C. T. Brues.
Some Cuban Phoridae which Visit the Flowers of Aristolochia Elegans.
Psyche 35(3):160-161, 1928.

This article at Hindawi Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1155/1928/65471
CEC's scan of this article: http://psyche.entclub.org/pdf/35/35-160.pdf, 108K
This landing page: http://psyche.entclub.org/35/35-160.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted automatically from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

160 Psyche [September
SOME CUBAN PHORIDB WHICH VISIT THE FLOWERS OF ARISTOLOCHIA ELEGANS.
During a stay at the Harvard Biological Station at Soledad, Cuba some time ago, Mr. Robert M. Grey, the Curator of the Botanical Garden showed me a beautiful group of Aristolochia vines which are grown in one corner of the garden near his house. He told me that they were regularly visited by small Diptera which he thought were Phoridse and since I have been interested in the members of this family for many years we searched in the few flowers present at that time in hopes of finding some flies. None were to be found, but Mr. Grey promised to send me some at the season when the Aristolochias bloom in greater profusion. He did not forget his promise and I received recently a series of specimens which include two common species of West Indian Phoridse. These are Dohrniphora venusta Loew and Aphiochc~ta scalaris Loew, both present in apparently about equal numbers. It is of course well known that various small insects, par- ticularly Diptera, enter the flowers of Aristolochia through the corolla tube which in some species is lined with reflexed hairs that prevent the escape of the visitors until the withering of stigmas and the opening of the anthers. Then the barricade of hairs withers likewise and the insects escape. As the flowers are protogynous, cross fertilization is affected by the first entrance of the insects if they come from another flower, and they later leave with pollen acquired toward the end of their imprisonment. Several observers have recorded the insect visitors of a number of species of Aristolochia (Spengel, Hildebrand, Delpino, Correns, Carrl) and find that most of the insects are small Dip- tera of various kinds. Verrall (British Flies, vol. 1, p. 47) noted in England that Aristolochia clematitis is visited most commonly by gall midges (Itonididse), although Muller and Delpino found 'References to many earlier publications are contained in Knuth's well known Blutenbiologie vol. 2, pt 2 pp. 366-372; Carr'b account is in the En- tomologist's Monthly Magazine, vol. 60 (1924) p. 258).



================================================================================

19281 Some Cuban Phoridce 161
Ceratopogonidse, Chironomidse, Scatopsidse and Oscinidse in the flowers. These families are represented in the flowers of other species of Aristolochia quite generally and in several species Phoridse have been found. The specific names of the Phorids are unfortunately not reliable in any of these old accounts. Carr found, however, in Aristolochia sipho a Phorid, Aphio- chffita' dahli Becker commonly present together with several other small flies of other families. All the flies sent by Mr. Grey from the Cuban flowers of Aristolochia eleqans are Phoridse, as in- dicated above.




================================================================================