Periscelididae Oldenberg, 1914

Jan Máca

Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the CR, Nám. Přemysla Otakara 34, CZ-37001 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; jan_maca@nature.cz

The Periscelididae is a small family of acalyptrate flies, but its limits have recently been disputed. In the present checklist the family is treated in the restricted sense, without Stenomicra Coquillett, 1900 which is considered to belong to the separate family Stenomicridae Papp, 1984. The adults of European species are small flies (2.0-4.0 mm) with brownish thorax; abdomen and legs yellow with dark bands. Arista pectinate. Wing: costal vein without breaks, not reaching further than junction of R4+5, subcosta vestigial apically. They occur very locally, from lowlands to lower mountain altitudes, on and around diseased or wounded deciduous trees (species of Ulmus, Quercus, Morus and Salicaceae) where they suck flowing sap mostly at the height of the tree canopy, and so they are only rarely collected by the usual methods (Bächli et al. 2006). The larva and puparium are dorsoventrally flattened, each segment with a transverse row of spinulose processes (Papp 1995). The larva feeds on fresh flowing sap on the surface of bark (Papp 1998).

According to the present concept, the Periscelididae comprise five genera with less than fifty described species. In Europe, there are only 4 species in a single genus Periscelis Loew, 1858. Two species were listed in the last version of the checklist (Máca & Roháček 1997), and since then one more species (Periscelis winnertzii Egger, 1862) has been added by Máca et al. (2005), thus three species are currently known (two species each in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia). The fourth European species occurs in the neighbouring countries and is also likely to be found in the Czech Republic and/or Slovakia.

For the identification of European species the paper by Duda (1934) is still fundamental, and the manual by Mathis and Papp (1998) provides useful new information.

References

[1] Bächli G., Flückiger P.F, Obrist M.K. & Duelli P. 2006: On the microdistribution of species of Drosophilidae and some other Diptera across a forest edge. Mitteilungen der Schweizer Entomologischen Gesellschaft 79: 117-126.

[2] Duda O. 1934: Periscelidae. In Lindner E. (ed.): Die Fliegen der palaearktischen Region, 6/1, 58a, E. Nägele, Stuttgar, pp. 1-13.

[3] Máca J. & Roháček 1997: Periscelididae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics, Karolinum, Praha, p. 79.

[4] Máca J., Kubík Š. & Barták M. 2005: Periscelididae. In Barták M. & Kubík Š (eds): Diptera of Podyjí Natinal Park and its environs. Česká zemědělská univerzita, Praha, pp. 307-308.

[5] Mathis W. N. & Papp L. 1998: Family Periscelididae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to the Manual of Palaearctic Diptera, 3,  Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 285-294.

[6] Papp L. 1995: Morphology of Periscelis annulata third instar larva and Turanodinia tisciae larva and puparium  (Diptera: Periscelididae and Odiniidae). Acta zoologica Academiae sciientarum Hungicae 41: 15-24.

[7] Papp L. 1998: Life-habits of the Central-European species of Periscelididae. Folia entomologica hungarica 59: 115-119.