Giar-Ann Kung

A new type of ant-decapitation in the Phoridae (Insecta: Diptera)

Abstract The genus Dohrniphora is a hyperdiverse group of phorid flies, a family whose species are commonly characterized as generalized scavengers. The lifestyle of most species of Dohrniphora is unknown, although one cosmopolitan, synanthropic species, D. cornuta (Bigot) fits the general scavenger mold. Here we show that flies of the D. longirostrata species group exhibit highly specific “headhunting” behavior in which injured Odontomachus ants are decapitated, the heads dragged away, and females either feed on their contents or lay an egg nearby. Since most females studied lacked eggs in their ovaries, we conclude that this bizarrely specialized feeding is necessary to provide nutrients for reproduction in these flies. Our study provides further evidence that injured ants are a common, stable resource in tropical ecosystems that support a wide array of phorid flies. Such narrowly constrained lifestyles, as exemplified by exclusively feeding on and breeding in the head contents of certain ponerine worker ants, could allow the co-existence of a huge community of saprophagous flies.

New species of Dohrniphora related to D. longirostrata (Diptera: Phoridae)

Abstract Five new species of Neotropical Dohrniphora related to D. longirostrata are described: D. apharea, D. bicostula, D. conlanorum, D. oricilla, and D. perpendicularis. Most species differences are found in the area of the ventrobasal concavity of the posterior face of the male hind femur. The D. longirostrata-group is diagnosed, each species illustrated with scanning electron micrographs, and a key to males of all species is presented.

Review of the Caribbean species of Dohrniphora Dahl (Diptera: Phoridae)

Based on previous records and newly collected material, we review the species of Dohrniphora of the Caribbean islands, not including Trinidad. Five species are present: D. cornuta (Bigot), D. dispar (Enderlein), D. divaricata (Aldrich) and two new species, D. seriata and D. sexspinosa. We redescribe the three previously known species, and illustrate all with scanning electron micrographs of the posterior face of the hind femur and drawings of the male genitalia. Both of the new species are unusual in having six scutellar setae instead of the usual four. The species D. cavifemur Borgmeier is synonymized with D. divaricata, and the allotype male identified as D. cornuta. A key to the males of Caribbean species of Dohrniphora is provided.

Comprehensive inventory of true flies (Diptera) at a tropical site

Estimations of tropical insect diversity generally suffer from lack of known groups or faunas against which extrapolations can be made, and have seriously underestimated the diversity of some taxa. Here we report the intensive inventory of a four-hectare tropical cloud forest in Costa Rica for one year, which yielded 4332 species of Diptera, providing the first verifiable basis for diversity of a major group of insects at a single site in the tropics. In total 73 families were present, all of which were studied to the species level, providing potentially complete coverage of all families of the order likely to be present at the site. Even so, extrapolations based on our data indicate that with further sampling, the actual total for the site could be closer to 8000 species. Efforts to completely sample a site, although resource-intensive and time-consuming, are needed to better ground estimations of world biodiversity based on limited sampling.Brian Brown et al. report the results of the Zurquí All Diptera Biodiversity Inventory project, one of the largest efforts to date to directly assess species richness of a megadiverse order of insects. The authors identified 41,001 flies to 4332 species, including 73 of the worlds 160 Diptera families.