COLCONDAMYIA AUDITRIX NOV. SP. (DIPTERA: SARCOPHAGIDAE), A PARASITE WHICH IS ATTRACTED BY THE MATING SONG OF ITS HOST, OKANAGANA RIMOSA (HOMOPTERA: CICADIDAE)

Abstract

A new species of sarcophagid, Colcondamyia auditrix, is described, which locates its cicada host by sound. The fly was shown to respond to the mating song of the male cicada, and the majority of parasitized cicadas were male. Parasitism of females occasionally occurs when they are attracted to males simultaneously with the parasite. Levels of parasitism varied from 18.6% in 1962 to 0.2% in 1967 to 14.1% in 1973. Male cicadas lost their sound producing capability following parasitization, rendering them inaccessible to further female flies and thus apparently preventing multiple parasitism.

Host sexual selection and cuckoo parasitism: an analysis of nest size in sympatric and allopatric magpie Pica pica populations parasitized by the great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius

“…For example, pheromone signalling by male stink bugs attracted parasites that used the pheromone to cue in on potential hosts (Mitchell & Mau 1971). Similarly, a study of a cicada demonstrated that calling males attracted parasitic Diptera (Soper et al 1976). Cade (1979) studied the relationship between parasitism by a Diptera of calling male ¢eld crickets and found that male crickets attracted parasitic £ies by emitting calls.…”

Auditory Sensitivity of an Acoustic Parasitoid (<i>Emblemasoma</i> sp., Sarcophagidae, Diptera) and the Calling Behavior of Potential Hosts

“…In some species of acoustically signaling insects male calling songs not only attract conspecifics, but also acoustically orienting parasitoids [Cade, 1975;Soper et al 1976;Lehmann, 2003]. For example, several species of ormiine flies (Tachinidae) are acoustic parasitoids of a variety of singing orthopterans [Burk, 1982;Allen, 1995;Lakes-Harlan and Heller, 1992].…”

“…Members of the family Sarcophagidae (Emblemasomatini) use an independently evolved ear [Edgecomb et al, 1995;Robert et al, 1999;Lakes-Harland et al, 1999] to carry out an analogous strategy for finding their hosts, singing cicadas [Soper et al, 1976]. Like that for ormiines, there appears to be interspecific variance in host choice, as several species of flies, found either as larvae or reared to adults, have been collected from various parasitized cicada taxa [Lopes, 1971[Lopes, , 1981Soper et al, 1976]. All Emblemasoma examined so far express the inflated prosternum known to be the tympanal organ [Lopes, 1971;Lakes-Harlan et al, 1999;Robert et al, 1999], suggesting that host choice is based on auditory cues.…”

Cicadas "dig wells" that are used by ants, wasps and beetles

“…Ecological studies of cicadas have focused on the life cycles of periodical cicadas (Williams & Simon, 1995), sound communication (Sueur, 2002) and the control of pest species (Ito & Nagamine, 1974, 1981. However, studies have rarely reported behavioural interactions between cicadas and other insects, with the exception of the hunting of cicada-killer wasps (Evans, 1966) and parasitization by sarcophagid flies, which locate cicadas acoustically (Soper et al, 1976).…”