Cremnomymar Ogloblin

Huber, John T., 2013, Redescription of Mymarilla Westwood, new synonymies under Cremnomymar Ogloblin (Hymenoptera, Mymaridae) and discussion of unusual wings, ZooKeys 345, pp. 47-72 : 51-52

Cremnomymar Ogloblin Figs 11-14, 20-38

Cremnomymar Ogloblin, 1952: 120 (generic description, two species described, based on males); Ogloblin 1957: 418 (two species described, based on females); Annecke and Doutt 1961: 6 (key), 31 (comments); Fidalgo, 1982: 98 (comparison with Parapolynema );

Scolopsopteron Ogloblin, 1952: 127 (generic description, one species based on two males); Annecke and Doutt, 1961: 6 (key), 30 (comments). syn. n.

Nesopolynema Ogloblin, 1952: 132 (generic description, one species based on a male); Annecke and Doutt 1961: 6 (key), 30 (comments). syn. n.

Oncomymar Ogloblin, 1952: 132 (generic description, one species based on a female); Annecke and Doutt 1961: 6 (key), 30 (comments). syn. n.

Remarks.

Ogloblin (1952, 1957) described seven species of Mymaride based on eight specimens from the Juan Fernández Islands, all but one from Masatierra Island (Robinson Crusoe Island). Three were described from females only and four from males only. Scolopsopteron dipteron Ogloblin ( Ogloblin 1952) has a fore wing of normal length but unusually narrow and a rudimentary hind wing. Oncomymar kuscheli Ogloblin ( Ogloblin 1957) has a fore wing of normal width and length but strongly convex (spoon-shaped) and a rudimentary hind wing. Nesopolynema has a normal fore wing (hind wings missing in Ogloblin’s specimen).

It is improbable that the Juan Fernández Islands would have four endemic genera of Mymaridae , as treated by Ogloblin (1952, 1957). Above the species category similarities must be used to define collective groups, not differences. If differences are used, then how different must something be to be placed in a different genus? "Different enough" is not an acceptable answer. If it were, the placement of species in genera of finer and finer difference would be the norm, with the result that the genus category would become almost synonymous with the species category, and each genus would contain only one or two species. Unfortunately, Ogloblin sometimes defined genera based on obvious but superficial differences that resulted in oversplitting. I am confident that all seven of Ogloblin’s species from the Juan Fernández Islands represent at most different species within a single genus. Indeed some of them have likely been described twice, once from females and once from males.

I examined forty-three specimens (not the types) of Cremnomymar (including the synonyms proposed above), all from Masatierra, the largest of the Juan Fernández Islands. In some of the speciesthe fore wing is fully developed and flat (Fig. 11) but in others it is more or less reduced and convex (Figs 12-14). Depending on the extent of wing reduction the mesothorax is also reduced but the placoid sensilla on the scutellum are always widely separated. The pronotal structure varies from entire, sometimes with indication of a mediolongitutinal line, to being apparently completely divided medially by a complete longitudinal carina. The propodeum in short-winged specimens changes in ways that I consider to be at most of species-level significance, from strongly carinate and with a large, sublateral tooth bearing the propodeal seta, as in fully winged Cremnomymar (Figs 11, 12, 32) to almost smooth (Fig. 14) but still with the propodeal seta on a bump or tooth. Therefore, I propose the above generic synonymies and transfer the included species to Cremnomymar as Cremnomymar caudatum ( Ogloblin 1952), comb. n., Cremnomymar dipteron ( Ogloblin 1957), comb. n., and Cremnomymar kuscheli ( Ogloblin 1952), comb. n.