Ptychopteridae Osten Sacken, 1862

Jaroslav Starý

Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, tř. Svobody 26, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic; stary@prfnw.upol.cz

This family comprises slender flies of moderate size and tipuloid appearance, with the halteres provided with a distinct basal appendage, the prehalter. In Europe, the family is represented by a single genus, Ptychoptera Meigen, 1803, which is characterised by its shining black body colour and the wings often with distinct markings. The venation is characteristic and has an additional longitudinal fold crossing r-m (much as the vena spuria in Syrphidae) and another one extending from A1 to the bend of Cu. The larvae are aquatic or semiaquatic, inhabiting saturated mud and feeding on decaying vegetable matter. The adults frequent the muddy banks of streams and pools, marshes of various types, and similar habitats.

Altogether 14 species are known to occur in Europe (Zwick 2005), of which 9 are listed in the present checklist: 8 species from the Czech Republic (7 in both Bohemia and Moravia) and 8 from Slovakia. There have been no additions or corrections since the previous version of the checklist, except that, according to Zwick (2005), the subgeneric classification has been introduced here. It appears that the Czech or Slovak fauna of the Ptychopteridae may only be enlarged by the addition of Ptychoptera agnes Krzemiński & Zwick, 1993, a species described from northern Hungary (Krzemiński & Zwick 1993).

There is a monograph of the Palaearctic species of the family by Peus (1958). All the Czech and Slovak species can be identified using the key and figures by Zitek-Zwyrtek (1971). The nomenclature of the checklist is adopted from Zwick (2005).

References

[1] Krzemiński W. & Zwick P. 1993: New and little known Ptychopteridae (Diptera) from the Palaearctic Region. Aquatic Insects 15: 65-87.

[2] Peus F. 1958: Liriopeidae. In Lindner E. (ed.): Die Fliegen der palaearktischen Region, Vol. 3(1). Schweizerbart, Stuttgart, pp. 10-44.

[3] Zitek-Zwyrtek K. 1971: Czechoslovak species of the family Ptychopteridae (Diptera). Acta entomologica bohemoslovaca 68: 416-426.

[4] Zwick P. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Ptychopteridae. In Jong H. de (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Nematocera Fauna Europaea Version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.