The Nature LibraryEN·ES
iNat·645857GenusInsecta73 field observations
  1. Animals
  2. ›Arthropods
  3. ›Hexapods
  4. ›Insects
  5. ›Winged and Once-winged Insects
  6. ›Flies
  7. ›Brachyceran Flies
  8. ›Cyclorrhaphan Flies
  9. ›Schizophoran Flies
  10. ›Acalyptrate Flies
  11. ›Ephydroidea
  12. ›Shore Flies
  13. ›Hydrelliinae
  14. ›Psilopini
Rhynchopsilopa
Plate 1 of 2. (c) Adit Jeyan, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Adit Jeyan · via iNaturalist

Rhynchopsilopa

Rhynchopsilopa is a genus of shore-flies (Ephydridae). The adults feed on the gut contents of ants. They use their antennae to locate ant nests and use their long sclerotized proboscis to puncture the abdomen of ant workers and feed on the gut contents without killing their victims. They also take honey in laboratory conditions and may not be obligate associates of ants. Their larvae are unknown. Species in the genus are found in Africa and Asia.

The genus is placed in the tribe Psilopini within which they are distinct in having long pendant antennae, a long proboscis, a short forehead, a concave face, and a convex abdomen. After locating an ant, they run after it rather than fly. They jab and obtain gut contents from the ant abdomen very rapidly.

Continue reading on Wikipedia
§·

Where it lives

Recorded sightings

—

geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.

§·

In the stacks

Searching the stacks…

Every page naming Rhynchopsilopa in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 645857.