New Host Record for Camponotophilus delvarei (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae), a Parasitoid of Microdontine Larvae (Diptera: Syrphidae), Associated with the Ant Camponotus sp. aff. textor
Microdontine syrphid flies are obligate social parasites of ants. Larvae prey on ant brood whereas adults live outside the nests. Knowledge of their interaction with their host is often scarce, as it is information about their natural enemies. Here we report the first case of parasitism of a species of microdontine fly by a myrmecophilous eurytomid wasp. This is also the first host record for Camponotophilus delvarei Gates, a recently described parasitic wasp discovered in Chiapas, Mexico, within the nests of the weaver ant, Camponotus sp. aff. textor Forel. Eleven pupal cases of a microdontine fly were found within a single nest of this ant, five of them being parasitized. Five adult C. delvarei females were reared from a puparium and 29 female and 2 male pupae were obtained from another one. The eurytomid is a gregarious, primary ectoparasitoid of larvae and pupae of Microdontinae, its immature stages developing within the protective puparium of the fly. The species is synovigenic. Adult females likely locate and parasitize their hosts within the ant nest. As some species of Microdontinae are considered endangered, their parasitoids are likewise threatened and in need of accurate and urgent surveys in the future. 1. Introduction Although hoverflies or flower flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are best known for their role as important plant pollinators [1, 2] or as potential agents in aphid biological control [3–5], many species have long been reported as associated with ants [6–10]. Current classification of Syrphidae recognizes three subfamilies: Microdontinae, Eristalinae, and Syrphinae [11, 12], with Microdontinae being the least known group [10] and yet the most intriguing, considering their apparent obligatory relationships with ants (see [13]). In fact, all of the microdontine species for which the natural history is known have been found within ant nests or in their immediate vicinity (for a review see [10, 13, 14]). According to the most recent generic revision [10, 15], 43 valid genera are currently assigned to this subfamily. Larval taxonomy for the group is virtually undeveloped; therefore, there are no ways of distinguishing these genera at the larval stage. Historically, the genus Microdon Meigen was used as a collective genus for more than 300 specific taxa of uncertain taxonomic affinities, and records of microdontines associated with ants include taxa known only from the immature stages. Presently, only 126 of 454 valid species of Microdontinae remain in the genus Microdon [15]. For such reasons, all mentions of “Microdon sp.” larvae or
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