all appear to have a rhomboidal dorsellum they would be classified either in Gonatocerus (Gonatocerus) or in Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) , but not Gonatocerus (Lymaenon) , the most common extant subgenus because it has a narrow, strap-shaped dorsellum or Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) because the ovipositor does not project forward under the mesosoma.