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Setting the records straight II: “single spermatheca” of Braula coeca (Diptera: Braulidae) is really the ventral receptacle

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Abstract

Braula coeca has been reported repeatedly, but incorrectly, to have only a single spermatheca—an extremely rare condition in the higher flies. This error is based on the misinterpretation of the ventral receptacle as a single spermatheca combined with the failure to detect the two present but largely reduced dorsal spermathecae. This misconception is of importance, e. g., for correct character coding in phylogenetic analyses and in the context of studies regarding recurrent trends in the evolution of the spermathecae and the ventral receptacle. The ventral receptacle of B. coeca is described and illustrated in detail together with other aspects of the female reproductive tract.

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Acknowledgments

This study would not have been possible without the generous help of some passionate bee keepers. Hubert Dietrich, Felix Andris, Stephan Braun and others were helpful in tracking down live populations of B. coeca in Germany. Thomas Keitel kindly took me to his hives near Nürnberg and, together with his associates Reinhardt Meier and Mohamad Aljneidi, located and collected the parasitized bees for me.

Funding

The earliest stages of this work were supported by a stipend of the German Scientific Foundation (DFG, Ko 1369/1–2).

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  1. SNSB - Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Münchhausenstr. 21, D-81247, Munich, Germany

    Marion Kotrba

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  1. Marion Kotrba
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Correspondence to Marion Kotrba.

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Kotrba, M. Setting the records straight II: “single spermatheca” of Braula coeca (Diptera: Braulidae) is really the ventral receptacle. Org Divers Evol 20, 117–122 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-019-00423-1

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