Where Is My Food? Brazilian Flower Fly Steals Prey from Carnivorous Sundews in a Newly Discovered Plant-Animal Interaction

A new interaction between insects and carnivorous plants is reported from Brazil. Larvae of the predatory flower fly Toxomerus basalis (Diptera: Syrphidae: Syrphinae) have been found scavenging on the sticky leaves of several carnivorous sundew species (Drosera, Droseraceae) in Minas Gerais and São Paulo states, SE Brazil. This syrphid apparently spends its whole larval stage feeding on prey trapped by Drosera leaves. The nature of this plant-animal relationship is discussed, as well as the Drosera species involved, and locations where T. basalis was observed. 180 years after the discovery of this flower fly species, its biology now has been revealed. This is (1) the first record of kleptoparasitism in the Syrphidae, (2) a new larval feeding mode for this family, and (3) the first report of a dipteran that shows a kleptoparasitic relationship with a carnivorous plant with adhesive flypaper traps. The first descriptions of the third instar larva and puparium of T. basalis based on Scanning Electron Microscope analysis are provided.

Pollen profile from sediment core KB1, Holzminden, Northern Germany

The Nachtigall clay pit near Holzminden, northern Germany, is located in a subrosional basin filled with 43 m of interglacial, interstadial and stadial deposits adjacent to the Weser River. The succession separates the Older Middle Terrace from the Younger Middle Terrace of the Weser River. Nachtigall core KB1 (1998) mainly contains silt and clay with intercalated peat layers. The layers of fen peat and intercalated humic silt are between 36 and 22.5 m depth. According to palynological studies, the peat layers and some humic silts were deposited during interglacial and interstadial periods marked by forest vegetation, termed Nachtigall 1 and Nachtigall 2. They are subdivided by a stadial, termed Albaxen. The peat of Nachtigall 1 is interrupted twice by silt and clay strata (Allochthonous Unit I, II) which are reworked sediments of older glacial periods, possibly of late Elsterian or early Holsteinian age. The palynological sequences of Nachtigall and Göttingen/Ottostrasse show the same pattern. Moreover, the contemporaneous pollen profiles of Nachtigall and Göttingen/Ottostrasse can be compared with the Velay pollen sequence (France). The Nachtigall core section 36-26.02 m corresponds to Bouchet 2 - Bonnefond - Bouchet 3 in Velay. The profiles of Velay and Nachtigall are independently correlated to the MIS-timescale and correspond to MIS 7c, 7b, and 7a. TIMS 230Th/U-dating shows ages ranging from 227 + 9/-8 to 201 + 15/-13 ka, which are in good agreement with the inferred MIS 7 age.