Under Construction

Bohartillidae

Bohartilla

Jeyaraney Kathirithamby
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Containing group: Stylopidia

Introduction

So far only males are known from this family.

Kinzelbach (1969) described the first species in this new genus, Bohartilla megalognatha from Honduras. Kathirithamby & Grimaldi (1993) identified this genus in medium yellow Dominican amber: one male is morphologically indistinguishable from B. megalognatha, one male matches in several details the extant species and was named B. kinzelbachi. However, Pohl & Kinzelbach (1995) synonymised the B. megalognatha from the amber to B. joachimscheveni described by Kinzelbach & Pohl (1994) from Dominican amber. The only differences stated by Kinzelbach & Pohl (1994) of B. megalognatha from the amber from the extant B. megalognatha are: slender antennae, maxillae and longer legs; longer maxillary palpus. In other characters the amber specimen generally agrees with those of the extant species. Kinzelbach & Pohl also state that "as in most other specimens from the Dominican amber, there are almost no differences from living representatives at the species level". Kathirithamby & Grimaldi would like to reinstate B. megalognatha from the Dominican amber.

Another new species from the amber, B. kinzelbachi, was described by Kathirithamby & Grimaldi (1993), and the length of the basal maxillary segment of this specimen is 1.5x that of apical palpi.

Characteristics

The autapomorphic characters of this family are:

  1. Vth and VIth antennal segments are flabellate
  2. mandibles short and flat
  3. maxillary base long
  4. wings with MA1

Antennae are 7-segmented with the Vth segment broader than long and the IIIrd, Vth and VI segments have a flabellum. The mandibles are short and knife-shaped, and the maxillae have an extraordinarily long basal segment with a short palpus. Tarsi are 4-segmented without claws. The hind wing has a small cell MP, and CuA. The aedeagus is slightly curved.

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

The characteristics that distinguish Bohartillidae from the rest of the Stylopidia are the 7-segmented antennae (left), the long basal maxillary palpus (center), and the 4 tarsomeres (right). Drawings after Kinzelbach, from Kathirithamby (1989), copyright © 1989 Blackwell Science.

Distribution

Host Relations

Only males of the extant species which have been found in traps are known, therefore the host relations are unknown.

Other Names for Bohartilla

References

Kathirithamby, J. 1989. Review of the order Strepsiptera. Systematic Entomology 14: 41-92.

Kathirithamby, J. and D. Grimaldi. 1993. Remarkable stasis in some Lower Tertiary parasitoids: descriptions, new records and review of Strepsiptera in the Oligo-Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic. Entomologica Scandinavica 24(1): 31-41.

Kinzelbach, R. 1969. Bohartillidae, eine neue Familie der Fächerflügler (Insecta, Strepsiptera). Beitiage neotrop Fauna 6: 92-101.

Kinzelbach, R. and H. Pohl. 1994. The fossil Strepsiptera (Insecta: Strepsiptera). Ann. Entomol. Soc. America 87(1):59-70.

Pohl, H. and R. Kinzelbach. 1995. Neufunde von Fächerflüglern aus dem Baltischen und Dominikanischen Bernstein (Strepsiptera: Bohartillidae & Myrmecolacidae). Mitt. Geol.-Paläont. Inst. Univ. Hamburg 78:197-209.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Bohartilla kinzelbachi
Comments Specimen in Dominican amber; (a) ventral view of head, (b) dorsal view of body (venation on right wing omitted); (c) ventral view of abdomen.
Reference Kathirithamby, J. and D. Grimaldi. 1993. Remarkable stasis in some Lower Tertiary parasitoids: descriptions, new records and review of Strepsiptera in the Oligo-Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic. Entomologica Scandinavica 24(1): 31-41.
Specimen Condition Fossil
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage adult
Body Part head, abdomen
Type Holotype
Copyright © 1993 Entomology scandinavica
About This Page

Jeyaraney Kathirithamby
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Jeyaraney Kathirithamby at

All Rights Reserved.

Citing this page:

Kathirithamby, Jeyaraney. 2004. Bohartillidae. Bohartilla. Version 22 November 2004 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Bohartilla/14513/2004.11.22 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Bohartilla

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top