Explanation of Names
Author of genus is Kessel, 1960. (Edward Luther Kessel, 1904-, see
World Diptera Taxonomists.)
Numbers
Nearctica.com lists one species, M. kahli.
Identification
See comments under this photo:
Life Cycle
Associated with stinkhorn mushrooms,
Phallaceae (comments
here).
Anna Botsford Comstock, in Handbook of Nature Study (1913), makes an interesting observation about spore dispersal in stinkhorn mushrooms:
The spores are borne in the chambers of the cap, and when ripe the substance of these chambers dissolves into a thick liquid in which the spores float. The flies are attracted by the fetid odor and come to feast upon these fungi and to lay their eggs within them, and incidentally they carry the spores away on their brushy feet, and thus help to spread the species.
It seems quite possible that the elongated tarsi of the Platypezidae are a co-evolutionary adaptation for spreading the spores of these mushrooms.
Contributed by
Cotinis on 7 June, 2005 - 11:42am
Last updated 30 September, 2008 - 8:39am
