British Insects: the Families of Diptera
British Insects: the Families of Diptera |
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Adult insects. Slender-bodied; not stilt-legged. Antennae 3 segmented (third segment short and rounded); ‘modified’. Antennae aristate; the bristle dorsal. The second antennal segment not grooved. Ptilinal suture clearly defined. Mouthparts functional. The maxillary palps 1 segmented; porrect. Vibrissae absent. Thorax without a continuous dorsal suture; without well defined posterior calli. Wings with a discal cell; with a subapical cell (almost closed), or without a sub-apical cell; with a closed anal cell. The anal cell short. The costa unbroken. Sub-costa apparent; reaching the costa independently of vein 1. Wings without a ‘vena spuria’. Vein 6 present; reaching 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. Abdomen constricted basally (Ichneumon-like in appearance).
Larvae and pupae. Larvae terrestrial; predatory (?); acephalic. Pupa enclosed within a puparium.
Comments. Abdomen long and thin, somewhat contracted basally. Thorax and abdomen blackish, legs yellowish brown. Wings long and narrow, the 1st basal cell over half the length of the wing. Ovipositor short and retractile.
Classification. Suborder Brachycera; Division Muscomorpha Schizophora Acalyptratae; Superfamily Diopsoidea.
British representation: Genera 1; 1 species.
Illustrations: • Megamerina dolium (from Walker).
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’.
