Pleciidae Duda, 1930

Jaroslav Bosák

Ecological Consulting, a.s., Na Střelnici 48, CZ-779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic; jaroslav.bosak@ecological.cz

The Pleciidae are classified as the subfamily Pleciinae of the Bibionidae in many recent works (e.g. Skartveit 1997, 2005) but in our work we follow the ranking of Pleciidae as a separate family (e.g. Krivosheina 1981, Martinovský 1997, Zeegers 2002).  The adults are rather large flies, with rather elongate legs. Fore legs normal, without thickened parts or spines or enlarged apical spurs. Antennomeres short, hardly longer than wide, and palpi long, four-segmented. Wings darkened, without distinct stigma, all veins uniformly pigmented, vein Rs forked. Wings reduced in European species, more so in males than in females.

Approximately 280 species are known worldwide. Some 20 species are recorded from the Palaearctic region, mostly from the eastern part (Krivosheina 1981). In Europe the family is represented by only one indigenous, widely distributed species, Penthetria funebris Meigen, 1804 (Skartveit 2005). It has been recorded from both the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Martinovský 1997). In 2004 (Fitzgerald & Werner 2004), the finding of a non-indigenous, North American species, Penthetria heteroptera (Say, 1823), was recorded from Germany. It was probably imported with garden soil or compost.

References

[1] Fitzgerald S.J. & Werner D. 2004: A key to the Penthetria Meigen (Diptera, Bibionidae) of Europe and the first record of Penthetria heteroptera (Say) from the Palaearctic region. Studia dipterologica 11: 207-210.

[2] Krivosheina N. P. 1981: Pleciidae. pp. 313-316. In Soós Á. & Papp L. (eds): Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera. Sciaridae – Anisopodidae. Vol. 4, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 441 pp.

[3] Martinovský J. 1997: Pleciidae. 17. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University press, 130 pp.

[4] Skartveit J. 1997: Family Bibionidae.  In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera. Vol. 2. Science Herald, Budapest, 41-50 pp.

[5] Skartveit J. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Bibionidae. In Jong H. de (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[6] Zeegers T. 2002: Family Pleciidae. In Beuk P.L.Th. (ed.): Checklist of the Diptera of the Netherlands. KNNV Uitgeverij, Utrecht, 46 pp.