Revision of the Bee-killing Flies, Genus Melaloncha (Insecta: Diptera: Phoridae)

DEB 0090031Brian V. BrownDr.洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆的布莱恩·布朗获得了一笔赠款，用于修改Melaloncha属，俗称杀蜂蝇，是一大群蚤蝇。所有物种都在南美洲和中美洲发现，并且都寄生蜜蜂：大黄蜂，无刺蜂和引进的西方蜜蜂，意大利蜜蜂（因此它们是热带国家的潜在农业害虫）。已经描述了32种杀死蜜蜂的苍蝇，但更多的已经被收集起来，据估计，对这个迷人的群体的重新研究最终将涉及多达100个物种。将使用成蝇的结构特征研究物种之间的关系。这种分析将被用来作为一个框架，检查主机寄生蜂专业化，主机转换和其他行为特征。将在玻利维亚、哥斯达黎加、巴拿马和巴西进行进一步收集与其宿主蜜蜂有关的Melaloncha的实地工作。在野外收集标本将有助于了解寄主与寄生蜂之间的关系，使Melaloncha种的雄性和雌性相关联，并将发现更多的新物种。这项研究的结果将包括两部分的分类学修订，包括物种描述、关系、物种识别检索表和光盘上的彩色图像。万维网上的产品如下：基于网络的交互式识别关键字，每个物种的网页，蝗虫-蜜蜂关系的网页（这将是非常有用的养蜂人和蜜蜂生态学家），一个数字图像档案，主机寄生列表和文献目录。

DEB 0090031Brian V. BrownDr. Brian Brown of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History has been awarded a grant to revise the genus Melaloncha, commonly known as the bee-killing flies, a large group of phorid flies. All species are found in South and Central America, and all parasitize bees: bumble bees, stingless bees and the introduced western honey bee, Apis mellifera (thus they are potential agricultural pests in tropical countries). Thirty-two bee-killing fly species have been described, but many more have been collected and it is estimated that re-examination of this fascinating group will ultimately involve as many as 100 species. Relationships among the species will be investigated using structural characters of adult flies. This analysis will be used as a framework for examining host-parasitoid specialization, host switching and other behavioral traits. Field work to make further collections of Melaloncha associated with their host bees will be conducted in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Brazil. Collecting of specimens in the field will result in knowledge of host-parasitoid relationships, allow males and females of Melaloncha species to be associated and will uncover further new species. Results from this study will include a taxonomic revision in two parts, including descriptions of species, relationships, keys for the identification of species, and color images on CD-ROM. Products on the World Wide Web will be the following: a web-based interactive identification key, web pages for each species, a web page for phorid-bee relationships (which will be extremely useful to beekeepers and bee ecologists), a digital image archive, a host-parasitoid list and a catalog with literature.