- sort orderDefault
Photo title, A → Z
Photo title, Z → A
✔ Date created, new → old
Date created, old → new
Date posted, new → old
Date posted, old → new
Visits, high → low
Random - Google Map
- map
home / Insecta · vabzdžiai / Diptera · dvisparniai / Syrphidae · žiedmusės / Microdon · žiedmusė
Microdon · žiedmusė
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdon
Like other members of the subfamily Microdontinae, they are myrmecophiles, meaning they inhabit the nests of ants. The real oddity of the genus Microdon is in its larvae and pupae. These are dome-shaped and look like stout little slugs. Their appearance originally led scientists to describe them as mollusks and scale insects. They are slow-moving. Most have the spiracles on a peg-like protuberance extending from the end of their abdomens.
Adult Microdon flies do not behave like other syrphid flies; they do not hover around flowers, but instead remain very near the ant colonies which serve as larval hosts. Larvae may be found very deep in ant colonies. Some species actively feed on ant larvae in the colony, others are speculated to be scavengers. Microdon larvae are more or less restricted in their ant host species. Some Microdon species have only ever been found in the colonies of a single ant species, while others are restricted to related ant species or genera. Because these flies have such cryptic life cycles, biological information on most species is limited.