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Curtonotidae are moderately large
slender flies, conspicuously large for members of the superfamily
Ephydroidea. The only species reaching the Pannonian district of
Central Europe, Curtonotum anus (Meigen, 1830), is 6.0-9.0 mm
long, yellowish-grey to grey. Arista with long rays both dorsally
and ventrally. Orbital setae two, far from eye margin. Wing with two
costal breaks, apical one at junction of the fully developed
subcosta and close to junction of R1. Costa with a row of
thorns. The bionomics are unknown, but at least one African species
develops as a scavenger in the egg masses of Acridoidea in sandy
biotopes (Greathead
1958).
Most of the species of this family,
comprising over 60 known species in three genera, live in the
tropics. C. anus is the only species occurring in
Europe; its distribution reaches south-eastern Moravia (collections
in the vicinity of Strážnice in the years 1972 and 1973) (Martinek
1982) and Slovakia (three localities mentioned by
Martinek 1986). There are no new records of this species from the Czech
Republic or Slovakia, in spite of intensive collecting in recent
years e.g. in the Pálava (south-eastern Moravia) (Máca
1997). However, it is known that the species occurs on the
Pannonian plain very rarely and locally – in Hungary it was found in
the years 1977-1980 after almost fifty years without records (Papp
1987). Comprehensive information on C. anus is
given by (Papp
1998).
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