Erythromelana, , Townsend, 1919

Inclan, Diego J. & Stireman, John O., 2013, <strong> Revision of the genus <em> Erythromelana </ em> Townsend (Diptera: Tachinidae) and analysis of its phylogeny and diversification </ strong>, Zootaxa 3621 (1), pp. 1-82 : 69

ERYTHROMELANA HOST ASSOCIATIONS, SPECIES RICHNESS AND DIVERSIFICATION

Despite the importance and diversity of tachinids, the ecology of most species in the family is poorly known or unknown ( Stireman et al. 2006), and the genus Erythromelana is no exception. Prior to this work, the only knowledge of the genus was the external morphology of three species. Geographic distributions, host associations, and immature stages have not been previously recorded in the literature. As mentioned previously, the Neotropical Region harbors a rich tachinid fauna, particularly Blondeliini , and the species described here probably represent just a fraction of the total species richness of Erythromelana . The great diversity of morphologically similar species of Neotropical Blondeliini begs the question of how all these taxa diversified and what ecological factors were involved. Here, information on geographic distributions and host records of Erythromelana are examined to evaluate potential modes of diversification.