Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomic Paper
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Corresponding author:
Academic editor: Jukka Salmela
Received: 06 Jan 2016 | Accepted: 02 Feb 2016 | Published: 08 Feb 2016
© 2016 Brian Brown
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Brown B (2016) Two new bee-killing flies from Brazil (Insecta: Diptera: Phoridae: Melaloncha). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7715. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7715
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The genus Melaloncha is a large group of species of parasitoid phorid flies that attack Hymenoptera, mostly stingless bees (Meliponinae, Apidae) in the Neotropical Region.
Two new Brazilian species, Melaloncha (Melaloncha) peacockorum sp. n. and Melaloncha (Udamochiras) nielsi sp. n., are described and their identification clarified.
Phoridae, taxonomy, Neotropical, parasitoid
Bee-killing flies of the genus Melaloncha are small (1.5-4.5 mm) fast, agile parasitoids, mostly of stingless bees, bumble bees, and honey bees, but with records also from orchid bees, sweat bees, and vespid wasps (
Specimens were borrowed from the collections of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil (INPA) and the Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Photographs were taken using a Keyence V5000 digital microscope.
Female (Figs
Dark colored Melaloncha (Melaloncha) with wide, orange, punctate frons, and oviscape with blunt, dorsal, median lobe plus more ventral, bifurcate lobe. In the most recent key to Melaloncha (Melaloncha) species (
5. Oviscape with apical pair of divergent, narrow setose processes... .5a
- Oviscape lacking setose processes, or, if present, such processes arising ventrally and anterior to apex (as in oviscapes of the M. cingulata group-
5a. Setae of divergent apical processes long, curved, dorsally directed (fig. 32 in
- Setae of apical processes shorter, straight, not predominantly dorsally directed; body color mostly dark... . M. peacockorum n. sp.
Named for the Peacock family at the request of Jon Peacock, a supporter of the Entomology Department of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM).
Brazil.
Like most Melaloncha species, this fly is probably a parasitoid of stingless bees. It was collected with a Shannon trap, whose operation I have observed in Brazil. The trap is a large structure consisting of a square of black netting, about 3 m in length on each side, with outer walls of the same material. In construction it is like a large box missing the bottom side. The trap is suspended so that the sides are about 0.3 m above the ground, allowing insects access to the bait. Many insects attempt to escape by flying upwards, rather than using the small opening at ground level, and thus get caught in the top of the trap.
The bait used by the researchers is placed in a shallow pit near the center, and consists of a couple of fish, chicken meat, various vegetables, a bag of oatmeal, some mushrooms, human feces, and urine. This smorgasborg "ripens" over several days and attracts hordes of flies, but also other insects including stingless bees, which are frequently attracted to protein (
Female (Figs
Large dark species with oviscape densely setose at base, laterally flattened, dorsal surface curved ventrally. In the key to species (
Named for Niels Jensen at the request of Sara Jensen, a supporter of the Entomology Department of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Brazil
Unknown, but presumably parasitoids of stingless bees like most other Melaloncha species.
I am grateful to Dalton Amorim for helping fund my visit to Brazil.