@article {206,
	title = {Extreme host specificity by Microdon mutabilis (Diptera : Syrphidae), a social parasite of ants},
	journal = {Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences},
	volume = {266},
	number = {1418},
	year = {1999},
	pages = {447-453},
	abstract = {Larvae of the syrphid fly Microdan mutabilis are social parasites which live up to two years, feeding on ant brood in nests of Formica lemani ants. We questioned why M mutabilis is extremely localized when its host is widespread and abundant. Like endoparasitic diseases, social parasites must penetrate formidable defences before {\textquoteright}infecting{\textquoteright} their hosts. This occurs during the egg stage of M. mutabilis: females are sedentary and oviposit at ii: lemani nest entrances, which workers treat as part of their nest, leaving the thin-shelled eggs vulnerable to attack for 10-14 days before hatching. We describe experiments which show a strong maternal effect in M. mutabilis. New-laid eggs had > 95\% survival when introduced to the individual ant colony that reared each mother fly or to its close neighbours, but survival declined as a sigmoidal logistic function of distance from the mother nest, with F. lemani colonies from 2 and 30 km away killing 80 and > 99\% of eggs, respectively, within 24h. Attacks on eggs also increased in proportion to the delay before introduction to laboratory nests. We suggest that they may be coated with a mimetic chemical disguise that lasts for three to four days after oviposition. The results indicate extreme local adaptation by an M. mutabilis population not simply to one species of host, but to an individual host population and possibly to local strains or family groups within an F. lemani population. This conclusion is discussed in terms of virulence, transmission and coevolution in parasitic diseases.},
	keywords = {Microdon, predator, Syrphidae},
	author = {Elmes, G.W. and Barr, B. and Thomas, J.A. and Clarke, R.T.}
}
@article {414,
	title = {Polymorphic growth rates in myrmecophilous insects},
	journal = {Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B},
	volume = {267},
	year = {2000},
	pages = {771-777},
	abstract = {A polymorphism in growth rates was recently described a{\textexclamdown}ecting the larval development of the myrmecophilous butter{\textsterling}y Maculinea rebeli, spanning di{\textexclamdown}erent years in a single insect population. The close integration of M. rebeli into the host ant colonies, facilitated by adaptations in behaviour and chemical mimicry, make extended larval development a successful strategy. Here we present additional data for M. rebeli and new data for Maculinea alcon (another cuckoo-feeding lycaenid) and the two myrmecophilous predators Maculinea arion and Microdon mutabilis (Diptera: Syrphidae). As predicted, M. alcon shows the same growth pattern as M. rebeli with a proportion of caterpillars developing in one year and the remainder over two years. This pattern holds in both northern and southern European populations, where M. alcon exploits di{\textexclamdown}erent species of host. Against expectation, the same bimodal distribution of pre-pupation body weights, indicating one and two year developers, was found for the larvae of M. arion and M. mutabilis. As predators, both species are less closely integrated in their host ant colonies, suggesting that the polymorphism in growth rates is a more general adaptation to a myrmecophilous life style, arrived at by convergent evolution between the Maculinea and Microdon species. For predatory species we suggest that biennialism is an adaptation to the migratory behaviour of the host made possible by the predators{\textquoteright} ability to fast over extended periods.We also hypothesize that M. arion represents an ancestral strategy in Maculinea butter{\textsterling}ies and that the growth polymorphism might have become genetically {\textcent}xed in the cuckoo-feeding species.},
	author = {Sch{\"o}nrogge, K. and Wardlaw, J. C. and Thomas, J.A. and Elmes, G.W.}
}
@article {2106,
	title = {(Addendum) When rare species become endangered: cryptic speciation in myrmecophilous hoverflies},
	journal = {Biological Journal of the Linnean Society},
	volume = {76},
	year = {2002},
	pages = {315},
	keywords = {Microdon, Microdon (Microdon), Microdon (Microdon) mutabilis (Linnaeus)},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2002.tb02090.x/abstract},
	author = {Sch{\"o}nrogge, K. and Barr, B. and Wardlaw, J. C. and Napper, E. and Gardner, M. G. and Breen, J. and Elmes, G.W. and Thomas, J.A.}
}
@article {2105,
	title = {When rare species become endangered: cryptic speciation in myrmecophilous hoverflies},
	journal = {Biological Journal of the Linnean Society},
	volume = {75},
	year = {2002},
	pages = {291-300},
	keywords = {Microdon, Microdon (Microdon), Microdon (Microdon) mutabilis (Linnaeus)},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1095-8312.2002.00019.x/abstract},
	author = {Sch{\"o}nrogge, K. and Barr, B. and Wardlaw, J. C. and Napper, E. and Gardner, M. G. and Breen, J. and Elmes, G.W. and Thomas, J.A.}
}
