Toxomerus duplicatus Wiedemann, 1830 (Diptera: Syrphidae) preying on Microtheca spp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) larvae

Abstract

Microtheca spp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are insect pests primarily related to Brassicaceae crops. In the State of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), southern Brazil, they are found on forage turnip, Raphanus sativus L. var. oleiferus Metzg., which is commonly grown during fall/winter seasons. This work reports the predation of Microtheca spp. larvae by Toxomerus duplicatus Wiedemann, 1830 (Diptera: Syrphidae) larvae, on forage turnip crop, in Santa Maria, RS. This register provides new information about Microtheca spp. natural enemies in Brazil, which might be a new option for integrate pest management of these species.Keywords: Brassicaceae, Raphanus sativus L. var. oleiferus Metzg., Predator. Toxomerus duplicatus

Where Is My Food? Brazilian Flower Fly Steals Prey from Carnivorous Sundews in a Newly Discovered Plant-Animal Interaction

“…basalis consists largely of “nematoceran” adult flies. Although the larval biology of only a handful of Toxomerus species is known, the diversity of prey taxa is extraordinary [ 51 , 53 – 55 , 98 ]. The larvae of at least one species of predatory flower fly feed on adult diptera [ 96 ], and larvae of a few species (including Toxomerus geminatus ) prey on larvae of small dipterans, butterflies or beetles [ 51 , 98 ].…”

Attracted to feed, not to be fed upon – on the biology of Toxomerus basalis (Walker, 1836), the kleptoparasitic ‘sundew flower fly’ (Diptera: Syrphidae)

“…While changes to its taxonomy and inferred evolutionary relationships have been recently accomplished (Metz & Thompson 2001;Thompson & Thompson 2006;Mengual et al 2008Mengual et al , 2012Borges & Couri 2009;Mengual 2011;Thompson 2016), the life history and larval biology of few species have been documented. In common with most tropical Syrphinae species, the larval stages of most Toxomerus species are unstudied, but the species with described larval life histories are either pollen-feeders (Reemer & Rotheray 2009;Nunes-Silva et al 2010;Jordaens et al 2015;Dumbardon-Martial 2016) or predaceous on a wide-range of soft-bodied arthropods including aphids, caterpillars, beetle larvae, planthoppers, gall midges, thrips, mealybugs, whiteflies, mites, or insect eggs (Sampson et al 2002;Rojo et al 2003;Hopper et al 2011;Fok et al 2014;Sturza et al 2014;Torres et al 2014;Campos et al 2017;Jirón-Pablo et al 2018;Soares et al 2020).…”