Herpetomonas megaseliae is a monoxenic trypanosomatid isolated from the phorid fly Megaselia scalaris. In the present report, the expression of cell surface sialoglycoconjugates in this parasite was analyzed by Western blotting, flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy analyses using lectins that specifically recognize sialic acid residues. A strong reaction was detected when parasites were t...

Larvae of the leaf beetle Chrysomela lapponica derive a defensive secretion from salicyl glucosides found in the host plant Salix borealis. This secretion protects beetle larvae from some natural enemies, but does not appear to repel parasitoids. We tested the hypothesis that the fly parasitoid Megaselia opacicornis (Diptera, Phoridae) uses the larval defensive secretion of Ch. lapponica in its...

Developmental gene networks implement the dynamic regulatory mechanisms that pattern and shape the organism. Over evolutionary time, the wiring of these networks changes, yet the patterning outcome is often preserved, a phenomenon known as "system drift." System drift is illustrated by the gap gene network-involved in segmental patterning-in dipteran insects. In the classic model organism Droso...

Gene families often consist of members with diverse expression domains reflecting their functions in a wide variety of tissues. However, how the expression of individual members, and thus their tissue-specific functions, diversified during the course of gene family expansion is not well understood. In this study, we approached this question through the analysis of the duplication history and tr...

The scuttle fly, Megaselia scalaris (Loew) (Diptera: Phoridae), is of medical, veterinary, and forensic importance. In the case of the latter, M. scalaris is commonly associated with indoor death or neglect cases of humans or household animals, and its larvae are useful in determining time of colonization (TOC). This study is the first to examine the effects of different temperatures and tissue...

Gap genes are involved in segment determination during early development in dipteran insects (flies, midges, and mosquitoes). We carried out a systematic quantitative comparative analysis of the gap gene network across different dipteran species. Our work provides mechanistic insights into the evolution of this pattern-forming network. As a central component of our project, we created a high-re...

Non-native species pose a threat to native organisms. When non-native and are closely related, the former can often competitively exclude latter. Many studies have focused on competitive exclusion of insect by eusocial hymenopterans, including ants, hornets, paper wasps bees. Although solitary been introduced in many regions, few investigated effects these insects their congeners. We interactio...

This study presents breeding and pollination systems of Aristolochia maxima and A. inflata in a seasonal tropical forest of Panama. Aristolochia is the most diverse genus of Aristolochiaceae, with ∼120 species distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. All the Aristolochia species studied so far are pollinated by saprophagous flies of different families, which are presumably deceived by...

We present SuperFly (http://superfly.crg.eu), a relational database for quantified spatio-temporal expression data of segmentation genes during early development in different species of dipteran insects (flies, midges and mosquitoes). SuperFly has a special focus on emerging non-drosophilid model systems. The database currently includes data of high spatio-temporal resolution for three species:...