Apocephalus, Coquillett, 1901

Brown, Brian V., Hayes, Christine, Hash, John M. & Smith, Paul T., 2018, Molecular Phylogeny of the Ant-Decapitating Flies, Genus Apocephalus Coquillett (Diptera: Phoridae), Insect Systematics and Diversity (AIFB) 2 (4), No. 2, pp. 1-8 : 2

Apocephalus subgenus Bees, fireflies and other cantharoid

Mesophora beetles, wasps Apocephalus attophilus group Attine (leafcutter) ants Apocephalus pergandei group Camponotus (carpenter ants) Apocephalus miricauda group “Ponerine” ants Apocephalus feeneri group Pheidole ants Apocephalus grandipalpus group Pheidole ants

From Brown 1993, 1996, 1997b, 2000, 2002; Brown and LeBrun 2010.

unusual, in that they are bright yellow in color, and have male flagllomere 1 greatly enlarged. The life histories of Mesophora species are also unusual, as they attack bees ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ), wasps ( Hymenoptera : Vespidae ), and cantharoid beetles ( Coleoptera : Cantharidae , Lampyridae ) ( Brown 1994, Lewis and Monchamp 1994, Brown 1997 a, Otterstatter et al. 2002, Brown and Wisch 2017, Cohen et al. 2017). This group includes the recently infamous “zombie” fly that is attacking honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) in North America, one of the few phorid flies thought to be affecting human commerce ( Core et al. 2012). No characters that could be considered synapomorphies were given by Borgmeier for the recognition of Apocephalus subgenus Apocephalus , which consists of the non- Mesophora .

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships of Apocephalus species using sequence data as an abundant source of information, both to assess the validity of current groupings (of species groups and subgenera), and to examine what information the phylogeny might bring to bear on the evolution of host use within the genus.