The family Sciomyzidae or “snail-killing flies” (Diptera: Acalyptratae) are predators, parasitoids, or saprophages on a wide variety of gastropods, as well as fingernail clams and freshwater oligochaete worms. Members of the family have been grouped into 17 feeding guilds based on feeding behavior, type of host/prey, and larval microhabitat. The genus Tetanocera (Tribe Tetanocerini, 40 species worldwide) is particularly interesting because its members occupy six feeding guilds, two more than any other tetanocerine genus. Sequences of both mitochondrial and nuclear genes were used to estimate the phylogeny of the genus Tetanocera. Larval feeding guilds were mapped onto the phylogeny and inferences were made about the evolutionary transitions in feeding strategies that took place during the evolution of the genus. The phylogeny was also used to make predictions about the feeding strategies of the species of Tetanocera whose life-cycles remain unknown.
Species 1: Diptera Sciomyzidae Tetanocera
Keywords: systematics
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