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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Diptera |
Macroceridae; ~Mycetophilidae
Adult insects. Slender-bodied; stilt-legged. Antennae 8–16 segmented; ‘simple’; not aristate. Ocelli present. Eyes rounded, well separated. The maxillary palps 3–5 segmented; drooping. Posterior division of pronotum without long bristles. Wing veins reaching the margin 8, or 9 (?). Wings without a discal cell; without a sub-apical cell; without a closed anal cell. Sub-costa apparent; usually long and ending in the costa; reaching the costa independently of vein 1 (Orfelia). The leading edge veins markedly stronger than the rest (?). Media and cubitus veins connected via a cross vein or by a fusion. Media vein fused basally with the radius for a short distance. Media-cubitus and radius-media cross-veins not both present, media and radius being fused. Wings with the lower calypter much reduced or absent. Tibiae apically spurred. Feet without a triple pad. Abdomen constricted basally.
Larvae and pupae. The larvae terrestrial; eucephalic. The pupae without a puparium.
Classification. Suborder Nematocera; Division Bibionomorpha; Superfamily Sciaroidea.
British representation. 52 species in Britain. Genera 15; Antlemon, Asindulum, Cerotelion, Isoneuromyia, Keroplatus, Macrocera, Macrorhyncha, Monocentrota, Neoplatyura, Orfelia, Platyura, Pyratula, Rototelion, Rutilapa, Urytalpa.
Illustrations. • Macrocera stigma Curtis: B. Ent. 637. • Macrocera stigma Curtis: B. Ent. 637, legend+text. • Macrocera stigma Curtis: B. Ent. 637, text cont.. • Macrorrhyncha and Platyura (from Walker). 1, Macrorrhyncha flava, with details of the head and antenna from the side (1a), and from the front (1b). 5, Platyura laticornis, with details of front of head (5a), and antenna (5b). 5c and 5d, Platyura marginata, details of labium with palps, and wing, respectively. From Walker (1856, Plates XXII and XXIII), with 2mm scale added. • Macrocera lutea (from Walker). Macrocera lutea: male, details of wing and (inverted) side view of head. From Walker (1856, Plate XXIII). • Macrocera phalerata: Stephens 1846. • Orfelia nemoralis (Yellow-legged Fungus-gnat: B. Ent. 134). • Orfelia nemoralis: B. Ent. 134, legend+text. • Orfelia nemoralis: B. Ent. 134, text cont..
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, 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. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Diptera. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
