The strepsipteran Caenocholax fenyesi Pierce sensu lato has been recorded from Mexico and the southern United States (Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) (Kathirithamby & Taylor 2005). Males of this species are endoparasites of ants (Kathirithamby et al. 2007), including the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Kathirithamby & Johnston 1992). The females of C. f. waloffi Kathirithamby & Johnston, in Mexico, stylopize Hapithus agitator Uhler (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Eneopterinae) (Kathirithamby & Johnston 2004), but the female host in the United States has not been found.
An adult male C. fenyesi was collected from a UV light/pan trap (UTM zone 17 610840mE 3632980mN NAD83) in suburban Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina on 29 Jul 2006 from yellow pan trap set on a lawn for 36 h, 15 m from a UV light trap. A second adult male of this species was collected at the same location from a UV light trap on 20 Aug 2006. These collections extend the range of this species to the northeast. It is unclear whether or not the South Carolina C. fenyesi are stylopizing S. invicta, but the range of this ant now includes South Carolina (USDA-ARS 2007), and fire ant mounds are abundant in the area where the strepsipteran was collected. This is the fifth genus and sixth species of Strepsiptera to be reported from South Carolina (Kathirithamby & Taylor 2005; Reeves & Cook 2005).
