Niche separation between two closely related species of the genus Lasiambia Anonym., 1937 (Diptera: Chloropidae)

Abstract

Habitat and types of feeding of larvae of the genus Lasiambia Anonym., 1937 are analyzed. Larvae of Lasiambia as opposite to most Chloropidae are not phytophagous and not associated with Poaceae grasses. Two groups of species are separated. The first – larvae are saprophagous in a broad sense. The second includes species, larvae of which are carnivorous. Two closely related species are compared: L. palposa (Fallén, 1820) and L. coxalis (von Roser, 1840). Adults of these species are very similar and distinguished only on the structure of male postabdomen. Larvae of common L. palposa feed in egg pods of many different species of Acrididae, which lay eggs in ground. Larvae of rare L. coxalis feed eggs of Acrididae of a genus Chrysochraon, which lay eggs in plant stem. Character of alimentary nishe is correlated with numbers and extent of areal of these species.

Keywords

• Diptera
• Chloropidae
• Lasiambia
• nishe separation