Micropezidae Desmarest, 1860

Jindřich Roháček

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

Slender, small to large (3.0-16.0 mm) acalyptrate flies, with narrow wing and slender long legs. Head relatively small, rounded to elongate; antenna small, arista bare or pubescent; ocellar and interfrontal setae and vibrissa absent, 0-3 frontal (lower orbital) setae. Tibiae without dorsopreapical setae. Wing clear to fumosely patterned; no costal breaks; Sc complete but sometimes ending close to R1; R4+5 and M convergent; cross-vein bm-cu present or absent; cell cup closed. Male abdomen often with 1 to several pairs of sternal claspers; female abdomen ending in a conspicuous ovipositor. Three trophic groups of European Micropezidae can be recognised: species of Micropeza Meigen, 1803 have phytophagous larvae feeding in the root nodules of leguminous plants, and are associated with open habitats; Rainieria species develop in the rotting wood of dead deciduous trees, and are restricted to old forests; the majority of the Calobatinae have saprophagous larvae living in decayed vegetation, old manure or fungi, and adults usually prefer humid forests along rivers or creeks.

Altogether 22 species are known to occur in Europe (Ozerov 2004); 13 are listed in the present checklist (12 in the Czech Republic, 11 in Bohemia, 11 in Moravia, and 12 in Slovakia). Since the last version of the checklist, the number of species in the Czech Republic has increased by 2 (1 in Bohemia, 1 in Moravia); no species have been added for Slovakia. The Micropezidae are relatively well studied in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

There is no recent treatment of the Palaearctic or European Micropezidae, but the family has been treated within various regional studies, including those covering Central (Merz 1997, Roháček & Barták 1990) and North-West Europe (Goot & Veen 1996), which can be used for the identification of the genera and species occurring in these areas. The Czech and Slovak species were dealt with by Roháček and Barták (1990), who include a summary of previous faunistic records; two other species have been added by Roháček (1999) and Máca (2006). The nomenclature used here is that of Ozerov (2004) in the Fauna Europaea.

References

[1] Goot V.S. van der & Veen M.P. van 1996: De spillebeenvliegen, wortelvliegen en wolzwevers van Noordwest-Europa. Second edition. Jeugdbondsuitgeverij, Utrecht, 57 pp.

[2] Máca J. 2006: Faunistic records. Micropezidae. In Kinkorová J. (ed.): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca Vol. 13. Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Biologica 50: 149.

[3] Merz B. 1997: Die Micropezidae (Diptera) der Schweiz. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 103: 893-904.

[4] Ozerov A.L. 1991: On the taxonomy of flies of the subfamily Calobatinae (Diptera, Micropezidae). Zoologicheskij Zhurnal 70: 63-72.

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

[6] Roháček J. 1999: Faunistic Notes: Micropezidae. In Jedlička L. (ed.): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca 9, Slovak Entomological Society, Bratislava, pp. 198-199.

[7] Roháček J. & Barták M. 1990: Micropezidae (Diptera) of Czechoslovakia. Časopis Slezského muzea Opava (A) 39: 97-111.