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Association and impact of ectoparasitic blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) on Himalayan ants of genus Myrmica

Insectes Sociaux volume 63, pages 477–480 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Parasitism is an arms race, where host and parasite try to out-compete each other. Ants are no exception to parasitism and are parasitized by several organisms including ants themselves. Some blowflies use ants as a resource for the completion of their life cycle. For the first time, we report in detail such an association between species of blowfly genus Stomorhina and Himalayan ants of Genus Myrmica.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Department of Science and Technonology, Ministry of Science of Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi for financial assistance vide grant numbers SR/WOS-A/LS-20/2009; SR/WOS-A/LS-275/2012 and SERB No: SR/S0/AS- 68/2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, Punjab, India

    M. Bharti & H. Bharti

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  1. M. Bharti
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  2. H. Bharti
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Correspondence to H. Bharti.

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Bharti, M., Bharti, H. Association and impact of ectoparasitic blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) on Himalayan ants of genus Myrmica . Insect. Soc. 63, 477–480 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0480-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0480-4

Keywords

  • Blowfly
  • Stomorhina
  • Myrmica
  • Parasitic association
  • Selection pressures
  • Coevolution
  • Himalaya