Pheidole rhea and Fly

Fly puparium on _Pheidole rhea_ major worker’s head. My fingertips are included for scale.

In late March, 2005, I was sitting and watching a Pheidole rhea nest just outside of Tucson, Arizona.

The worker ants were removing a large, dead supermajor.

There was what looked like a fly puparium attached to the front of the supermajor’s head. The puparium looked for all the world like a small grain of brown rice.

Fly puparium on _Pheidole_ _rhea_ major worker, another view. My fingertips are included for scale.

I did not notice any ‘exit holes’ in the body of the ant, but I also did not get a chance to examine it closely, since I accidentally dropped it shortly after taking the photos.

Fly puparium on my fingertip.

My suspicion is that this puparium was that of an ant parasitoid, possibly a fly. It was definitely attached to the head capsule.

And parasitoids’ life cycles often seem to involve an escape from the ant nest just before the adult emerges from the pupa.

If this is a parasitoid pupa, I’m guessing that it’s not one of the more common Phorids, since it’s attached to the outside of the ant’s head capsule.