Stylogaster

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Genus of flies

title: "Stylogaster" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["conopidae", "conopoidea-genera", "taxa-named-by-pierre-justin-marie-macquart"] description: "Genus of flies" topic_path: "general/conopidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylogaster" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of flies ::

| image = Stylogaster (from PZSL1850PlateAnnulosa19).png | image_caption = Stylogaster leonum | taxon = Stylogaster | authority = Macquart, 1835 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = Many ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Stylogaster_on_self_heal.jpg" caption="self-heal]] flower"] ::

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.

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

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.

References

  1. Couri, Marcia S.. (2006). "Eggs of ''Stylogaster'' Macquart (Diptera: Conopidae) on Madagascan muscids (Diptera: Muscidae)". California Academy of Sciences.
  2. 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.{{usurped
  3. Camras, Sydney. (1996). "New ''Stylogaster'' and ranges of Conopidae (Diptera) from the Brazilian and Bolivian Amazonia". Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia.

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conopidaeconopoidea-generataxa-named-by-pierre-justin-marie-macquart