Whitefly predation and extensive mesonotum color polymorphism in an Acletoxenus population from Singapore (Diptera, Drosophilidae)

Abstract

Acletoxenus is a small genus of Drosophilidae with only four described species that are closely associated with whiteflies (adults and larvae). Here, the first video recordings of larvae feeding on whiteflies (Aleurotrachelus trachoides) are presented. Typical morphological adaptations for predation by schizophoran larvae are also described: the larval pseudocephalon lacks a facial mask and the cephaloskeleton is devoid of cibarial ridges that could be used for saprophagy via filtration. Despite being a predator, Acletoxenus is unlikely to be a good candidate for biological control of whiteflies because the life cycle is fairly long (24 days), lab cultures could not be established, and the puparia have high parasitization rates by a pteromalid wasp (Pachyneuron leucopiscida). Unfortunately, a confident identification of the Singapore Acletoxenus population to species was not possible because species identification and description in the genus overemphasize coloration characters of the mesonotum which are shown to be unsuitable because the Singapore population has flies with coloration patterns matching three of the four described species. Based on morphology and DNA sequences, the population from Singapore is tentatively assigned to Acletoxenus indicus or a closely related species.

Hitchhiking into the future on a fly: Toward a better understanding of phoresy and avian louse evolution (Phthiraptera) by screening bird carcasses for phoretic lice on hippoboscid flies (Diptera)

“…It is important to restart natural history research (Tewksbury et al, 2014). Fortunately, combining traditional techniques such as carcass recovery and screening with new molecular techniques greatly facilitate and improve our ability to obtain new species‐level results (Srivathsan, Hartop, et al, 2019; Srivathsan, Nagarajan, & Meier, 2019; Wong et al, 2017; Yeo et al, 2018).…”

“…This yielded 131 dead birds (54 species) from which lice, hippoboscid flies, and mites were collected. For the lice and flies, we use NGS barcoding (Srivathsan et al, 2021;Srivathsan, Hartop, et al, 2019;Srivathsan, Nagarajan, & Meier, 2019;Wong et al, 2017;Yeo et al, 2018) to address the taxonomic impediments that interfere with so much natural history research. The specimens were sorted into putative species based on NGS barcodes which can now be obtained at low cost for thousands of specimens within days (Srivathsan et al, 2018(Srivathsan et al, , 2021Srivathsan, Hartop, et al, 2019;Srivathsan, Nagarajan, & Meier, 2019;Wang et al, 2018;Yeo et al, 2018).…”

Riding into the future on a fly: toward a better understanding of phoresy and avian lice evolution (Phthiraptera) by screening bird carcasses for phoretic lice on hippoboscid flies (Diptera)

“…It is important to restart natural history research (Tewksbury et al, 2014). Fortunately, combining traditional techniques such as carcass screening with new molecular techniques greatly facilitate and improve our ability to obtain new and species-level results (Wong et al, 2017;Yeo et al, 2018;Srivathsan et al, 2019).…”

“…This yielded 131 bird carcasses (54 species) from which lice, hippoboscid flies, and mites were collected. For the lice and flies, we address partially the taxonomic impediments that interfere with so much natural history research via NGS barcoding (Wong et al, 2017;Yeo et al, 2018;Srivathsan et al, 2019.…”

The other 99%: exploring the arthropod species diversity of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore

“…The current study is part of a larger species discovery programme in Singapore that focuses on invertebrates but also includes population-level work on conservation priority species (Cranston et al, 2013;Tay et al, 2016;Wong et al, 2017;Baloğlu et al, 2018;Kutty et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2018;Yeo et al, 2018). This programme started with collecting specimens from many different habitats in Singapore.…”