Dryomyzidae Schiner, 1862

Rudolf Rozkošný

Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech Republic; rozk@sci.muni.cz

Adults are medium-sized to large flies (body length 5.0-15.0 mm). Postvertical setae parallel to diverging, vibrissae absent, and dorsal preapical setae on tibiae present. Wing venation complete, i.e. costa unbroken and subcosta not reduced. The immature stages are known only for two species. The larvae live in decaying carion, excrement and rotting fungi. The adults are frequently found in forests in shaded humid places with low vegetation, searching for flowing sap and suitable pabula for the development of their larvae.

Only 4 species in 2 genera are known in Europe (Carles-Torlá 2005), and 3 of them are common in Central Europe. These were also recorded from the Czech Republic and from Slovakia in the previous version of the checklist (Martinek 1997). The number of species is very probably final because the fourth European species is known only from Finland and Sweden.

The basic characteristics of the family in the Palaearctic region have been given by Ozerov (1998), and all the Central European species can be reliably distinguished using the keys by Czerny (1930) and Falk (2005). Earlier faunistic data are summarised by Martinek & Barták (2001).

For financial support, the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic and the Masaryk University (grant No. MSM 0021622416 ) are acknowledged.

References

[1] Carles-Tolrá M. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Dryomyzidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[2] Chandler P. 1998: Dryomyzidae. In Chandler P. (ed.): Checklists of Insects of the British Isles (New Series). Part 1. Diptera (Incorporating a List of Irish Diptera). Handbooks for the Identification of  British Insects, Vol. 12. Royal Entomological Society, London, p. 131.

[3] Czerny L. 1930: Dryomyzidae, Neottiophilidae. In Lindner E. (ed.): Die Fliegen der palaearktischen Region.  Vol. 5(1). Schweizerbart, Stuttgart pp. 1-15.

[4] Falk  S. J. 2005: The identification and status of Dryomyza decrepita Zetterstedt (Diptera, Dryomyzidae). Dipterists Digest 12: 7-12.

[5] Martinek V. 1997: Dryomyzidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera of the Czech and  Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University Press, Prague, p. 73.

[6] Martinek V. & Barták M. 2001: Dromyzidae. In Barták M. & Vaňhara J. (eds): Diptera in an industrially  affected region (north-western Bohemia, Bílina and Duchcov environs) II. Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 105: 315-317.

[7] Ozerov A.L. 1998: Dryomyzidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera (with special reference to flies of economic importance). Vol. 3. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 349-355.