Héloïse Bastide, Hélène Legout, Noé Dogbo, David Ogereau, Carolina Prediger, Julie Carcaud, Jonathan Filée, Lionel Garnery, Clément Gilbert, Frédéric Marion-Poll, Fabrice Requier, Jean-Christophe Sandoz, Amir Yassin
Social insects' nests harbor intruders known as inquilines,1 which are usually related to their hosts.2 , 3 However, distant non-social inquilines may also show convergences with their hosts,4 , 5 although the underlying genomic changes remain unclear. We analyzed the genome of the wingless and blind bee louse fly Braula coeca, an inquiline kleptoparasite of the western honey bee, Apis mellifera.6 , 7 Using large phylogenomic data, we confirmed recent accounts that the bee louse fly is a drosophilid8 , 9 and showed that it had likely evolved from a sap-breeder ancestor associated with honeydew and scale insects' wax...
January 29, 2024: Current Biology: CB