Vol. 63, 2024

(update: 2024.4.16)

Revising Spider Egg-predating Fly Records (Diptera: Sarcophagidae): New Insights on Prey, Taxonomy, and Distribution of Sarcophaga (Mehria) lorosa Hall in Southern South America

²

, Pablo Ricardo Mulieri³, Benito Cortés-Rivas⁴, Andrés Moreira-Muñoz⁵, and Rodrigo de Oliveira Araujo^2,4

¹Corresponding author: Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, Trav. 14, 101, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-090, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. *Correspondence: E-mail: filipe.gudin@gmail.com (Gudin)
²Centro de Investigación de Estudios Avanzados del Maule, Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, Universidad Católica del Maule, Avenida San Miguel, 3605, Talca, Chile. E-mail: paduadg@gmail.com (Pádua); rodrigobioz@gmail.com (de Oliveira Araujo)
³Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, División Entomología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Avenida Angel Gallardo, 470, Buenos Aires, Argentina. E-mail: mulierii@yahoo.com (Mulieri)
⁴Laboratorio de Ecología de Abejas, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Católica del Maule, Avenida San Miguel, 3605, Talca, Chile. E-mail: benitocortes.r@outlook.com (Cortés-Rivas)
⁵Instituto de Geografía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Avenida Brasil 2241, Valparaíso, Chile. E-mail: andres.moreira@pucv.cl (Moreira-Muñoz)

(Received 7 July 2023 / Accepted 27 December 2023 / Published 16 April 2024)
Communicated by Y. Miles Zhang

Flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) exhibit a wide range of feeding habits including necrophagy, coprophagy, kleptoparasitism, parasitism, and predation. Among them are species of Sarcophaga Meigen belonging to the subgenera Baranovisca Lopes and Mehria Enderlein that are specialized predators of spider eggs. These flies hover around spider webs and lay their larvae on the spider egg sac. While progress has been made on the taxonomy of Baranovisca and Mehria in recent decades, our knowledge about their biology, prey selection, and distribution remains limited, restricting our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of Sarcophagidae-Araneae interactions. Here, we describe and illustrate the first record of S. (M.) lorosa Hall preying on egg sacs of Metepeira galatheae (Thorell) (Araneae: Araneidae) in Chile. The taxonomy of S. (M.) lorosa is revised, with two new junior synonyms proposed: Weyrauchimyia ruficauda Lopes and Tibana, syn. nov., and Arachnidomyia travassosi Tibana and Mello, syn. nov. Furthermore, we present an annotated catalog that comprehensively reviews the existing records of spider egg-predating Sarcophagidae, and provide an overview of the evolution of Sarcophagidae-Araneae interactions. Our catalog includes information on at least four species of Baranovisca and 10 species of Mehria that have been documented as preying on eggs from species of various spider families, such as Araneidae, Cheiracanthiidae, Clubionidae, Philodromidae, Salticidae, and Tetragnathidae. These records cover all biogeographical regions except the Afrotropical. Our results enhance our understanding of the evolution of Sarcophagidae-Araneae interactions.

Key words: Araneidae, Coevolution, Egg sacs, Metepeira, Oviposition strategy

Citation: Gudin FM, de Pádua DG, Mulieri PR, Cortés-Rivas B, Moreira-Muñoz A, de Oliveira Araujo R. 2024. Revising spider egg-predating fly records (Diptera: Sarcophagidae): New insights on prey, taxonomy, and distribution of Sarcophaga (Mehria) lorosa Hall in southern South America. Zool Stud 63:07. doi:10.6620/ZS.2024.63-07.