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Phorid News Issue # 2
Number 2, 13 Oct 1994
Brian V. Brown, editor
As promised, here is the second phorid
newsletter. I had a mixed reaction to the first mailing; some thought it
was a good idea, others thought it was too specialized to provide a
decent quantity of information. I decided to continue sending out these
updates whenever I have information of interest.
Thank you to everyone who responded to my
questionnaire about phoridological interests! These are listed in the
Phoridologist's Directory on the following pages. Hopefully this
directory will help us all keep in contact.
International Congress of Dipterology in Guelph
This summer, four of us were able to attend the
Third International Congress of Dipterology in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Besides informal communicaions, mostly in pubs, we had some more formal
presentations about phorids.
Don Feener gave a talk entitled "Evolution
of extreme host specificity in phorid parasitoids of ants." Using
examples from his recent work on the chemicals that attract phorids to
their hosts, Don explained that phorids attracted to generalized,
ephemeral, alarm pheromones were less host specific than phorids
presumably attracted to species-specific, persistent, trail pheromones.
He plans to continue his work on the chemical ecology of the Apocephalus
miricauda-group of species, including A. paraponerae, about which he has
a paper in press.
Matthias Buck gave two presentations. One was a
paper about the catch of small flies in buried carrion, including
differences between carrion protected or not protected by fine meshed
screen. Screened carrion had larger numbers of phorids and sphaerocerids.
Additionally, he contrasted large baits (15g of meat) with small baits
(5g) and found phorids to be more prevalent in smaller pieces of meat.
Finally, he contrasted different baits: liver vs dead slugs. Phorids
seemed to prefer the slugs. Matthias' collecting techniques merit
careful attention. He collected large numbers of some phorids like
Anevrina and Conicera, which I have collected relatively infrequently in
Malaise traps. We look forward to the publication of these results!
In a separate, poster presentation, Matthias
showed some new characters that allowed him to separate females of some
Palearctic Conicera species. He is now examining closely related genera
to see if they share some of these interesting, newly discovered
structures.
Sven-Olof Ulefors presented a paper about his
search for new taxonomic characters in the genus Megaselia.
Concentrating his attention mainly on the M. pulicaria-group of species,
Sven has found some interesting correlations and structures, especially
associated with the setation of the notopleuron. He has recently started
a PHD program at Guelph, and we wish him the best in his work on
Megaselia.
I gave a talk on my preliminary work on the
taxonomy of the Apocephalus attophilus-group. These flies are
parasitoids of attine ants, including the tropical leaf-cutting ants. So
far, I have recognized about 44 species, only 25 of which are described.
Hosts are known for only a few species, and oviposition behavior has
observed for only two species (information about one was published by
Feener and Moss).
The next International Congress of Dipterology
is scheduled for 1998 in Agra, India, but there was considerable
uncertainty whether it would indeed be held there. Rumor has it that
several alternative sites were being considered, including Rio de
Janeiro and Oxford.
Phorids in Los Angeles
When I first moved to Los Angeles almost 2 years ago,
I had no idea what kind of phorids were found here. The phorid
collection of the Los Angeles County Museum consisted of half a drawer,
mostly Megaselia and Phora, so it was obvious that some further
collecting was necessary. Last year, I persuaded a fellow curator to
place a Malaise trap in his backyard in Topanga Canyon, and below I
report on the phorids it has collected so
far. Note that the site is only a couple of miles from the ocean, in the
Santa Monica Mountains, and barely missed being burned by the huge brush
fires last year! The area is quite dry, with only scrubby chapparel as
the natural vegetation.
Anevrina variabilis (Brues)
Beckerina sp.
This is an undescribed species, widespread
throughout North America.
Conicera aldrichi Brues
Conicera sp.
Diplonevra gaudialis (Cockerell)
Dohrniphora cornuta (Bigot)
Gymnophora talea Brown
Megaselia spp.
Both M. barberi and M. sulphurizona are common
species in this area.
Metopina sp.
Myriophora sp.
Phalacrotophora halictorum (Melander & Brues)
Phora sp.
Puliciphora sp.
Spiniphora bergenstammii (Mik)
Triphleba sp.
Trophodeinus sp.
Phoridologists' Directory
The following is a list of the names, addresses
and interests of phorid workers in my mailing list. Any additions,
corrections or updates would be greatly appreciated. Those wanting to
discuss their projects and interests at even greater length are welcome
to do so.
Jeffery K. Barnes, Biological Survey, Rm.3132,
Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY, 12230, U.S.A. Telephone (518)
486-2004.
Brian V. Brown, Entomology Section, Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los
Angeles, CA, 90007, U.S.A. Telephone (213) 744-3363. FAX (213) 746-2999.
E-mail brianb@mizar.usc.edu. Interests: Taxonomy, evolution, reconstructed
phylogeny, biogeography and natural history of world Phoridae. Currently
I have a long-term project to revise the New World, ant-decapitating
genus Apocephalus; also I am beginning to prepare the phorid sections
for the series Flies of the Nearctic Region. I am interested in
collecting methods for phorids, and in biodiversity surveys, especially
those conducted in the tropics.
Matthias Buck, Dept. Ecology and Morphology of
Animals, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89069 Ulm,
GERMANY. E-mail meyer_eb@dulruu51.bitnet.
Interests: Ecology and biology of Phoridae (PHD
Thesis, to be finished by April 1995); community structure; ecology and
biology of small saprophagous (especially necrophagous) Diptera breeding
in small- sized and buried vertebrate and invertebrate carrion.
Other interests are anatomy of the reproductive
organs, larval morphology, phylogeny and hymenopterous parasitoids of
small, necrophagous Diptera. So far, I have only worked in the
Palaearctic Region. Future aspirations include a postdoctoral
fellowship, or curatorship of Diptera at some natural history museum.
R. Henry L. Disney, Dept. Zoology, University
of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom.
Telephone 0223 336654. FAX 0223 336676. Interests: Biology, taxonomy, phylogenetic
reconstruction of world Phoridae. Currently revising Termitoxeniinae,
including Alamira and Perissa.
Donald H. Feener, Jr., Department of Biology,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, U.S.A. Telephone (801)
581-6444. FAX (801) 581-4668. E-mail feener@bioscience.utah.edu. Interests:
Ant-phorid interactions in general.
Specific projects include: 1) chemical ecology of host location in
phorid parasitoids of ants; 2) phorid parasitoids as biological control
agents of pest ants; 3) evolution of host specificity of phorid
parasitoids; 4) behavioral ecology of ant defenses against phorid
parasitoids. I work mostly in the New World temperate and tropical
regions, especially the southwestern U.S.A. and Central America (Costa
Rica, Panama).
Tadao Got", Central Forest Research Lab
and Training Center, Royal Forest Department, Bangken, Bangkok, 10900
Thailand
David H. Kistner, California State University,
Chico, CA, 95929-0515, U.S.A. Telephone (916) 898-5116. FAX (916)
898-6804. Interests: Mostly interested in Phoridae
inhabiting the nests of social insects or preying on social insects. I
am interested in all biogeographic regions, but have minimal taxonomic
interests. I am currently working in collaboration with Henry Disney on
Termitoxeniinae and a study of Phoridae of the upper Sacramento River,
based on cantara spill collections.
Guangchun Liu, Dept. Plant Protection, Shenyang
Agricultural University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110161, P.R. China.
Telephone (024) 282-5074. Interests: Taxonomy of phorids; Chinese phorid
fauna; phorids associated with mushrooms in China.
Mikhail B. Mostovski, Arthropod Laboratory,
Palaeontological Institute, 123, Profsoyuznaya Str., Moscow, 117647,
Russia. Telephone (095) 238-0721. FAX (095) 339-0622. E-mail rasna@glas.apc.org.
E. Hugh A. Oliver, 172 Upper Dinsdale Road,
Hamilton, New Zealand. Telephone 84 79541. FAX 64 7 838 5085. Interests: New Zealand phorid taxonomy and
natural history.
Matt Orr, Division of Zoology, University of
Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, U.S.A. Telephone (512) 471-2825. FAX same as
telephone. E-mail morr@emx.cc.utexas.edu. Interests: Influences of phorids on ant
foraging ecology, especially pest ants. Ant taxa of interest include
Atta, Solenopsis, and Linepithema.
Sanford D. Porter, USDA-ARS, MAVERL, 1600 SW
23rd Drive, P.O. Box 14565, Gainesville, FL, 32604, U.S.A. Telephone
(904) 374-5914. FAX (904) 374-5818. E-mail sdp@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu. Interests: Ant-parasitizing phorids, especially
Pseudacteon: oviposition behavior, growth and development of larvae and
pupae, host specificity, responses of ant hosts, biocontrol.
Sabine Prescher, Hinter der Masch 26, 38114
Braunschweig, Germany. Telephone 05 31 - 57 90 92. Interests: Palaearctic Phoridae, especially
ecology of various species. Current projects include determination of
specimens and evaluation of the results of Phoridae collected in: 1) the
nature preserve area "Apfelstedter Ried" in Thuringia
(Germany) with moist meadows; 2) moist meadows, dry meadows, wheat
fields and maize fields at the village Limpach near ZĒrich,
Switzerland; 3) caverns in Rhineland-Pfalz, Germany; and 4) a gravel pit
near the city of K"ln, Germany.
Sven-Olof Ulefors, Department of Environmental
Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph ON, Canada, N1G 2W1. Telephone
(519) 824-4120, ext. 2582. Interests: Canadian species of Megaselia;
separation of M. pulicaria-group species.
Axel Froese and Bill Robinson have both
informed me that they no longer work on phorids
Next Issue !
In the next issue of this newsletter, I will
report on my March collecting trip to Costa Rica. I am travelling with
my technician and Isabel Bohorquez (Isabel is a neotropical firefly
expert) to some middle elevation sites, to collect firefly hosts, and
hopefully to rear adults of firefly-parasitizing phorids of the genus
Apocephalus, subgenus Mesophora.
Also, in the next issue, I will include a list
of all phorid publications that I am aware of from 1994.
I invite anyone else with news, reviews,
opinions or any other material relating to the study of phorids to
contribute them.
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