{{Short description|Genus of myrmecophilous flies}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Vestigipoda-maschwitzi-female.jpg | image_caption = Electron micrograph of the head of an adult ''Vestigipoda maschwitzi'' female as seen from the top | taxon = Vestigipoda | authority = Disney, 1996 | type_species = Vestigipoda myrmolarvoidea | type_species_authority = Disney, 1996 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision_ref = <ref name="Vestigipoda - AntWiki">{{Cite web |title=Vestigipoda - AntWiki |url=https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Vestigipoda |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=www.antwiki.org}}</ref> | subdivision = * ''V. breviseta'' * ''V. intermedia'' * ''V. longiseta'' * ''V. maschwitzi'' * ''V. myrmolarvoidea'' }}
'''''Vestigipoda''''' is a genus of myrmecophilous flies in the family Phoridae which live in the nests of army ants. The genus was discovered in Malaysia in 1994 from a colony of ''Aenictus gracilis'' and described in 1996 by dipterologist Ronald Henry Disney.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hölldobler |first=Bert |title=The guests of ants: how myrmecophiles interact with their hosts |last2=Kwapich |first2=Christina L. |date=2022 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-26551-6 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref> The biology of ''Vestigipoda'' is still poorly understood, but they are highly derived and specialized for posing as ants and living inside ant colonies. Their eggs closely resemble the eggs of their hosts. Adult females are legless, wingless, and mimic the host larvae. Adult males are not yet described, but exist and are presumably winged.<ref name=":0" /> The cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile of ''V. maschwitzi'' taken from ant nests has been shown to resemble that of the host ants; it is speculated that the two shared peaks in the respective CHC profiles are compounds that allow the flies to be falsely identified as ant larvae, or at least prevent them from being recognized as foreign, but this has not yet been tested.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maruyama |first=Munetoshi |last2=Akino |first2=Toshiharu |last3=Hashim |first3=Rosli |last4=Komatsu |first4=Takashi |date=January 2009 |title=Behavior and Cuticular Hydrocarbons of Myrmecophilous Insects (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae; Diptera: Phoridae; Thysanura) Associated with Asian Aenictus Army Ants (Hymenoptera; Formicidae) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288405819_Behavior_and_Cuticular_Hydrocarbons_of_Myrmecophilous_Insects_Coleoptera_Staphylinidae_Diptera_Phoridae_Thysanura_Associated_with_Asian_Aenictus_Army_Ants_Hymenoptera_Formicidae |journal=Sociobiology |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=19–35 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> As of 2008, all known species of ''Vestigipoda'' are found in Malaysia and inhabit the nests of various ''Aenictus'' species.<ref name="Vestigipoda - AntWiki">{{Cite web |title=Vestigipoda - AntWiki |url=https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Vestigipoda |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=www.antwiki.org}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q14695435}}
Category:Phoridae Category:Brachycera genera {{Diptera-stub}}