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Psyche 
[Vol. 87 
our classification of the midge as a kleptoparasite rather than a 
commensal. 
True carnivory, the direct consumption of animal food, is 
unknown among adult cecidomyiids. The only previous record of 
kleptoparasitism and protein consumption we are aware of concerns 
two African species that steal regurgitants being passed between 
ants (Farquharson 1922). A record of cecidomyiids attached to the 
wings of Neuroptera is probably a misidentification of a cera- 
topogonid ectoparasite (described by Slosson 1896). 
Twenty flies were aspirated from spider prey; all were females. 
Traps baited with partially digested insects captured 7 females. No 
midges were taken on the trap with a dead, intact insect or on the 
control. The flies are probably attracted by volatile products of the 
spider’s external digestion. Flies always approached from down¬ 
wind and were often seen attempting to land on the spiders’ 
mouthparts just after a feeding bout. 
Milichiidae (acalypterate Cyclorrhapha): The Milichiidae contain 
a number of kleptoparasitic species, primarily in the genera 
Desmometopa, Phyllomyza, and Neophyllomyza. Hosts include 
asilid flies (Kertesz 1897; Mik 1898; Biro 1899; Peyerimhoff 1917), 
reduviid bugs (Biro 1899; Richards 1953; Robinson 1977), and crab, 
orb-web, and jumping spiders (Frost 1913; Richards 1953). The 
spider Misumena vatia strikes out at approaching milichiids and 
oscillates to dislodge those already perched on prey (Biro 1899). 
Again, defense suggests competition, hence, kleptoparasitism. 
Paramyia nitens (Loew), length 1.9 mm. This small black fly was 
seen on two occasions: a single individual was found on the prey of a 
Nephila clavipes and approximately 10 flies on a vespid wasp being 
consumed by an A. aurantia. Both observations were at night. The 
fly is agile and difficult to dislodge from prey. One individual 
managed to balance on the spider’s prey while the prey item was 
briskly rotated beneath the chelicerae of its host (behavior and 
appearance are similar to that of an unidentified fly watched by 
McCook 1889). All 5 specimens captured were females. The 
mouthparts of milichiids are often elongated; those of Paramyia 
nitens are strikingly exaggerated, nearly as long as the body. The 
rostrum alone is 1.3X the height of the head. This extension may aid 
in reaching through wrapping silk or lapping at the particularly 
fluid, but dangerous, areas near the spider’s mouthparts. Such 
precarious feeding, apparently between the jaws of spiders, has been 
