Baby Killers: Documentation and Evolution of Scuttle Fly (Diptera: Phoridae) Parasitism of Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Brood.
BACKGROUND
Numerous well-documented associations occur among species of scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) and ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), but examples of brood parasitism are rare and the mechanisms of parasitism often remain unsubstantiated.


CONCLUSIONS
We present two video-documented examples of ant brood (larvae and pupae) parasitism by scuttle flies. In footage from Estação Biológica de Boracéia in Brazil, adult females ofCeratoconus setipennisBorgmeier can be seen attacking workers ofLinepithema humile(Mayr) species group while they are carrying brood, and ovipositing directly onto brood in the nest. In another remarkable example, footage from the Soltis Center, near Peñas Blancas in Costa Rica, shows adult females of an unidentified species of theApocephalus grandipalpusBorgmeier group mountingPheidoleWestwood brood upside-down and ovipositing while the brood are being transported by workers. Analysis of evolutionary relationships (in preparation) amongApocephalusCoquillett species shows that this is a newly derived behavior within the genus, as theA. grandipalpusgroup arises within a group of adult ant parasitoids. In contrast, relationships ofCeratoconusBorgmeier have not been studied, and the lifestyles of the other species in the genus are largely unknown.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States of America.
Brian V
BV
Brown
University of California, Riverside, United States of America.
John M
JM
Hash
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States of America.
Emily A
EA
Hartop
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States of America.
Wendy
W
Porras
Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
Dalton de Souza
DS
Amorim
biodiversity; parasitoids; rain forest; tropical