Megamerinidae Hendel, 1913

Jindřich Roháček

Department of Entomology, Silesian Museum, Tyršova 1, CZ-746 01 Opava, Czech Republic; rohacek@szmo.cz

Medium-sized (6.0-9.0 mm), elongate, shining black flies with reddish to yellow femora. Head relatively small, rounded; ocelli present; arista short-pubescent; ptilinal suture H-shaped; ocellar, postvertical (postocellar) and interfrontal setae absent, 0-1 fronto-orbital seta. Anterior part of thorax without setae (i.e. humeral, anterior notopleural, presutural and anterior dorsocentral setae absent); metapleuron and metasternum together forming a prominent base for the attachment of hind coxa. Wing narrowed basally, unicolourous, unmarked. Costa continuous, subcosta complete, cells bm and cup present, A1 reaching wing margin. Tibiae lacking dorsal preapical setae; hind femur swollen and ventrally spinose. Abdomen narrowly attached to thorax, effectively hinge-like at junction. The larvae live under the bark of dead or dying deciduous trees and are predatory or necrophagous on the larvae of other subcorticolous insects. The adults can be found in woodland areas, usually near the breeding sites of the larvae, on tree trunks and leaves.

This small family is mainly distributed in the Oriental Region and the East Palaearctic area; only one uncommon species, Megamerina dolium (Fabricius, 1805), reaches Europe (Ozerov 2004); it has also been recorded from the Czech Republic (both Bohemia and Moravia) and Slovakia, and was also listed from these territories in the earlier version of this checklist. The family is characterized by Krivosheina et al. (1996) and McAlpine (1997); the sole European species can be identified by means of Krivosheina et al. (1996) or by any key to the families of Diptera. The nomenclature used here follows that in the Fauna Europaea (Ozerov 2004).

References

[1] Krivosheina N.P., Krivosheina M.G. & Nartshuk E.P. 1996: Revision of flies from the family Megamerinidae in Russia. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 76: 707-712.

[2] McAlpine D.K. 1997: Relationships of the Megamerinidae. Beiträge zur Entomologie 47: 465-475.

[3] Ozerov A.L. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Megamerinidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.