Systematics of Ant-Decapitating Flies, Genus Apocephalus (Insecta:Diptera:Phoridae)

蚂蚁断头蝇的系统学，Apocephalus 属（昆虫纲：双翅目：蝇科）

• 批准号: 9407190
• 负责人: Brian Brown
• 金额: $ 27.89万
• 依托单位: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-08-15 至 1999-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9407190&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Systematics; Ant; Decapitating; Flies; Genus

9407190 BROWN This project provides funding for the study of five natural species groups of flies in the genus Apocephalus (Insecta: Diptera: Phoridae) that are parasites of ants. There are 110 described species in this genus, mostly from coastal Brazil, but many more species await discovery and description from throughout the western hemisphere. Massive collecting efforts utilizing Malaise traps will be conducted, supplemented by careful hand collecting to establish which ant species are the hosts of the parasites. Phylogenetic relationships among these flies will be deduced from characteristics of the external body structure and the pattern of ant host selection will be explored in light of these relationships. %%% The study of this genus of parasitic flies will include description of many new species and keys for their identification. It will provide information on a large group of little-known flies and contribute to our knowledge of insect biodiversity, especially for the South American tropics. Studies of the biology of these flies and their interaction with ant hosts could yield information that might be used to control pest ant species, such as the imported or introduced fire ant in the southeastern United States. ***

9407190布朗这项计划为研究蚂蚁寄生虫Apocephalus属(昆虫纲：双翅目：蜂科)的五个自然苍蝇种群提供资金。该属中已描述的物种有110种，大部分来自巴西沿海地区，但还有更多的物种等待着来自整个西半球的发现和描述。将进行大规模的收集工作，利用不舒服的陷阱，并辅之以仔细的手工收集，以确定哪些蚂蚁物种是寄生虫的宿主。这些苍蝇之间的系统发育关系将从外部身体结构的特征中推断出来，并将根据这些关系探索蚂蚁宿主选择的模式。对这一寄生蝇属的研究将包括许多新种的描述和识别它们的检索表。它将提供一大群鲜为人知的苍蝇的信息，并有助于我们了解昆虫的生物多样性，特别是南美热带地区的昆虫生物多样性。对这些苍蝇的生物学及其与蚂蚁宿主相互作用的研究可能会产生一些信息，这些信息可能会被用来控制有害蚂蚁物种，比如美国东南部引进或引进的火蚁。***