Ditomyiidae Edwards, 1921

Vladimír Košel¹ & Jan Ševčík²

¹Department of Zoology, Komenský University, Mlynská dolina B-l, SK-842 15 Bratislava 4, Slovakia; kosel@fns.uniba.sk

²Silesian Museum, Tyršova 1, CZ-746 46 Opava, Czech Republic; sevcikjan@email.cz

Small flies (6.0-8.0 mm) with long, slender legs. Body yellowish-brown, usually with brown markings. Head with well developed haired eyes and 3 ocelli. Antenna 2+14 segmented, flagellomeres cylindrical or compressed and pectinate. Mesonotum usually with 3 longitudinal dark stripes. Postpronotum with long fine seta or setae. Wings relatively broad, slightly smoky or patterned with dark transverse bands. R4 long, ending in C laterally. Sc short, sclerotized only at base, ending free. Wing membrane with macrotrichia. The larvae are white, with head capsule strongly sclerotized, and prothorax and 8 abdominal segments with spiracles (peripneustic type). The pupa is free, without a web cocoon.

The larvae (Ditomyia Winnertz, 1846) are mycophagous, living in the fruiting bodies of various tree fungi (e. g. Polyporus sp. div., Trametes sp. div.) where they pupate (cf. Ševčík 2001). The larvae of Symmerus Walker, 1848 probably develop in rotting wood. The adults occur mostly in the undergrowth of deciduous or mixed forests, in shaded places alongside streams, the overhang of stream banks, and in the space between bank tree roots.

There are about 80 species in the world, 19 species in three genera in the Palaearctic region, and four species in Europe (Chandler 2005, Mamaev & Krivosheina 1988, Søli et al. 2000). In the present checklist, 4 species are reported from the Czech Republic, including 1 species additional to the last checklist (Košel & Martinovský 1997, Ševčík 2006), and 3 species from Slovakia. The extremely rare species Ditomyia macroptera Winnertz, 1852 has not yet been recorded from Slovakia, although it has recently been confirmed in the Czech Republic (Ševčík 2004, Ševčík et al. 2005).

References

[1] Chandler P.J. 2005: Ditomyiidae. In Jong H. de (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Nematocera. Fauna Europaea version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[2] Košel V. & Martinovský J. 1997: Ditomyiidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University Press, Prague, p. 18.

[3] Mamaev B.M. & Krivosheina N.P. 1988: Family Ditomyiidae. In Soós Á. & Papp L. (eds): Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera. Vol.3, Ceratopogonidae – Mycetophilidae. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 197-199.

[4] Søli G.E.E., Vockeroth J.R. & Matile L. 2000: A.4. Families of Sciaroidea. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Manual of Palaearctic Diptera. Appendix. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 49-92.

[5] Ševčík J. 2001: Diptera (excluding Mycetophilidae s. str.) associated with fungi in Czech and Slovak Republics: a survey of rearing records from 1998-2000. Acta Universitatis Carolinae Biologica 45: 157-168.

[6] Ševčík J. 2004: New data on Sciaroidea (Diptera) from the Czech and Slovak Republics, with descriptions of seven new species of Mycetophilidae. Časopis Slezského zemského muzea, Opava (A) 53: 49-74.

[7] Ševčík J., Kubík Š. & Barták M. 2005: Ditomyiidae. In Barták M. & Kubík Š. (eds): Diptera of Podyjí National Park and its environs. Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze, Praha, pp. 46-47. 

[8] Ševčík J. 2006: Faunistic records from the Czech and Slovak Republics. Ditomyiidae. In Kinkorová J. (ed.): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca, Vol. 13. Acta Universitatis Carolinae - Biologica 50: 137.