Scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) whose larvae develop in flowers of Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae) in Panama

Abstract

Megaselia metropolitanoensis Disney, sp. n., M. sakaiae Disney, sp. n. and Puliciphora pygmaea (Borgmeier, 1960) comb. n. are reported developing in the flowers of Aristolochia inflata H.B.K. and A. maxima Jacq. in Panama. The new species are described, as is the hitherto unknown male of Puliciphora pygmaea. The latter is transferred to the genus Puliciphora Dahl, 1897 from the genus Myrmomyia Silvestri, 1911 which is formally synonymised with Puliciphora, along with P. brachymyrmecis (Silvestri, 1911) comb. n. and P. nigroflava (Borgmeier, 1958) comb. n.