Melaloncha

{{Short description|Genus of flies}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Melaloncha punctifrons.jpg | image_caption = Female ''Melaloncha punctifrons'' | taxon = Melaloncha | authority = Brues, 1903<ref name="Brues1904">{{cite journal |last1=Brues |first1=Charles Thomas |title=A monograph of the North American Phoridae |journal=Transactions of the American Entomological Society |date=1904 |volume=(1903) 29 |pages=369–404 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/39652#page/47/mode/1up |accessdate=24 October 2020}}</ref> | synonyms = *''Melanoloncha'' Bezzi & Stein, 1907<ref name="BezziStein1907">{{cite book |last1=Bezzi |first1=Mario |last2=Stein |first2=Paul |title=Cyclorrapha Aschiza. Cyclorrapha Schizophora: Schizometopa. Pp. 1-188; 189-825. In Becker, T., Bezzi, M., Kertesz, K., & Stein, P. (eds.), Katalog der palaarktischen Dipteren |volume = 3 |date=1907 |location=Budapest |pages=1–828}}</ref> *''Udamochiras'' Enderlein, 1912<ref name="Enderlein1912">{{cite journal |last1=Enderlein |first1=G. |title=Die Phoridenfauna Süd-Brasiliens |journal=Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung |date=1912 |volume=73 |pages=16–45}}</ref> }}

'''''Melaloncha''''' is a genus of phorid flies (Diptera: Phoridae) commonly referred to as "bee-killing flies". They are found almost exclusively in the Neotropical realm, although there is one record from extreme southern Texas, United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?r=0.2&la=0&lo=-60&kind=Melaloncha |title=Discover Life map of ''Melaloncha'' |accessdate=June 15, 2010}}</ref> They are small flies, usually about {{convert|2|-|3|mm|2}} in length. No true fossils are known, although there are some specimens in Colombian copal, of unknown (but likely relatively recent) age.

==Life history== thumb|alt=female fly attacking bee|Female ''M. acoma'' attacking host stingless bee|left Species of ''Melaloncha'' are parasitoids of bees, especially stingless bees (Meliponini), but also introduced European honey bees (''Apis mellifera''), bumblebees (''Bombus''), and halictid bees (''Megalopta'').<ref name="Brown2004">{{Cite journal |first1=Brian V.|last1= Brown |year=2004 |title=Revision of the subgenus ''Udamochiras'' of ''Melaloncha'' bee-killing flies (Diptera: Phoridae: Metopininae) |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=140 |pages=1–42 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00086.x |doi-access=free |url=https://zenodo.org/records/5439603/files/source.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Brian V. Brown |year=2004 |title=Revision of the ''Melaloncha'' ''cingulata''-group of bee-killing flies (Diptera: Phoridae) |journal=Annals of the Entomological Society of America |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=386–392 |doi=10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097[0386:ROTMCO]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=80679497 }}</ref><ref name="BrownKung2006">{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Brian V. |last2=Kung |first2=Giar-Ann |year=2006 |title=Revision of the ''Melaloncha ungulata''-group of bee-killing flies (Diptera: Phoridae) |journal=Contributions in Science |volume=507 |pages=1–31 |doi=10.5962/p.241298 |s2cid=198268371 |url=http://www.phorid.net/publications/publications_files/MelaUng-gpSmall.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927180410/http://www.phorid.net/publications/publications_files/MelaUng-gpSmall.pdf |archivedate=2011-09-27 }}</ref><ref name="Brown2005">{{Cite journal |first1=Brian V.|last1= Brown |year=2005 |title=Revision of the ''Melaloncha'' ''furcata''-group of bee-killing flies (Diptera: Phoridae) |journal=Insect Systematics and Evolution |volume=36 |issue= 3 |pages=241–258 |url=http://www.phorid.net/publications/publications_files/Insect%2036.3_241-258.pdf |doi=10.1163/187631205788838384 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927180425/http://www.phorid.net/publications/publications_files/Insect%2036.3_241-258.pdf |archivedate=2011-09-27 }}</ref><ref name="Brown2006">{{Cite journal|last1=Brown |first1=Brian V. |year=2006 |title=Revision of the untreated taxa of ''Melaloncha'' s. s. bee-killing flies (Diptera: Phoridae) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=1280 |pages=1–68 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1280.1.1 |url=https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/z01280p068f.pdf |format=abstract: PDF}}</ref><ref name="Kung2008">{{Cite journal|last1=Kung |first1=Giar-Ann|year=2008 |title=Two new species of the ''Melaloncha ungulata'' group of bee-killing flies |journal=Sociobiology |volume=51 |pages=491–496}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author=Brian V. Brown |year=2009 |title=Three new species of parasitoid Phoridae (Diptera) from the Neotropical Region |journal=Sociobiology |volume=54 |pages=715–722 |url=http://homepage.mac.com/briankoehler/BrianKoehlerArts/News/Three%20New%20Parasitoids%202009.pdf }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Some attack their hosts while flying, darting down to lay their eggs; others land, curl their ovipositor under their bodies and rush their hosts on foot (as in ''M. acoma'', see photo); a few carefully land on their host and stealthily inject their egg.

The flies can be attracted by spraying a mixture of honey and water on undergrowth to attract an aggregation of host bees. Frequently, they are found on palm tree flowers (again, with host bees), and sometimes they are encountered around bee nests.

==Taxonomy== The type species of the genus is ''Melaloncha pulchella'' Brues, a species from Bolivia. The holotype specimen was lost in a fire at the Hungarian National Museum. About 170 species are known, but many more exist, and the final total for the genus is likely to be 200–300.<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004">{{Cite journal |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Lisa |last2=Brown |first2=Brian V. |year=2004 |title=New species and records of ''Melaloncha'' (''Udamochiras'') bee-killing flies (Diptera: Phoridae) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=730 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.730.1.1 |url=https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2004f/zt00730.pdf |format=PDF }}</ref> ''Melaloncha'' is organized into two subgenera, ''Udamochiras'' (51 species) and ''Melaloncha'' (117 species).

==Economic importance== The parasitization of honey bees and native stingless bees causes premature mortality of workers and is a drain on the colony. The effects of ''Melaloncha'' parasitism on commercial beekeeping, including efforts to keep native tropical stingless bees (meliponiculture), and the scale of financial losses due to these flies has not been studied.

==Species== *''M. acicula'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. acoma'' Brown & Kung, 2006<ref name="BrownKung2006"/> *''M. adusta'' Brown & Kung, 2006<ref name="BrownKung2006"/> *''M. altobenia'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. anaticula'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. ancistra'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. angustifrons'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. annicae'' Kung, 2008<ref name="Kung2008"/> *''M. apicula'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. aprica'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. atlantica'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. atribiseta'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. atrilingula'' Brown & Kung, 2006<ref name="BrownKung2006"/> *''M. basella'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. berezovskiyi'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. biseta'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. borgmeieri'' Brown & Kung, 2006<ref name="BrownKung2006"/> *''M. brevicarina'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. browni'' Kung, 2008<ref name="Kung2008"/> *''M. calatha'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. calceola'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. caligula'' Brown & Kung, 2006<ref name="BrownKung2006"/> *''M. candida'' Brown & Kung, 2006<ref name="BrownKung2006"/> *''M. carinata'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. castanea'' Brown & Kung, 2006<ref name="BrownKung2006"/> *''M. catervula'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. chamaea'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. ciliata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. cingulata'' Borgmeier, 1959<ref name="Borgmeier1959">{{cite journal |last1=Borgmeier |first1=T. |title=Neue und wenig bekannte Phoriden aus der neotropischen Region. Nebst einigen Arten aud dem Belgischen Congo-Gebiet (Diptera, Phoridae) |journal=Studia ent. |date=1959 |volume=2 |pages=129–208}}</ref> *''M. clandestina'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. clavata'' Schmitz, 1927 *''M. claviapex'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. colossia'' (Enderlein, 1912) *''M. compressicauda'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. concavella'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. cordyla'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. corniculata'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. costaricana'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. crassa'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. crinita'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. cristula'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. cucharella'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. culmena'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. curtibrachia'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. curvata'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. cuspidata'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. dactyla'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. debilis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. declivata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. deinocerca'' Borgmeier, 1960 *''M. diastata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. dibitattii'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. diffidentia'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. digitalis'' Borgmeier, 1959<ref name="Borgmeier1959"/> *''M. elongata'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. elviae'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. erinacea'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. exigua'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. falcata'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. feleoae'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. flava'' Borgmeier, 1959<ref name="Borgmeier1959"/> *''M. flavilata'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. flavilineata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. forficata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. furcata'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. fuscipalpis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. genitalis'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. gibberosa'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. glabrifrons'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. gomezi'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. gongyla'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. gonzalezae'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. gradata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. hamata'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. hansoni'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. hirsuta'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. hirticauda'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. hirticula'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. hirtipecta'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. horologia'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. hyalinipennis'' Borgmeier, 1933 *''M. immaculata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. individa'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. inicua'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. inversa'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. juxta'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. kittsonae'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. kungae'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. lacerna'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. lamellata'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. laselvae'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. laticlava'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. licina'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. lingula'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. lobata'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. luteipleura'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. maculata'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. maculifrons'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. mapiriensis'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. mexicana'' Borgmeier, 1971 *''M. muricata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. nannocauda'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. nigricorpus'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. nigrifrons'' Borgmeier, 1971 *''M. nigrita'' Borgmeier, 1959<ref name="Borgmeier1959"/> *''M. nudibasalis'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. obscurella'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. oligoseta'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. ovata'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. palpalis'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. parkeri'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. paxilla'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. pegmata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. pertica'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. piliapex'' Borgmeier, 1938 *''M. pilidorsata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. pilula'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. platypoda'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. plaumanni'' Borgmeier, 1938 *''M. premordica'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. prosopica'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. prostata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. pulchella'' Brues, 1904 *''M. punctifrons'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. rasmusseni'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. rhampha'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. rhypopoda'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. rodeoensis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. ronnai'' Borgmeier, 1935 *''M. rostrata'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. rubricornis'' Borgmeier, 1924 *''M. ruinensis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. sarmientoi'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. schiaffinoae'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. setitibialis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. simillima'' Borgmeier, 1938 *''M. simoni'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. simotris'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. sinistra'' Borgmeier, 1971 *''M. sinuosa'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. spatula'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. spicula'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. spina'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. stenotes'' González & Brown, 2004<ref name="GonzalezBrown2004"/> *''M. striatula'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. strigosa'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. stylata'' (Schiner, 1868) *''M. succincta'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. tambopatensis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. thompsonae'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. torquata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. triangularis'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. trichopera'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. trita'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. trua'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. tuparroensis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. umbra'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. ungulata'' Borgmeier, 1938 *''M. ustulata'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. valeria'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. vargasi'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. variabilis'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. varicosa'' Brown, 2005<ref name="Brown2005"/> *''M. villosa'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. woodi'' Brown, 2004<ref name="Brown2004"/> *''M. xanthocauda'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/> *''M. zikani'' Borgmeier, 1934 *''M. zurquiensis'' Brown, 2006<ref name="Brown2006"/>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== * [http://www.phorid.net//melaloncha/melaloncha_index.htm Systematics of ''Melaloncha'' page] * [http://www.morphbank.net Morphbank]

Category:Phoridae Category:Taxa named by Charles Thomas Brues Category:Platypezoidea genera Category:Parasites of bees