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Bee Louse
Braulidae, or bee lice, is a family of true flies (''Diptera'') with seven species in two genera, ''Braula'' and ''Megabraula''. They are found in honey bee colonies due to their phoretic, inquiline, and kleptoparasitic relationships with the bees. Similar in appearance but not closely related to keds, these flies are also small, wingless, and occasionally mistaken for mites or lice, hence their common name. History The first discovery of Braulidae was of ''Braula coeca'', in 1818 by Christian Ludwig Nitzch, a German zoologist. In 1986, the genus ''Megabraula'' was discovered by David Grimaldi, an American entomologist. Braulidae are found throughout the world in Africa, Europe, Australia, North America, and South America. Since they prefer queen bees as hosts, they are thought to have been brought to the United States by queen importation. Many species of Braulidae are thought to have different host honey bee races. Some of these include ''B. Kohli'' and ''B.pretoriensis'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East African Lowland Honey Bee
The East African lowland honey bee (''Apis mellifera scutellata'') is a subspecies of the western honey bee. It is native to central, southern and eastern Africa, though at the southern extreme it is replaced by the Cape honey bee (''Apis mellifera capensis''). This subspecies has been determined to constitute one part of the ancestry of the Africanized bees (also known as "killer bees") spreading through North and South America. The introduction of the Cape honey bee into northern South Africa poses a threat to East African lowland honey bees. If a female worker from a Cape honey bee colony enters an East African lowland honey bee nest, she is not attacked, partly due to her resemblance to the East African lowland honey bee queen. As she is capable of parthenogenetic reproduction, she may begin laying eggs which hatch as "clones" of herself, which will also lay eggs, causing the parasitic ''A. m. capensis'' workers to increase in number. The death of the host colony results from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halteres
''Halteres'' (; singular ''halter'' or ''haltere'') (from grc, ἁλτῆρες, weights held in the hands to give an impetus in leaping) are a pair of small club-shaped organs on the body of two orders of flying insects that provide information about body rotations during flight. Insects of the large order Diptera (flies) have halteres which evolved from a pair of ancestral hindwings, while males of the much smaller order Strepsiptera (stylops)Merriam-Webster: stylops broadly: an insect of the order Strepsiptera/ref> have halteres which evolved from a pair of ancestral forewings. Halteres oscillate rapidly along with the wings and operate like vibrating structure gyroscopes: any rotation of the plane of oscillation causes a force on the vibrating halteres by the Coriolis effect. The insect detects this force with sensory organs called campaniform sensilla and chordotonal organs located at the base of the halteres and uses this information to interpret and correct its posit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brachycera Families
The Brachycera are a suborder (biology), suborder of the order Diptera. It is a major suborder consisting of around 120 Family (biology), families. Their most distinguishing characteristic is reduced antenna (biology), antenna segmentation. Description A summary of the main physical characteristics is: * antenna (biology), Antenna size (with eight or fewer flagellomeres) is reduced. * The maxilla (arthropod mouthpart), maxillary palp (an elongated appendage near the mouth) has two segments or fewer. * The back portions of the larval head capsule extend into the prothorax (the anterior part of the thorax, which bears the first pair of legs). * Two distinct parts make up of the larval Mandible (insect mouthpart), mandible (lower jaw). * The epandrium and hypandrium of the genitalia are separated in males. * No premandible is present on the lower surface of the Insect mouthparts, labrum (the roof of the mouth). * The configuration of the CuA2 and A1 wing wing vein, veins is distinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Braulidae
Braulidae, or bee lice, is a family of fly, true flies (''Diptera'') with seven species in two genera, ''Braula'' and ''Megabraula''. They are found in honey bee colonies due to their phoretic, inquiline, and kleptoparasitic relationships with the bees. Similar in appearance but not closely related to Hippoboscidae#Systematics, keds, these flies are also small, wingless, and occasionally mistaken for mites or lice, hence their common name. History The first discovery of Braulidae was of ''Braula coeca'', in 1818 by Christian Ludwig Nitzsch, Christian Ludwig Nitzch, a German zoologist. In 1986, the genus ''Megabraula'' was discovered by David Grimaldi (entomologist), David Grimaldi, an American entomologist. Braulidae are found throughout the world in Africa, Europe, Australia, North America, and South America. Since they prefer queen bees as hosts, they are thought to have been brought to the United States by queen importation. Many species of Braulidae are thought to have dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drosophilidae
The Drosophilidae are a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes species called fruit flies, although they are more accurately referred to as vinegar or pomace flies. Another distantly related family of flies, Tephritidae, are true fruit flies because they are frugivorous, and include apple maggot flies and many pests. The best known species of the Drosophilidae is ''Drosophila melanogaster'', within the genus ''Drosophila'', also called the "fruit fly." ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is used extensively for studies concerning genetics, development, physiology, ecology and behaviour. Many fundamental biological mechanisms were discovered first in ''D. melanogaster.'' The fruit fly is mostly composed of post-mitotic cells, has a very short lifespan, and shows gradual aging. As in other species, temperature influences the life history of the animal. Several genes have been identified that can be manipulated to extend the lifespan of these insects. Additionally, ''Drosophi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ephydroidea
The Ephydroidea are a superfamily of muscomorph flies, with over 6,000 species. Description A characteristic of adult Ephydroidea (shared with their relatives such as Calyptratae) is that the pedicel of the antenna has a dorsoventral seam or incision. Ecology Ephydroidea live in many habitats and have diverse diets. For example, most Ephydridae have larvae that are aquatic/semi-aquatic and feed as browsers or filter-feeders, but there are also species with terrestrial larvae that are egg predators, egg parasitoids, leaf miners or saprophages. Most Drosophilidae breed in rotting material where they feed on yeast and bacteria, but there are also species that attack whole fruits. Phylogeny A 2021 analysis found Ephydroidea to be the sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphaeroceridae
Sphaeroceridae are a family of true flies in the order Diptera, often called small dung flies, lesser dung flies or lesser corpse flies due to their saprophagous habits. They belong to the typical fly suborder Brachycera as can be seen by their short antennae, and more precisely they are members of the section Schizophora. There are over 1,300 species and about 125 genera accepted as valid today, but new taxa are still being described. Unlike the large "corpse flies" or blow-flies of the family Calliphoridae and the large dung flies of the family Scathophagidae, the small dung flies are members of the schizophoran subsection Acalyptratae. Among their superfamily Sphaeroceroidea, they seem to be particularly close relatives of the family Heleomyzidae. Description and ecology Dung flies are small to minute, usually dull-colored flies with characteristically thickened first tarsomere of the posterior leg. The first tarsal segment is less than times as long as the sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willi Hennig
Emil Hans Willi Hennig (20 April 1913 – 5 November 1976) was a Germans, German biologist and zoologist who is considered the founder of Phylogenesis, phylogenetic systematics, otherwise known as cladistics. In 1945 as a POWs in World War II, prisoner of war, Hennig began work on his theory of cladistics, which he published in German in 1950, with a substantially revised English translation published in 1966. With his works on evolution and systematics he revolutionised the view of the natural order of beings. As a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, he specialised in dipterans (true flies). Hennig coined the key terms synapomorphy, Plesiomorphy and symplesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, and paraphyly. He also asserted, in his "auxiliary principle", that "the presence of apomorphous characters in different species 'is always reason for suspecting kinship [i.e., that species belong to a monophyletic group], and that their origin by convergence should not be presumed a priori' (Hennig, 195 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acalyptrate Muscoid
The Acalyptratae or Acalyptrata are a subsection of the Schizophora, which are a section of the order Diptera, the "true flies". In various contexts the Acalyptratae also are referred to informally as the acalyptrate muscoids, or acalyptrates, as opposed to the Calyptratae. All forms of the name refer to the lack of calypters in the members of this subsection of flies. An alternative name, Acalypterae is current, though in minority usage. It was first used by Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart in 1835 for a section of his tribe Muscides; he used it to refer to all acalyptrates plus scathophagids and phorids, but excluding Conopidae. The confusing forms of the names stem from their first usage; ''Acalyptratae'' and ''Acalyptrata'' actually are adjectival forms in New Latin. They were coined in the mid 19th century in contexts such as "Muscae Calyptratae and Acalyptratae" and "Diptera Acalyptrata", and the forms stuck. The Acalyptratae are a large assemblage, exhibiting very diverse h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Schmitz (entomologist)
Hermann Schmitz (12 August 1878 in Elberfeld, Wuppertal – 1 September 1960 in Bad Godesberg) was a German entomologist who specialised in Hymenoptera and Diptera. His personal collection of data on flies and the literature of flies were looted by the Nazis during World War II. He was a Jesuit of German origin living in Limburg (Netherlands), at the time.Aalders, GerardNazi Looting: The Plunder of Dutch Jewry During the Second World War Oxford: Berg, 2004. Page 62. Schmitz was a priest in Valkenburg. He is best known for his studies of Phoridae The Phoridae are a family of small, hump-backed flies resembling fruit flies. Phorid flies can often be identified by their escape habit of running rapidly across a surface rather than taking to the wing. This behaviour is a source of one of thei .... His collections are in Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastrich(Diptera and Hymenoptera) Museum Koenig, Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn (world Phoridae and Lepidoptera from the Canary isla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoridae
The Phoridae are a family of small, hump-backed flies resembling fruit flies. Phorid flies can often be identified by their escape habit of running rapidly across a surface rather than taking to the wing. This behaviour is a source of one of their alternate names, scuttle fly. Another vernacular name, coffin fly, refers to '' Conicera tibialis''. About 4,000 species are known in 230 genera. The most well-known species is cosmopolitan ''Megaselia scalaris''. At 0.4 mm in length, the world's smallest fly is the phorid ''Euryplatea nanaknihali''. Description For terms see Morphology of Diptera Phorid flies are minute or small – 0.5–6 mm (– in) in length. When viewed from the side, a pronounced hump to the thorax is seen. Their colours range from usually black or brown to more rarely yellow, orange, pale grey, and pale white. The head is usually rounded and in some species narrowed towards the vertex. The vertex is flat. In some species, the ocellar callus i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Braula - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University Of Amsterdam - UBAINV0274 039 08 0002
''Braula'' is a genus of flies (Diptera) in the family Braulidae. These are very unusual flies, wingless and flattened, and barely recognizable as Diptera. '' Braula coeca'' Nitzsch is a pest of honey bees. The larvae tunnel through the wax honeycomb and the adults are found on the bodies of honey bees. There is some debate whether the bee louse causes damage to the honey bee. These flies sometimes can be found at places where bees congregate such as flowers or salt licks, waiting to grab onto hosts from uninfested nests. ''Braula'' is cosmopolitan and about 1.6 mm in length. Species *'' Braula coeca'' Nitzsch, 1818 *'' Braula kohli'' Schmitz, 1914 *'' Braula orientalis'' Òròsi Pál, 1963 *'' Braula pretoriensis'' Òròsi Pál, 1939 *'' Braula schmitzi'' Òròsi Pál, 1939 References External links''Braula coeca'', bee louseon the University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
