Hemimeridae

Hemimeridae is a family of earwigs in the suborder Neodermaptera. Hemimeridae was formerly considered a suborder, Hemimerina, but was reduced in rank to family and included in the new suborder Neodermaptera.[1][2]

Hemimeridae
Hemimerus hanseni from the Manual of Entomology.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Dermaptera
Suborder: Neodermaptera
Infraorder: Epidermaptera
Superfamily: Hemimeroidea
Family: Hemimeridae
Sharp, 1895

Hemimeridae is represented by two genera, Hemimerus and Araeomerus.[3] They are wingless, blind and viviparous ectoparasites of African rodents, and have filiform segmented cerci. The best known species is Hemimerus bouvieri. Hemimeridae contains eleven described species placed within two genera: Hemimerus and Araeomerus (Nakata and Maa, 1974). Hemimerids are relatively small (5–15 mm) and inhabit the fur of giant murid rats in Africa. Hemimerids have short, broad legs with grooves that allow them to cling to the host and specialized mouthparts for scraping dead skin and fungus from their host (Nakata and Maa, 1974). Araeomerus is found in the nest of long-tailed pouch rats (Beamys) and Hemimerus is found on giant (Cricetomys) rats (Nakata and Maa, 1974). Araeomerus are found more often in the burrows and nests of Beamys rat than on the rat itself, while Hemimerus less frequently leaves its host.[4]

Genera

The family contains the following genera:[5]

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References
  1. Engel, Michael S. (2003). "The earwigs of Kansas, with a key to genera north of Mexico (Insecta: Dermaptera)". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 106 (3): 115–123. doi:10.1660/0022-8443(2003)106[0115:TEOKWA]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 3628391.
  2. Engel, Michael S.; Haas, Fabian (2007). "Family-Group Names for Earwigs (Dermaptera)". American Museum Novitates. American Museum of Natural History (3567). hdl:2246/5858.
  3. "Family Hemimeridae - Hierarchy - the Taxonomicon".
  4. Nakata, S (1974). "A review of the parasitic earwigs (Dermpatera, Arixeniina; Hemimerina". Pacific Insects. 16 (16): 307–374.
  5. Lesley, S.D. (2018). "family Hemimeridae Sharp, 1895". Dermaptera species file online, Version 5.0. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
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