Mystery mushroom malingerers: Megaselia marquezi Hartop et al. 2015 (Diptera: Phoridae)

Brown, Brian V.; Hartop, Emily

doi:10.3897/bdj.5.e15052

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Among those with known life histories (as listed in figure 4: Chonocephalus bentacaisei , M. agarici , M. halterata , M. marquezi , M. nigra , and M. pleuralis ), fungus-feeding larvae are overwhelmingly common. Sporophore eruptions can produce hundreds of flies relatively quickly, as Brown & Hartop [56,57] estimated a single mushroom cap contained 500 larvae of M. marquezi. We suspect abundance peaks for these species are associated with the mass production of fungal sporophores in close proximity to our sampling area, which are common after rain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout the year, many species showed large spikes in abundance. Among those with known life histories (as listed in figure 4: [56,57] estimated a single mushroom cap contained 500 larvae of M. marquezi. We suspect abundance peaks for these species are associated with the mass production of fungal sporophores in close proximity to our sampling area, which are common after rain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperature accounts for the biodiversity of a hyperdiverse group of insects in urban Los Angeles

et al. 2019

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The urban heat island effect is a worldwide phenomenon that has been linked to species distributions and abundances in cities. However, effects of urban heat on biotic communities are nearly impossible to disentangle from effects of land cover in most cases because hotter urban sites also have less vegetation and more impervious surfaces than cooler sites within cities. We sampled phorid flies, one of the largest, most biologically diverse families of true flies (Insecta: Diptera: Phoridae), at 30 sites distributed within the central Los Angeles Basin, where we found that temperature and the density of urban land cover are decoupled. Abundance, richness, and community composition of phorids inside urban Los Angeles were most parsimoniously accounted for by mean air temperature in the week preceding sampling. Sites with intermediate mean temperatures had more phorid fly individuals and higher richness. Communities were more even at urban sites with lower minimum temperatures and sites located further away from natural areas, suggesting that communities separated from natural source populations may be more homogenized. Species composition was best explained by minimum temperature. Inasmuch as warmer areas within cities can predict future effects of climate change, phorid fly communities are likely to shift nonlinearly under future climates in more natural areas. Exhaustive surveys of biotic communities within cities, such as the one we describe here, can provide baselines for determining the effects of urban and global climate warming as they intensify.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature accounts for the biodiversity of a hyperdiverse group of insects in urban Los Angeles

et al. 2019

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“…Scuttle flies in Los Angeles depend on plants, water, soil, other insects, fungi, carrion, detritus, and sometimes even associations with humans (Brown & Hartop, 2016). Their presence can be tightly correlated to specific resources, as is the case with one Los Angeles species found associated with a single species of fungus (Brown & Hartop, 2017). The relationship between scuttle fly biodiversity to urbanization is the focus of current work by some of the authors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p class="HeadingRunIn"><strong>Urban Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County attract “wildlife spectacle” of insect pollinators</strong></p>

et al. 2018

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The newly-constructed Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (California, USA) were purposefully built to attract wildlife. In this study we wanted to find out to what extent this manufactured environment is successful in attracting native insect fauna to the urban core of the city when compared to the surrounding neighborhoods or natural areas on the periphery of Los Angeles. To determine this, a one-year Malaise trap catch from the Nature Gardens was compared with samples from four neighboring sites within a five-kilometer radius, as well as a site adjacent to natural habitat located sixteen kilometers away. Our analysis focused on the diversity and abundance of three pollinator groups: bees, flower flies and butterflies contrasted with a single non-pollinator group: scuttle flies. Our findings show that the Nature Gardens support greater abundance and diversity than any of the nearby sites or the natural site for all pollinator taxa examined. In contrast, the natural site supported much higher abundance and diversity of the non-pollinator scuttle flies when compared to the Nature Gardens. Calculated evenness of all taxa was lower in the Nature Gardens than at the natural site and Shannon Diversity indices were highest in the Nature Gardens for flower flies and butterflies, but lower in the Nature Gardens than at the natural site for bees and scuttle flies. These results indicate that biodiversity in an urban environment can be selectively manipulated through management of green spaces, but may not duplicate the communities found in natural spaces. Rather, targeted management (through plantings, ground cover and other substrates, watering, pest management techniques, etc.) can increase fauna predictively to create a “wildlife spectacle” of charismatic microfauna.

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Sixteen in One: White-Belted Megaselia Rondani (Diptera: Phoridae) From the New World Challenge Species Concepts

Brown

Hartop

Wong

2022

Insect Systematics and Diversity

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We review the species of Megaselia similar to Megaselia sulphurizona Borgmeier. A close examination of M. sulphurizona indicates that its current concept includes at least 16 species, 15 of which— Megaselia albizona, Megaselia borealizona, Megaselia colombizona, Megaselia cryptizona, Megaselia danizona, Megaselia guanizona, Megaselia marizona, Megaselia nivizona, Megaselia oklizona, Megaselia paulizona, Megaselia reductizona, Megaselia solizona, Megaselia tropizona, Megaselia wendizona, and Megaselia winnizona are described as new, based primarily on molecular data. The identity of the holotype of the species M. sulphurizona is clarified through wing vein morphometrics. Two of the new species, M. albizona and M. cryptizona, are the 47th and 48th new species of phorid fly described from the BioSCAN project, an urban biodiversity study in Los Angeles, California, U.S.

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Mystery mushroom malingerers: Megaselia marquezi Hartop et al. 2015 (Diptera: Phoridae)

Cited by 5 publications

References 4 publications

Temperature accounts for the biodiversity of a hyperdiverse group of insects in urban Los Angeles

Temperature accounts for the biodiversity of a hyperdiverse group of insects in urban Los Angeles

<p class="HeadingRunIn"><strong>Urban Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County attract “wildlife spectacle” of insect pollinators</strong></p>

Sixteen in One: White-Belted Megaselia Rondani (Diptera: Phoridae) From the New World Challenge Species Concepts

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