D3138: Contributions to Phoridae, Apocephlaus parasitoid biology: Host association, superparasitism, and genetic detection of host in parasitoid tissue

Monday, November 11, 2024

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM MST

Location: Phoenix Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 6, PCC

Presenting Author(s)

Mattie Gose (she/her/hers)

Master's Student
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

Co-Author(s)

AB

Amil Brown

University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
CL

Carter Leerhoff

University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
BB

Brian Brown

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Los Angeles, California
AF

Andrew A. Forbes

University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

For insects, association with different hosts can lead to reproductive isolation and speciation. Flies in genus Apocephalus (Diptera: Phoridae) are a mix of generalist and specialist parasitoids that are known to attack bees, ants and beetles. When some putative generalist Apocephalus have been interrogated with genetic markers, they have proved to consist of several cryptic specialist species, each with a more limited host range. We studied host association and genetic differentiation in the widely-distributed species A. antennatus, along with others in subgenus Mesophora using mitochondrial COI and nuclear 18s rRNA sequences. We also report previously unknown occurrences of superparasitism in Apocephalus, and demonstrate the efficacy of nanopore sequencing in identifying phorid hosts using only pupal or adult Apocephalus samples.