Aenigmatopoeus Schmitz, 1914

Mostovski, Mike B., 2004, New records of scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) from South Africa, with description of a new species and hitherto unknown males, African Invertebrates 45, pp. 125-125 : 126

Aenigmatopoeus Schmitz, 1914

There are six known species in this afrotropical genus (Disney & Kistner 1997). However, five of them are known only from females; Ae. cucullatus being described on both sexes (Colyer 1958). I have males of several species on hand, but only males of Ae. kohli and Ae. orbicularis can be associated with confidence with their females, as they have been found together in Malaise trap samples when no other species was present. Females are wingless and could be carried to traps by the males. Regrettably, no males can be assigned undoubtedly to Ae. cucullatus and Colyer’s (1958) description is used for comparison.

Flies of the genus Aenigmatopoeus are myrmecophilous and termitophilous, and an association with Dorylinae ants has been recorded by Disney (1994) for Ae. kohli and Ae. orbicularis .