Scenopinidae Westwood, 1840

Jaroslav Bosák

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

Adults are mostly small or medium-sized flies (6.0-12.0 mm), dark in colour, to be found on flowering plants. Head positioned low on thorax, eyes holoptic in male, dichoptic in female; antenna with three segments, third segment elongated, blunt-tipped and with minute arista. Thorax and abdomen flattened dorsally and with short, broad setae. Wing venation simple, R4+5 forked, discal cell with only two veins produced discally. The larvae resemble those of Therevidae and live as predators, being mainly found among wood-boring beetles, dermestids, termites and in birds' nests.

The Scenopinidae is a small family. The basic characteristics of the family were given by Kelsey (1969, 1981) and by Krivosheina (1997). Members of the family are distributed in virtually all zoogeographic regions, with a distinct preference for semi-desert and desert areas. Twenty-four genera with more than 420 described species are currently recognised worldwide (Kelsey 1981). 15 species known to occur in Europe (Carles-Tolrá 2005). Only three species are known from the Czech Republic (all in Bohemia and Moravia) and from Slovakia (Bosák 1997).

References

[1] Bosák J. 1997: Scenopinidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University Press, p. 46.

[2] Carles-Tolrá M. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Scenopinidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[3] Kelsey L.P. 1969: A revision of the Scenopinidae (Diptera) of the world. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 277, 336 pp.

[4] Kelsey L.P. 1981: Scenopinidae. In McAlpine J.F., Peterson B.V., Shewell G.E., Teskey H.J., Vockeroth J.R. & Wood D.M.(eds): Manual of Nearctic Diptera 1. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada Monograph, Ottawa, pp. 525-528.

[5] Krivosheina N.P. 1997: Family Scenopinidae. In L. Papp & B. Darvas (eds): Contributions to a manual of Palaearctic Diptera (with special reference to flies of economic importance). Volume 2: Nematocera and lower Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 531-538.