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DIPTERA, Milichiidae -- <Images> & <Juveniles>

Adult milichiids consistently feed on insects, and thus their feeding habits represent a transitional stage between scavenger and predator. They cannot kill their own prey but are dependent on other predaceous species for food (Clausen 1940/62). Knab (1915) and De Peyerimhoff (1917) summarized the food habits of Milichiidae. Quite a few species of Desmometopa are definitely associated with Asilidae, to which they regularly attach themselves and maintain their hold until a prey is captured. Other species are more often associated with spiders, although they do not attach themselves to the body but feed on prey that becomes entangled in webs, of which most are bees. The above types of phoresy is an adaptation relating only to the feeding of adults and thus differs from that found in Scelionidae and other parasitoids, where the object of the association is to reach the freshly laid egg mass for oviposition (Clausen 1940/62)

References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL Library]