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Small to medium-sized (2.5-9.0 mm), relatively stout, usually dark
coloured Nematocera resembling Scatopsidae. Eyes large, holoptic and
narrowly separated below antennae; ocelli present but medial ocellus
small or absent; palpus four-segmented; antenna relatively short,
with 12-16 segments, terminal one elongate. Wing relatively long and
narrow, without anal lobe, clear or slightly tinged. Posterior veins
well developed and often pigmented. Costa extended beyond apex of R4+5.
Vein R1 free or fused with anterior branch of Rs.
R2+3 ending close to apex of R1 or fused with it. M1,
M2, CuA1 and CuA2
present, A1
well developed or absent. Legs stout, mid and hind femora sometimes
clavate and mid and hind tibiae curved. Abdomen long and slender,
somewhat dorsoventrally flattened and posteriorly widened.
Gonocoxites medially fused; 9th male sternite displaced to a
posterior position on terminalia; surstyli well developed. The
xylosaprophagous larvae live in the moist, rotting wood of stumps
and fallen tree trunks; adults can be found in the immediate
vicinity of the larval breeding sites. All species are associated
with primeval forests and are considered endangered in terms of
nature conservation throughout the whole of Europe.
Haenni (1997) placed the Synneuridae as a subfamily within the
Canthyloscelidae and adopted this concept in the Fauna Europaea
(Haenni
2007). However, the recent phylogenetic reclassification by
Amorim (2000) has reduced the Synneurinae into the synonymy of the
Canthyloscelinae, which is followed here. Altogether three species are
known to occur in Europe (Haenni
2007); all of them are listed in the present checklist (two in the
Czech Republic, two in Bohemia, one in Moravia, and three in Slovakia).
Since the ECV1 the number
of species in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia
have not been changed. Knowledge of these relict
species in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has recently been
enlarged thanks to research efforts in virgin forest reserves (Barták
& Preisler 2006,
Roháček 2006). The family has been treated in detail by Haenni (1997) who also presented a key to Holarctic genera. The European
species can be identified by means of Hutson (1977)
and Roháček and Barták (2007). The nomenclature used here corresponds to that
in the Fauna Europaea (Haenni
2007) except for the suprageneric classification which follows
Amorim (2000).
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