Chamaemyiidae Hendel, 1910 (1823)

Miroslav Barták¹ & László Papp²

¹Czech University of Agriculture, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Department of Zoology and Fishery, CZ-165 21 Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic; bartak@af.czu.cz

²Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum and Animal Ecology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
H-1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary; lpapp@zoo.zoo.nhmus.hu

Minute to small (1.0-5.0 mm), often silvery-grey flies, often with dark markings on head, thorax or abdomen. Arista bare to pubescent; ocellar, postocellar, orbital, frontal and vibrissal setae present or absent. Costa without breaks, subcosta complete, costal area often dark, cell Cup closed. Tibiae without dorsal preapical seta. The larvae are predators of Homoptera living on a wide range of trees and herbs. Consequently, chamaemyiid adults occur in various grassland habitats, in reeds, in mixed or deciduous forests, in lowlands, but also in montane habitats. For further information, see (McAlpine 1971, McLean 1998, Papp 1979, Tanasijtshuk 1986). Altogether 108 species are known to occur in Europe (Gaimari 2004 – where several newly described species are omitted.). 27 of them are listed in the present checklist (25 in the Czech Republic, 12 in Bohemia, 24 in Moravia, and 19 in Slovakia). Since the last version of the checklist, the number of species has increased by one that was erroneously omitted from the previous version and by additional species published by Papp et al. (2005). The chamaemyiid fauna of Moravia is rather better studied than the poorly known fauna of both Bohemia and Slovakia.

The basic characteristics of the family were given by (McAlpine 1971, Papp 1979). The Central European species may be identified using the key and figures in (Beschovski & Merz 1998, Beschovski & Tanasijtshuk 1990, Beschovski 1994, Gaimari 2004, Papp 1979, Tanasijtshuk 1992), but corrections are necessary due to the description of new species. The nomenclature in the present checklist follows that of the Fauna Europaea (Gaimari 2004), with some changes and additions.

References

[1] Beschovski V.L. 1994: Three new species of genus Chamaemyia Meigen, 1803 from Europe (Insecta: Diptera: Chamaemyiidae). Reichenbachia 30 (35): 203-209.

[2] Beschovski V.L. & Merz B. 1998: Contribution to the knowledge of the Chamaemyiidae (Diptera), with particular reference to the fauna of Switzerland. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 71: 83-106.

[3] Beschovski V.L. & Tanasijtshuk V.N. 1990: Taxonomic notes on the Chamaemyia species in the Collin's collection in Oxford, with description of a new species (Insecta: Diptera: Chamaemyiidae). Reichenbachia 28 (16): 79-87.

[4] Gaimari S.D. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Chamaemyiidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[5] McAlpine J.F. 1971: A revision of the subgenus Neuleucopis (Diptera: Chamaemyiidae). Canadian Entomologist 103: 1851-1874.

[6] McLean I.F.G. 1998: Family Chamaemyiidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera. Vol. 3, Higher Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 415-423.

[7] Papp L. 1979: Korhadéklegyek – Pajzstetűlegyek – Lauxaniidae – Chamaemyiidae. Magyarország Állatvilága, 15/4. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 89 pp.

[8] Papp L., Barták M. & Kubík Š. 2005: Chamaemyiidae. In Barták M. & Kubík Š. (eds): Diptera of Podyjí National Park and its Environs. ČZU Praha, pp. 266-269.

[9] Tanasijtshuk V. N. 1986: Mukhi serebryanki (Chamaemyiidae). Fauna SSSR, Dvukrylye, Vol. 24, vyp. 7. Nauka, Leningrad, 336 pp.

[10] Tanasijtshuk V.N., 1992: Morphological differences and phyletic relations between the genera of Chamaemyiid flies (Diptera, Chamaemyiidae). Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 71 (1): 199-230.

[11] Tanasijtshuk V.N. & Beschovski V.L. 1991: A contribution of the Chamaemyia species (Diptera, Chamaemyiidae) from Bulgaria and some East European countries. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 41: 18-25.