![]() villosa, and the second example of an encyrtid as a primary parasitoid of ants. This is the first record of an encyrtid wasp parasitizing N. Due to the long storage period, DNA amplification failed however, based on biological and morphological data, pupae were placed in the Encyrtidae family. Only immature stages (larvae and pupae) of the wasp could be obtained. These were specialized in parasitizing this specific host caste as no gyne or worker pupae displayed signs of having been attacked. In addition, six male pupae from three colonies contained gregarious endoparasitoid wasps. villosa prepupae had been attacked by the ectoparasitoid syrphid fly Hypselosyrphus trigonus Hull (Syrphidae: Microdontinae), to date the only known dipteran species of the Microdontinae with a parasitoid lifestyle. ![]() Cocoons were dissected and their content examined under a stereomicroscope. Ants and their brood were revised for the presence of any sign of parasitism. Among the unsorted, alcohol-preserved material stored in the Formicidae Collection of the ‘El Colegio de la Frontera Sur’ Research Center (Chetumal, Mexico), we found nine colonies of the ponerine ant Neoponera villosa, that had been collected in bromeliads at Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico) in 1999. ![]() Biological collections around the world are the repository of biodiversity on Earth they also hold a large quantity of unsorted, unidentified, or misidentified material and can house behavioral information on species that are difficult to access or no longer available to science. ![]()
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