Simuliidae Newman, 1834

Ladislav Jedlička¹, Jan Knoz²

¹Department of Zoology, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, SK-84215 Bratislava, Slovakia; jedlicka@fns.uniba.sk

²Institute of Experimental Biology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2,  CZ-61137 Brno, Czech Republic; knoz@sci.muni.cz

Black flies are small, robust flies with a body 1.2-6.0 mm long, blackish-brown or dark grey (with some exceptions). Head mostly holoptic in males, dichoptic in females, ocelli absent, orthognathous, mouthparts piercing-sucking, different in the two sexes as well as in bloodsucking and non-bloodsucking species, palp five-segmented, antenna short, thick, 9-11 segmented. Thorax robust, short, arched dorsally; legs short, stout, all three pairs subequal, tibiae with 1-2 spurs, tarsi five-segmented, two terminal claws; wings short and broad with large anal lobe, membrane usually hyaline, with microtrichia, anterior tubular veins strong, open veins weak and forming surface ridges only, Cu2 mostly sigmoid; two cross-veins present; halteres knob-like. Abdomen elongated, broad at base, ten-segmented, with sclerotized tergites and membraneous pleura and sternum, first segment reduced; male terminalia not rotated, gonopods large, aedeagus complex, projecting distally between gonopods, ventral plate heavily sclerotized; in female, eighth sternite forming genital plate and bearing a pair of terminal ovipositor valves separated by an ovipositor notch. The larva is cylindrical worm-like, eucephalic, apneustic, apodous but with thoracic and abdominal prolegs; they are filter feeders (with cephalic fans) or scrapers. The pupa is obtect, with mostly filamentous spiracular gills, in a cooon. The larvae and pupae are aquatic, sedentary, and inhabit different substrates in running waters of various type. The adults are nectar and sap feeders, but females of the majority of species are bloodsuckers and act as vectors of nematode and protozoan parasites to man, other mammals and birds.

Nearly 1800 extant species are known (Crosskey & Howard 2004), with 231 species known from Europe (Crosskey 2005); 43 species are currently recorded from the Czech Republic (33 from Bohemia, 43 from Moravia) and 46 from Slovakia. The fauna of Moravia and Slovakia is well known at the morphospecies level, but new records are expected from Bohemia. The Central European species can be identified using recent keys (Jedlička & Stloukalová 1997, Jedlička et al. 2004, Knoz 1965, 1980, Lechthaler & Car 2006).

References

 [1] Crosskey R.W. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Simuliidae. In Jong H. de (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Nematocera. Fauna Europaea, version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[2] Crosskey R.W. & Howard T.M. 2004: A revised taxonomic and geographical inventory of world blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae). http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/projects/blackflies/ index.html, 86 pp.

[3] Jedlička L., Kúdela M. & Stloukalová V. 2004: Key to the identification of blackfly pupae (Diptera: Simuliidae) of Central Europe. Biologia, Bratislava 59/Suppl. 15: 157-178.

[4] Jedlička L. & Stloukalová V. 1997: 2.20. Family Simuliidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera, vol. 2, Nematocera and Lower Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 331-347.

[5] Knoz J. 1965: To identification of Czechoslovakian black-flies (Diptera, Simuliidae). Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalimu Universitatis Purkynianae Brunenensis 6: 1-54.

[6] Knoz J. 1980: Simuliidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Krevsající mouchy a střečci – Diptera. Academia, Praha, pp. 144-281.

[7] Knoz J. & Jedlička L. 1997: Simuliidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University Press, Prague, p. 42.

[8] Lechthaler W. & Car M. 2006. Simuliidae – Key to Larvae and Pupae from Central and Western Europe. CD–ROM–Edition, Wolfgang Lechthaler, Wien.