British Insects: the Families of Diptera
British Insects: the Families of Diptera |
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Including Neottiophilidae, Thyreophoridae.
Cheese-skippers, Nest-flies, etc.
Parasitic (sometimes blood-sucking in the larval stage), or non-parasitic (mostly).
Adult insects. Small. Antennae 3 segmented; ‘modified’. Antennae twice aristate; the bristle (or bristles) dorsal (on the second and third segments). The second antennal segment not grooved. Ptilinal suture clearly defined. Ocelli present; 3. Lower orbital bristles present, or absent. Post-vertical orbital bristles present; divergent. Mouthparts functional (proboscis short and thick). The maxillary palps 1 segmented; porrect. Vibrissae present. Thorax without a continuous dorsal suture; without well defined posterior calli. Wings with a discal cell; without a sub-apical cell; with a closed anal cell. The anal cell short. The costa unbroken (rarely), or with one break (mostly, at the end of the sub-costa). Sub-costa apparent; reaching the costa independently of vein 1, or joining vein 1 more or less where it joins the costa (immediately after the costal break). Wings without a sharp bend in vein 4; without a ‘vena spuria’. Vein 6 present; reaching the wing margin, or falling short of the wing margin (curved). Vein 7 absent. Wings with the lower calypter much reduced or absent. Tibiae without a dorsal pre-apical bristle. Hind tibiae with strong bristles in the basal 4/5 (?), or without strong bristles in the basal 4/5.
Larvae and pupae. Larvae terrestrial; saprophagous (in dead animal matter. Including the jumping ‘Cheese-skipper’, which damages cheese and other fatty foods), or parasitic (Neottiophilum); when parasitic, ectoparasitic (Neottiophilum inhabits birds’ nests and sucks the nestlings’ blood); acephalic. Pupa enclosed within a puparium.
Comments. Small, shining, black flies, often reflecting bluish.
Classification. Suborder Brachycera; Division Muscomorpha Schizophora Acalyptratae; Superfamily Tephritoidea.
British representation. Genera 12; 13 species. E.g., Piophila casei (Cheese-feeding Fly).
Illustrations. • Piophila casei (Cheese-feeding Fly: B. Ent. 126). • Piophila casei (detail: B. Ent. 126). • Piophila casei (dissections: B. Ent. 126). • Piophila casei (B. Ent. 126, legend+text). • Piophila casei (text, cont.: B. Ent. 126).
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’.
