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1. Takeoff diversity in Diptera

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2375  

   Yarger, Alexandra M ; Jordan, Katherine A ; Smith, Alexa J ; Fox, Jessica L ( January 2021 , Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

   The order Diptera (true flies) are named for their two wings because their hindwings have evolved into specialized mechanosensory organs called halteres. Flies use halteres to detect body rotations and maintain stability during flight and other behaviours. The most recently diverged dipteran monophyletic subsection, the Calyptratae, is highly successful, accounting for approximately 12% of dipteran diversity, and includes common families like house flies. These flies move their halteres independently from their wings and oscillate their halteres during walking. Here, we demonstrate that this subsection of flies uses their halteres to stabilize their bodies during takeoff, whereas non-Calyptratae flies do not. We find that flies of the Calyptratae are able to take off more rapidly than non-Calyptratae flies without sacrificing stability. Haltere removal decreased both velocity and stability in the takeoffs of Calyptratae, but not other flies. The loss of takeoff velocity following haltere removal in Calyptratae (but not other flies) is a direct result of a decrease in leg extension speed. A closely related non-Calyptratae species (D. melanogaster) also has a rapid takeoff, but takeoff duration and stability are unaffected by haltere removal. Haltere use thus allows for greater speed and stability during fast escapes, but only in the Calyptratae clade.

    

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2. Drosophilidae (Diptera) of the Cook Islands

   https://doi.org/10.3853/j.2201-4349.73.2021.1770  

   McEvey, Shane F. ( November 2021 , Records of the Australian Museum)
3. Reclustering the cluster flies (Diptera: Oestroidea, Polleniidae)

   https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12369  

   Cerretti, Pierfilippo ; Stireman, III, John O. ; Badano, Davide ; Gisondi, Silvia ; Rognes, Knut ; Giudice, Giuseppe Lo ; Pape, Thomas ( September 2019 , Systematic Entomology)

   A phylogenetic analysis of selected oestroid taxa based on 66 morphological traits and sequences from three nuclear protein‐coding genes (CAD,MAC,MCS) resolved the composition and phylogenetic position of the former subfamily Polleniinae of the Calliphoridae – here resurrected at family rank as Polleniidae Brauer & Bergenstamm, 1889stat. rev.Six species are transferred from the family Rhinophoridae to the Polleniidae: the Palaearctic genusAlvamajaRognes, along with its single speciesAlvamaja chlorometallicaRognes, and five Afrotropical species comprising thecarinata‐group formerly in the genusPhytoRobineau‐Desvoidy but here assigned to genusMoriniaRobineau‐Desvoidy, i.e.M. carinata(Pape, 1987)comb.n.,M. lactineala(Pape, 1997)comb.n.,M. longirostris(Crosskey, 1977)comb.n.,M. royi(Pape, 1997)comb.n.andM. stuckenbergi(Crosskey, 1977)comb.n.The Polleniidae are monophyletic and, in agreement with most recent phylogenetic reconstructions, sister to the Tachinidae. The female ofA. chlorometallicaand a new species ofMoriniaof thecarinata‐group (Morinia tsitsikammasp.n.from South Africa) are described.

   This published work has been registered in ZooBank,http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:25B0C220‐DEE4‐4B0C‐88EA‐35FDE298EBC5.

    

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4. Land Use and Larval Habitat Increase Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) Abundance in Lowland Hawaii

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjy117  

   McClure, Katherine M ; Lawrence, Charlotte ; Kilpatrick, A Marm ( August 2018 , Journal of Medical Entomology)

   null (Ed.)
5. Within host acoustic signal preference of frog‐biting mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and midges (Diptera: Corethrellidae) on Iriomote Island, Japan

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ens.12455  

   Legett, Henry D. ; Aihara, Ikkyu ; Bernal, Ximena E. ( January 2021 , Entomological Science)

   Haematophagous insects can rely on specialized host‐seeking behaviors to locate hosts. Some frog‐biting flies, for example, eavesdrop on the conspicuous acoustic signals produced by male frogs and toads. Using such auditory cues to locate a host imposes an additional challenge: how to recognize appropriate sounds when different frog species produce calls with varying acoustic properties. The limited knowledge of antennal hearing in dipteran insects hinders our ability to understand how eavesdropping flies detect and recognize frog calls. Behavioral studies suggest that frog‐biting flies use broad acoustic templates to detect and recognize their victims. Here, we use within‐species call variation to examine the acoustic preferences in frog‐biting flies. Specifically, we examine the attraction of frog‐biting mosquitoes (Uranotaeniaspp.) and midges (Corethrella nippon) to the calls of a Japanese treefrog, the Ryukyu Kajika frog (Buergeria japonica), on Iriomote Island, Japan. Male Ryukyu Kajika frogs produce two call types. While both calls have a high frequency peak (3 kHz), the first call type (Type I) also contains a lower frequency peak (1.8 kHz) absent in the second call type (Type II). Using field phonotaxis experiments we found that Type I calls are more attractive to both frog‐biting mosquitoes and midges. Thus, our results suggest that the frog‐biting Nematoceran flies in this community are biased towards the acoustic properties of Type I calls. We discuss this finding in the context of the evolution of antennal hearing in flies.

    

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