The conopid genus Stylogaster is a group of unusual flies. It is the only genus in the subfamily Stylogastrinae, which some authorities have historically treated as a separate family Stylogastridae (or Stylogasteridae).
Biology Stylogastrines are obligate associates of cockroaches, Orthoptera, some Diptera and ants.Couri, M.S., Pont, A.C. & Kirk-Spriggs, A.H. 2013. New Muscidae (Diptera) hosts of Stylogaster Macquart (Diptera: Conopidae) from the Afrotropical Region. African Invertebrates 54 (2): 401–408.
These flies typically use army ants' raiding columns to flush out their prey, ground-dwelling Orthoptera and/or roaches. Stylogastrines are somewhat atypical for conopids, in that the egg itself is shaped somewhat like a harpoon, with a rigid barbed tip, and the egg is forcibly jabbed into the host. The female of some species waits for army ants to flush out a target, then she dives in and jabs an egg into the host. The Stylogaster larvae then develop as endoparasitoids. This is a remarkably high-risk behavior, in that many hosts are captured and killed by the ants after a female has laid an egg in it, so many eggs are lost.
Adults can occasionally be found at flowers, feeding on nectar with their proboscis, which is longer than the body when unfolded. The female's abdomen is also folded under the body, and is the derivation of the generic name (Stylogaster = "needle-tail").
Distribution Stylogastrines can be found from the Neotropics to Canada, South America, Africa south of the Sahara, and parts of Southern Asia, including the Philippines and New Guinea.
Selected species Stylogaster biannulata (Say, 1823) Stylogaster camrasi Stuckenberg, 1963 Stylogaster ctenitarsa Camras & Parrillo, 1996 Stylogaster malgachensis Camras, 1962 Stylogaster neglecta Williston, 1883 Stylogaster pauliani Curran, 1962 Stylogaster rafaeli Camras & Parrillo, 1996 Stylogaster seguyi Camras, 1962 Stylogaster seyrigi Séguy, 1932 Stylogaster sinaloae Camras, 1989 Stylogaster smithiana Lopes, 1971 Stylogaster souzai Monteiro, 1960 Stylogaster souzalopesi Camras, 1990
References
Stuke, J.-H. 2012. A revision of Afrotropical species of Stylogaster Macquart (Diptera: Conopidae), with descriptions of twenty-one new species and an identification key. African Invertebrates 53 (1): 267–354.
External links Images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life.