The immature stages of hoverflies of the subfamily Microdontinae (Diptera: Syrphidae) develop in ant nests, as predators of the ant brood. The present paper reviews published and unpublished records of associations of Microdontinae with ants, in order to discuss the following questions. (1) Are all Microdontinae associated with ants? (2) Are Microdontinae associated with all ants? (3) Are particular clades of Microdontinae associated with particular clades of ants? (4) Are Microdontinae associated with other insects? A total number of 109 associations between the groups are evaluated, relating to 43 species of Microdontinae belonging to 14 genera, and to at least 69 species of ants belonging to 24 genera and five subfamilies. The taxa of Microdontinae found in association with ants occur scattered throughout their phylogenetic tree. One of the supposedly most basal taxa (Mixogaster) is associated with ants, suggesting that associations with ants evolved early in the history of the subfamily and have remained a predominant feature of their lifestyle. Among ants, associations with Microdontinae are known from subfamilies Ponerinae, Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae, and Pseudomyrmecinae. These subfamilies comprise more than 95% of all ant species. Interestingly, no associations are known with “dorylomorph” ants (army ants and relatives). 1. Introduction Ants “run much of the terrestrial world,” is the claim of H？lldobler and Wilson [1] in the opening lines of their landmark book The ants. This may be true, but the colonies of ants—on their turn—are to some extent affected by many species of myrmecophilous organisms which live in their nests, especially insects and other arthropods. Some of these are not detrimental to the ants or can even be considered beneficial, for example, because they clean up the nests or provide the ants with certain nutrients. Other species of myrmecophilous insects, however, are predators of the ant brood or the adult ants. The larvae of hoverflies of the subfamily Microdontinae (Diptera: Syrphidae) exemplify the latter category. The nature of the feeding habits of the slug-like larvae of Microdontinae has long remained uncertain. Several authors have suggested that they live as scavengers or feed on pellets of food ejected by the worker ants [2–5]. More recently, however, accumulated evidence showed that larvae of at least a number of species of Microdon Meigen and Omegasyrphus Giglio-Tos are predators, feeding on eggs, larvae, and pupae of ants [6–10]. There are a few reports of Microdontinae larvae feeding on aphids and
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