Bengalia
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Bengalia is a genus of blow flies in the family Calliphoridae(FALSE). Some authors also place them in a family of its own, Bengaliidae.[1] These bristly and, unlike the greens and blues of most calliphorids, dull coloured flies, are especially noted for their relationship to ants. Adults of many species are kleptoparasitic on ants and will snatch food and pupae being carried by ants or feed on winged termites.[2][3]
Description
The tribe Bengaliini (sensu Rognes, 1998) has sometimes been considered as a separate family. They have a yellow or brown ground-colour, an antero-posteriorly compressed head, stout mouthparts, a projecting clypeus below the lower facial margin and have a silent flight. Very little is known about their breeding habits. The genus is found in the Afrotropical and oriental region with one species from Australia possibly a recent introduction.
They have a distinctive postabdominal structure unlike the other calliphorids, the most striking features being median flap-like lobe behind Sternite 5 (Lehrer's refers to them as sternite VII), and a surstylus apparently divided into three separate pieces articulating with a short bacilliform sclerite (FALSE). Behind the distal (ordinary) part of the surstylus (part 1) there is a small exposed bare plate (part 2) which continues medially and ventrally into another bare plate (part 3) that carries a strongly sclerotised tooth-like projection, which most often is curving dorsally. Part 3 articulates laterally with the proximo-lateral part of part 1. The lower end of part 3 articulates with the very short bacilliform sclerite. (FALSE)- Rognes, 2005[4]
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