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Fossil evidence of phorid parasitism (Diptera: Phoridae) by allantonematid nematodes (Tylenchida: Allantonematidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2003

G. POINAR
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA

Abstract

Howardula helenoschini sp. n. (Tylenchida: Allantonematidae) is described from 40 million year-old Baltic amber. The nematodes are parasitic in the body cavity of an adult fly of the genus Triphleba (Phoridae: Diptera). Characteristics of the fossil species are the large size of the pre-adult juveniles and a small number of progeny compared with extant Howardula parasites of flies. Reasons are given why these features suggest that this species was at an early stage of adapting, evolutionarily, to its insect host.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2003 Cambridge University Press

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