Acroceridae Leach, 1815

Milan Chvála

Department of Zoology, Charles University Prague, CZ-128 44 Praha 2, Czech Republic; mchvala@natur.cuni.cz

The family Acroceridae is a small group of medium-sized brachycerous flies, characterised by the enlarged, bare, globose body, with a very small head concealed partly beneath the large thorax. Wing usually clear, with very reduced venation, and the large thoracic calypter, together with the globular body, is the most significant feature. Rather rare flies in nature; the larvae are endoparasites of spiders, developing in the abdomen or the egg cocoons.

Only 34 species are known in Europe (Nartshuk 2004), and of these 9 are listed in the present checklist; 7 species occur in the Czech Republic (6 in Bohemia and 3 in Moravia), and 6 species are known in Slovakia. No new records are available in this new version of the checklist. A systematic study of the Central European species, with keys to genera and species, was published by Chvála (1980).

References

[1] Chvála M. 1980: Acroceridae (Diptera) of Czechoslovakia. Acta Universitatis Carolinae – Biologica, 1977 (1980): 253-257.

[2] Nartshuk E.P. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Acroceridae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunauer.org.