A Revision of Afrotropical Species ofStylogasterMacquart (Diptera: Conopidae), with Descriptions of Twenty-One New Species and an Identification Key

Abstract

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Oecanthus nigricornis(Orthoptera: Gryllidae) as the first known host ofStylogaster neglecta(Diptera: Conopidae)

“…Stylogaster species target nymphs and adult Gryllidae (Orthoptera) and Blattodea, whereas other conopid genera use adult aculeate Hymenoptera (Freeman 1966;Kotrba 1997;Woodley and Judd 1998;Schmid-Hempel 2001;Rasmussen and Cameron 2004;Marshall 2012;. Stylogaster eggs have been found on other species, such as other Diptera, but the lack of egg development indicates that these may be accidental ovipositions (Couri and Barros 2010;Stuke 2012;Couri et al 2019).…”

Revision of Nearctic Stylogaster (Diptera: Conopidae)

“…Stylogaster has a parasitoid life history with females injecting eggs into a variety of hosts, including crickets, cockroaches (Kotrba 1997; Woodley and Judd 1998), and possibly calyptrate Diptera (Smith 1967; Couri and Pont 2006; Couri and Silva Barros 2010). The latter are suspected to be accidental ovipositions, as larvae have not been reared from flies (Stuke 2012). Many Stylogaster species in Africa and the Neotropics are facultative or obligate army ant followers (Bequaert 1922; Aldrich 1930; Lopes 1937; Rettenmeyer 1961).…”

Stylogaster eggs on blow flies attracted to millipede defence secretions in Tanzania, with a stab at summarising their biology (Diptera: Conopidae & Calliphoridae)

“…Therefore, there is no firm evidence that these flies are regular or occasional hosts or even if they are hosts at all. It has been speculated that the calyptrate flies instead are used to transport the eggs to the final host or food source or that the flies just happen to share the same appearance or habitat as the host of Stylogaster and, therefore, accidentally become impaled with eggs ( Smith 1967 , Ferrar 1987 , Couri and Pont 2006 , Couri and Barros 2010 , Stuke 2012 , Couri et al 2013 ), but the evidence to support this remains circumstantial.…”

“…The genus has at times been placed in its own family ( Stylogastridae , for example, by Séguy 1946 , Rohdendorf 1964 , Smith and Cunningham-Van Someren 1985 ), but has more recently been given subfamily status and recognised as sister taxon to the remainder of the Conopidae ( Hennig 1966 , McAlpine et al 1989 , Gibson et al 2010 , Gibson et al 2012 , Gibson and Skevington 2013 ). Currently, 125 species of Stylogaster are recognised in the world, with the main diversity in the Neotropical (73 species) and Afrotropical regions (42 species, including Madagascar), but species are also found in parts of North America, Asia, the Philippines, New Guinea, eastern Australia, Tasmania and New Caledonia ( Smith 1967 , Schneider 2010 , Stuke 2012 , Stuke 2017 ).…”