British Insects: the Families of Diptera
British Insects: the Families of Diptera |
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Parasitic, or non-parasitic (mostly).
Adult insects. Very small to small; slender-bodied; stilt-legged. Antennae 8–24 segmented; ‘simple’ (long, with bead-like segments, often with whorls of hairs). Ocelli present, or absent. Eyes meeting above the antennae. The maxillary palps (1–)3–5 segmented; drooping. Wing veins reaching the margin 3, or 4. Wings without a discal cell; without a sub-apical cell; without a closed anal cell. The costa extending around the entire wing. Sub-costa absent or only dubiously identifiable. Wings with the lower calypter much reduced or absent.
Larvae and pupae. Larvae terrestrial; phytophagous, or saprophagous, or predatory, or parasitic; forming galls (very often), or not gall-forming; eucephalic. Pupa without a puparium.
Comments. Small to minute, delicate flies with broad and often hairy wings having greatly reduced venation, and sometimes a very short first tarsal segment. Including many gall-forming species. Females often with a very long ovipositor.
Classification. Suborder Nematocera; Division Bibionomorpha; Superfamily Sciaroidea.
British representation: Genera about 140; 620 species.
Illustrations: • Lestremia cinerea and L. leucophaea (Walker). • Anarete, Catocha, and Micromya (Walker). • Asphondylia, Asynapta, Cecidomyia, Rhabdophaga (Walker). • Planetella, Porricondyla (Walker). • Brachyneuria, Lasioptera (Walker). • “Cecidomyia verna Curtis” (nomen dubium): Vernal Crane-fly: B. Ent. 178). • “Cecidomyia verna” (detail: B. Ent. 178). • “Cecidomyia verna” (dissections: B. Ent. 178). • “Cecidomyia verna” (B. Ent. 178, legend+text).
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: 9th June 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.
