Blephariceridae Loew, 1861

Jaroslav Starý¹ & Jozef Halgoš²

¹Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, tř. Svobody 26, CZ-771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic;

stary@prfnw.upol.cz

²Department of Ecology, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, SK-842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia; halgos@fns.uniba.sk

This family comprises small to medium-sized flies, with long legs and comparatively broad wings characterised by a net-like pattern of folds. Mouthparts are usually well-developed in females and reduced in males. Two genera are represented in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Blepharicera Macquart, 1843 and Liponeura Loew, 1844. In the former, the eyes are divided transversely into two regions, the upper one with larger ommatidia than the lower one. The larvae are aquatic, living in rapidly flowing streams, often in waterfalls, and feeding on periphyton (algae, bacteria and other organic matter). Adults occur in the immediate vicinity. Females are predatory, but males possibly feed on flower nectar.

Altogether 37 species and subspecies are known to occur in Europe (Zwick 2005, after adjustments), of which 7 taxa are listed in the present checklist, including two subspecies of Liponeura cinerascens: 7 from the Czech Republic (5 in Bohemia, 7 in Moravia) and 6 from Slovakia. There have been no additions or corrections since the previous version of the checklist. No additional species are expected from either the Czech Republic or Slovakia.

Larvae, pupae and males of the Czech and Slovak species may be identified using the keys by Tuša (1986, 1992a, b). The nomenclature is adopted from Zwick (2005), but Blepharicera fasciata is not ranked as a subspecies.

References

[1] Tuša I. 1986: K poznání larev a kukel proudomilek – Liponeura Loew, 1844 (Diptera, Blephariceridae) z toků Moravskoslezských Beskyd. Časopis Slezského Muzea Opava (A) 35: 31-37. (in Czech).

[2] Tuša I. 1992a: Keys to Liponeura (Diptera, Blephariceridae) of Czechoslovakia. Okresní vlastivědné muzeum, Šumperk, 17 pp. (in Czech).

[3] Tuša I. 1992b: Proudomilky – Liponeura Loew, 1844 (Diptera, Blephariceridae) Československa. Časopis Slezského Muzea Opava (A) 41: 269-278.

[4] Zwick P. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Blephariceridae. In Jong H. de (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Nematocera. Fauna Europaea version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.