title: Where Is My Food? Brazilian Flower Fly Steals Prey from Carnivorous Sundews in a Newly Discovered Plant-Animal Interaction.
abstract: A new interaction between insects and carnivorous plants is reported from Brazil. Larvae of the predatory flower fly Toxomerus basalis (Diptera: Syrphidae: Syrphinae) have been found scavenging on the sticky leaves of several carnivorous sundew species (Drosera, Droseraceae) in Minas Gerais and São Paulo states, SE Brazil. This syrphid apparently spends its whole larval stage feeding on prey trapped by Drosera leaves. The nature of this plant-animal relationship is discussed, as well as the Drosera species involved, and locations where T. basalis was observed. 180 years after the discovery of this flower fly species, its biology now has been revealed. This is (1) the first record of kleptoparasitism in the Syrphidae, (2) a new larval feeding mode for this family, and (3) the first report of a dipteran that shows a kleptoparasitic relationship with a carnivorous plant with adhesive flypaper traps. The first descriptions of the third instar larva and puparium of T. basalis based on Scanning Electron Microscope analysis are provided.
authors.affiliation: Botanische Staatssammlung München, Munich, Germany.|GeoBio-Center LMU, Center of Geobiology and Biodiversity Research, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4917-4736
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fleischmann
authors.affiliation: Illumina, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rivadavia
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Sistemática Vegetal, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulo M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Gonella
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Naturales y Recursos Naturales / Instituto CIBIO, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Celeste
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez-Bañón
authors.affiliation: Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Leibniz-Institut für Biodiversität der Tiere, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Ximo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mengual
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Naturales y Recursos Naturales / Instituto CIBIO, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Santos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rojo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D060435:Carnivory / Q000502:physiology*; D004175:Diptera / Q000502:physiology*; D029787:Drosera / Q000502:physiology*; D035264:Flowers / Q000502:physiology*; D005502:Food; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000502:physiology