Indirect Trophalaxis and Courtship Behaviour in the Nothybidae

Abstract

The Oriental family Nothybidae (Diptera: Diopsoidea) is a small, rarely collected group of acalyptrate flies including eight described species, all in the genus Nothybus. Nothybus species are usually collected in wet forests but little is known of their life cycle and behaviour. Adults, most often seen on horizontal leaf surfaces, wave their front legs much like superficially similar Micropezidae and some hold their wings at a characteristic angle of about 45 degrees from the horizontal (McAlpine 1974; Marshall 2012). Larvae, however, are known only from first instars dissected from pinned adult specimens, and larval habits remain unknown. We here describe courtship behaviour in a Vietnamese population of Nothybus sumatranus Enderlein in which the males provide nuptial gifts through indirect trophallaxis.