Headless hosts, legless guests
Article Abstract:
The phorid fly Aenicta species is a parasitoid on the leaf-cutting driver ants. The fly belongs to Phoridae. There are two major morphological variants in this fly genus. Some of the adult female flies appear like larvae of the ants due to the loss of legs and wings, and reduced sclerites on thorax and abdomen. They receive food from the worker ants by virtue of their resemblance to the larvae. Another type of adult females have wings, are aerial, and visit the ants' nest only to lay eggs. Larvae of these flies grow in the head capsule of the ants.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1995
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Preferential predation of female butterflies and the evolution of batesian mimicry
Article Abstract:
The avian predators attack the non-mimetic batesian female butterflies more frequently than the mimetic males and mimetic females. This selective attack supports the evolution of female-limited mimicry despite the same cost of mimicry for both the sexes. But another factor that causes a greater frequency of attack is palatability, irrespective of the lack of mimicry. The benefit of mimetic transformation is much more for the female batesians than the males.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1995
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How and why a parasitic nematode jumps
Article Abstract:
Some nematode species perform jumping behaviour in the infective or phoretic stages, indicating that jumping could be involved in the location of insect hosts. Infective juveniles of the Steinermema carpocapsae insect-parasitic nematode were triggered to jump in the presence of host-associated volatile cues. This may increase the probability of the infective juvenile contacting the potential host.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1999
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