Abstract

The members of the Family Mymaridae (Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea) commonly called as ‘fairyflies’ are exclusively internal, primary egg parasitoids [except Stethynium ophelimi Huber and S. breviovipositior Huber that are larval parasitoids of gall inducing pest, Ophelimus maskelli on Eucalyptus (Huber et al., 2006)] of auchenorrhynchous Homoptera. But eggs of Hemiptera (Coccoidea, Tingidae, Miridae, etc.), Coleoptera (beetles), Odonata (both dragaonflies and damselflies), Psocoptera (booklice) and Thysanoptera (thrips) are also attacked. They generally parasitize eggs in partially concealed situations such as those embedded in plant tissue, placed under scales, bracts or in soil (Huber, 1986). Subba Rao and Hayat (1983) gave a key to Oriental Mymaridae with preliminary catalogue. After that, many genera were reported in India (Narendran et al., 2003; Hayat and Khan, 2009; Rehmat et al., 2009; Manickavasagam and Rameshkumar, 2011 and 2012b; Rehmat and Anis, 2011) and also transfer / synonymization of many genera and species took place which necessitated the revision of Indian Mymaridae that resulted in this checklist. The checklist of the genera and species of Mymaridae in India presented here includes a total of 130 species under 29 genera that is updated up to 31st December, 2012.

Keywords: Mymaridae, fairy flies, Chalcidoidea, check list