The conopid genus ''Stylogaster'' is a group of unusual flies. It is the only genus in the subfamily Stylogastrinae, which some authorities have historically treated as a separate family Stylogastridae (or Stylogasteridae).

Biology

Stylogastrines are obligate associates of

Cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are we ...

es, Orthoptera, some Diptera and

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

s.Couri, M.S., Pont, A.C. & Kirk-Spriggs, A.H. 2013. New Muscidae (Diptera) hosts of ''Stylogaster'' Macquart (Diptera: Conopidae) from the Afrotropical Region. ''

African Invertebrates ''African Invertebrates'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal that covers the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, ecology, conservation, and palaeontology of Afrotropical invertebrates, whether terrestrial, freshwater, or ma ...

'' 54 (2): 401–40

/ref> These flies typically use

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limi ...

s' raiding columns to flush out their prey, ground-dwelling Orthoptera and/or roaches. Stylogastrines are somewhat atypical for conopids, in that the egg itself is shaped somewhat like a

harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal ...

, with a rigid barbed tip, and the egg is forcibly jabbed into the host. The female of some species waits for army ants to flush out a target, then she dives in and jabs an egg into the host. The ''Stylogaster'' larvae then develop as

endoparasitoids In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasiti ...

. This is a remarkably high-risk behavior, in that many hosts are captured and killed by the ants after a female has laid an egg in it, so many eggs are lost. Adults can occasionally be found at flowers, feeding on nectar with their

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...

, which is longer than the body when unfolded. The female's abdomen is also folded under the body, and is the derivation of the generic name (''Stylogaster'' = "needle-tail").

Distribution

Stylogastrines can be found from the

Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

s to

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South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

south of the Sahara, and parts of Southern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, including the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

Selected species

*'' Stylogaster biannulata'' (

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, 1823) *'' Stylogaster camrasi'' Stuckenberg, 1963 *'' Stylogaster ctenitarsa'' Camras & Parrillo, 1996 *'' Stylogaster malgachensis'' Camras, 1962 *'' Stylogaster neglecta'' Williston, 1883 *'' Stylogaster pauliani'' Curran, 1962 *'' Stylogaster rafaeli'' Camras & Parrillo, 1996 *'' Stylogaster seguyi'' Camras, 1962 *'' Stylogaster seyrigi'' Séguy, 1932 *'' Stylogaster sinaloae'' Camras, 1989 *'' Stylogaster smithiana'' Lopes, 1971 *'' Stylogaster souzai'' Monteiro, 1960 *'' Stylogaster souzalopesi'' Camras, 1990

References

Stuke, J.-H. 2012. A revision of Afrotropical species of ''Stylogaster'' Macquart (Diptera: Conopidae), with descriptions of twenty-one new species and an identification key. ''

'' 53 (1): 267-354

External links

Images
at

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

. {{Taxonbar, from=Q7629685 Conopidae Conopoidea genera Taxa named by Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart