Diastatidae Hendel, 1917

Jan Máca

Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the CR, Nám. Přemysla Otakara 34, CZ-370 01 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; jan_maca@nature.cz

Small (2.0-4.0 mm) and slender, dark, acalyptrate flies. Arista short plumose, proclinate orbital bristle developed. Wing often patterned, with a row of stronger costal spines, costa interrupted immediately by the junction of R1. Anepisternum setose. Adults occur from lowland to montane altitudes, within a broad spectrum of biotopes, particularly in meadows and along forest margins, mostly in humid environments, and are especially common around bogs and marshes. Some species prefer peat-bogs and boggy meadows. The larval development is practically unknown; unidentified adults of Diastatidae were reared from overwintered wild apples (Band 1991).

In the previous version of the checklist (Roháček & Máca 1997), the Diastatidae were treated in a wider sense and included the genus Campichoeta Macquart, 1835. This genus is now considered to form the separate family Campichoetidae.

Some 40 species of Diastatidae (s. str.) have been described; nine species of the only genus, Diastata Meigen, 1830, are known from Europe (Chandler 2004). Eight species are listed in the present checklist (all eight are currently known from the Czech Republic, both from Bohemia and Moravia; seven species are known from Slovakia). There are no changes in the species number compared with the previous version of the checklist. The fauna of Diastatidae in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is reasonably well known; the numbers given above show that only 1-2 additional species are to be expected.

The monograph of the Palaearctic species by Chandler (1987) is fundamental for the study of European species. The species of this family in the Czech Republic and Slovakia were dealt with by Máca and Roháček (1994).

References

[1] Band H.T. 1991: More on Drosophila overwintering. Drosophila Information Service 70: 29.

[2] Chandler P.J. 1987: The families Diastatidae and Campichoetidae (Diptera, Drosophiloidea) with a revision of Palaearctic and Nepalese species of Diastata Meigen. Entomologica scandinavica 18: 1-50.

[3] Chandler P.J. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Diastatidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[4] Máca J. & Roháček J. 1994: The genus Diastata Meigen (Diptera, Diastatidae) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Časopis Slezského muzea Opava (A) 43: 97-111.

[5] Roháček J. & Máca J. 1997: Diastatidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum - Charles University Press, Praha,  pp. 86-87.