Opetiidae Rondani, 1856

Jaromír Vaňhara

Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, CZ-61137 Brno, Czech Republic; vanhara@sci.muni.cz

These are small flies, generally 3.0-5.0 mm, inhabiting forests or woodlands from lowland to montane habitats. They are very rarely collected, and usually it is males that are swept. Females are more terrestrial, but they are normally winged and may be found in pitfall traps (Vaňhara 1980). Opetiids are sometimes missing in the material of large dipterological projects (Vaňhara et al. 2005), which may be the result of methodological procedures. The larvae and host organisms are unknown.

The monographic study of European species (Chandler 2001) mentions only Opetia nigra, as does the Fauna Europaea (Chandler 2005). There are some 3 species known from the Palaearctic region (Chandler & Shatalkin 1998). The previous checklists (Vaňhara 1995, 1997) reported no more than the single European species from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The present list shows no changes over the last decade. The fauna of neighbouring countries (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland) is also well known (Chandler 2005). The nomenclature follows Chandler (2001, 2005).

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

References

[1] Chandler P.J. 2001: The Flat-footed Flies (Diptera: Opetiidae. Platypezidae) of Europe. Fauna Ent. Scand. vol. 36. E.J. Brill, Leiden-Boston-Köln, 276 pp.

[2] Chandler P.J. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Opetiidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[3] Chandler P.J. & Shatalkin A.I. 1998: Opetiidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera (with special reference to flies of economic importance). Vol. 3. Higher Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 27-49.

[4] Vaňhara J. 1980: Species composition and biology of the family Platypezidae (Diptera) in Czechoslovakia, with regard to its occurrence in a lowland forest. In Chvála M. (ed.): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca. 2. Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Biologica 1977: 429-436.

[5] Vaňhara J., 1995: Recent distribution of flat-footed flies (Diptera: Opetiidae and Platypezidae) in Czech and Slovak Republics with a revised check list and species quality indexing. Časopis Slezského Muzea Opava (A) 44: 43-61.

[6] Vaňhara J. 1997: Opetiidae. Platypezidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University Press, Prague, pp. 57-58.

[7] Vaňhara J., Barták M. & Kubík Š. 2005: Platypezidae. In Barták M. & Kubík Š. (eds): Diptera of Podyjí National Park and its Environs. Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze, pp. 204-207.