Stylogaster

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The conopid genus Stylogaster is a group of unusual flies, restricted to the New World, a few species of which are found in North America. It is the only genus in the subfamily Stylogastrinae, which some authorities have historically treated as a separate family Stylogastridae (or Stylogasteridae).

Stylogastrines are obligate associates of army ants, using the ants' raiding columns to flush out their prey, ground-dwelling Orthoptera and/or roaches. Stylogastrines somewhat atypical for conopids, in that the egg itself is shaped somewhat like a harpoon, with a rigid barbed tip, and the egg is forcibly jabbed into the host; the female waits for the army ants to flush out a target, then she dives in and jabs an egg into the host. The Stylogaster larvae then develop as internal parasites. This is a remarkably high-risk behavior, in that many hosts are captured and killed by the ants after a female has laid an egg in it, so many eggs are lost.

Adults can occasionally be found at flowers, feeding on nectar with their proboscis, which is longer than the body when unfolded. The female's abdomen is also folded under the body, and is the derivation of the generic name (Stylogaster = "needle-tail").

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