Illustrated Key to Pseudacteon Decapitating Flies (Diptera: Phoridae) That Attack Solenopsis saevissima Complex Fire Ants in South America

Abstract

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Geographical transition zone of Solenopsis fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Pseudacteon fly parasitoids (Diptera: Phoridae) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

“…The southern community corresponded to flies previously described for the region of Rio Claro (SP) (22°24'S, 47°33'W) on S. invicta, while the northern community corresponded to flies found in Goiânia (GO) (16°42'S, 49°15'W) on S. saevissima (Pesquero 1997). Populations of P. tricuspis and P. nudicornis found in the territories of S. saevissima and S. invicta have the biotypes previously described for the state of Goiás and São Paulo, respectively (Porter & Pesquero 2001). Pseudacteon affinis and P. cultellatus were identified as the biotypes found in the state of Goiás, and P. curvatus Borgmeier in the state of São Paulo (Porter & Pesquero 2001).…”

“…Populations of P. tricuspis and P. nudicornis found in the territories of S. saevissima and S. invicta have the biotypes previously described for the state of Goiás and São Paulo, respectively (Porter & Pesquero 2001). Pseudacteon affinis and P. cultellatus were identified as the biotypes found in the state of Goiás, and P. curvatus Borgmeier in the state of São Paulo (Porter & Pesquero 2001).…”

“…Flies that approached the colonies and hovered over fire ant workers in attack mode (Porter 1998) were collected with an aspirator. A cooler (circa 12ºC) was used to store the flies prior to species identification (Porter & Pesquero 2001) with a hand lens (20x). Voucher specimens of Solenopsis and Pseudacteon were retained by the authors and deposited in the Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, state of São Paulo, Brazil.…”

“…Only five species of parasitoids (P. borgmeieri Schmitz, P. cultellatus Borgmeier, P. nudicornis Borgmeier, P. solenopsidis Schmitz and P. tricuspis Borgmeier) have ranges that broadly overlap with both fire ant species (Patrock et al 2009). Furthermore, the oviscape of P. nudicornis, P. cultellatus, and P. tricuspis shows intraspecific variation (Porter & Pesquero 2001), suggesting the occurrence of populations in process of reproductive isolation. Here we describe the occurrence of Pseudacteon parasitoid species and their fire ant hosts in a transition zone between two different described communities for Brazil (Pesquero 1997).…”

Efeito da estrutura de habitat sobre a abundância de parasitóides Pseudacteon Coquillett (Diptera, Phoridae) em ninhos de Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

“…Pseudacteon tricuspis Borgmeier foi introduzida em oito locais no norte da Flórida, obtendo-se êxito em seis deles (Porter et al 2004). Outros estudos sobre comunidades de Pseudacteon foram realizados em países vizinhos, como a Argentina, Bolivia e Paraguai (Folgarait et al 2003;Calcaterra et al 2005;Folgarait et al 2007a), sendo que 18 espécies desse gênero já foram identificadas como parasitóides de Solenopsis na América do Sul (Porter & Pesquero 2001).…”