Thaumaleidae Bezzi, 1913

Jan Ševčík

Silesian Museum, Tyršova 1, CZ-746 01 Opava, Czech Republic; sevcikjan@email.cz

Small to medium-sized (3.0-6.0 mm), yellowish-brown to dark brown midges, resembling Simuliidae. Head with dichoptic eyes, without ocelli; antenna short, flagellum with 14 segments. Thorax hump-backed, mesonotum usually with dark longitudinal stripes, coxae relatively short, legs long and narrow, abdomen elongated and narrow. Wings relatively broad, hyaline, without markings, wing membrane without macrotrichia or scales. Vein Sc ending in C, veins R2+3 and R4+5 convergent towards wing margin. The larvae are aquatic, restricted to springs, small brooks and waterfalls. They live on the surface of wet rocks in a thin film of water. The adults are poor fliers and are found near the larval habitat, usually sitting on vegetation over the water. They are usually rare and stenotopic, but some species are locally abundant. Most species of Thaumaleidae are typical mountain flies, but several species also occur in submontane areas.

There are some 100 described Palaearctic species (Wagner 1997, 2004) and about 75 species in Europe (Wagner 2004). Altogether 15 species are listed in the present checklist (11 from the Czech Republic, 4 in Bohemia, 11 in Moravia, and 13 from Slovakia). Since the last version of checklist (Martinovský 1997), no species has been added to the Czech Republic, but one species of Androprosopa Mik, 1898, that was described as new to science, was added to the fauna of Slovakia (Martinovský 1999).The species composition of Thaumaleidae in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is relatively well known, although several additional species are still to be expected.

The basic characteristics of the family were recently given by Disney (1999), Martinovský and Barták (2000) and Wagner (1997). The identification of most European species is possible using the papers by Edwards (1929), Martinovský and Rozkošný (1976) and Vaillant (1977). The nomenclature used in the present checklist follows that in the Fauna Europaea (Wagner 2004). 

References

[1] Disney R.H.L. 1999: British Dixidae (meniscus midges) and Thaumaleidae (trickle midges): keys with ecological notes. Freshwater Biological Association Scientific Publication No. 56, 129 pp.

[2] Edwards F.W. 1929: A revision of the Thaumaleidae (Dipt.). Zoologische Anzeiger 82: 121-142.

[3] Martinovský J. 1997: Thaumaleidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University Press, Prague, pp. 42-43.

[4] Martinovský J. 1999: Androprosopa rangifer sp. n. from eastern Slovakia and new data on the distribution of Thaumaleidae (Diptera) in Slovakia. In Jedlička L. (ed.): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca Vol. 9, Slovak Entomological Society, Bratislava, pp. 133-137.

[5] Martinovský J. & Barták M. 2000: Thaumaleidae. In Barták M. & Vaňhara J. (eds): Diptera in an Industrially Affected Region (North-Western Bohemia, Bílina and Duchcov Environs), I. Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biol. 104:. 121-122.

[6] Martinovský J. & Rozkošný R. 1976: Four new species of Thaumaleidae (Diptera) from Europe with taxonomic and distributional notes on some other species. Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca 73: 187-205.

[7] Vaillant F. 1977: Les Diptéres Thaumaleidae d’Europe. Annales de la Societé entomologique de France (N. S.) 13: 695-710.

[8] Wagner R. 1997: Family Thaumaleidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera. Vol. 2. Nematocera and Lower Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 325-329.

[9] Wagner R. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Thaumaleidae. In Jong H. de (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Nematocera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.