British Insects: the Families of Diptera
British Insects: the Families of Diptera |
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Carniidae. Formerly in Milichiidae.
Parasitic (at least in the adult stage).
Adult insects. Very small (1–1.5 mm long); winged. Antennae 2–6 segmented; ‘modified’. Antennae aristate. The second antennal segment not grooved. Ptilinal suture clearly defined. Post-vertical orbital bristles present, or absent (?); parallel, or divergent. Mouthparts functional. The maxillary palps 1 segmented; porrect. Thorax without a continuous dorsal suture; without well defined posterior calli. Wings without a discal cell; without a sub-apical cell; without a closed anal cell. The costa with two breaks (at the end of the subcosta and near that of the humeral vein). Sub-costa apparent; joining vein 1 more or less where it joins the costa, or joining vein 1 well short of the costa. Vein 6 present (but only as a shadowy fold); falling short of the wing margin. Wings with the lower calypter much reduced or absent. Tibiae without a dorsal pre-apical bristle. Hind tibiae without strong bristles in the basal 4/5. Parasitic (Carnus residing in the nests of birds, and sucking their blood).
Larvae and pupae. Larvae acephalic. Pupa enclosed within a puparium.
Comments. Tiny flies, with incomplete wing venation. Information on the larval life style lacking.
Classification. Suborder Brachycera; Division Muscomorpha Schizophora Acalyptratae; Superfamily Carnoidea.
British representation. Genera 2; 13 species.
Illustrations. • Carnus.
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Diptera. Version: 18th September 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.
