Lonchopteridae Curtis, 1839

The adults are rather small (length of body 2.0-5.0 mm), strongly bristled flies, yellow to brownish-black, often yellowish-brown with a darker pattern. Wings conspicuously pointed, with sexually dimorphic venation. The larva is somewhat fusiform, narrowed anteriorly and more blunt posteriorly, with three pairs of long bristle-like processes, two pairs inserted on thorax and the third on the last abdominal tergite. The larvae are saprophagous, microphagous or, probably, mycetophagous. For a more datailed description of the larva and puparium, see Drake (1996), Peterson (1987). Adults are common in moist places, alongside streams or ponds and in deciduous forests, or even in dry meadows. Further details on the adult morphology and biology have been given by Barták (1998), Drake (1996), Peterson (1987).

Altogether thirteen species are known to occur in Europe (Barták 2007), the validity of Lonchoptera vaillanti Zwick, 2004 is doubtful. Nine species are listed in the present checklist: nine in the Czech Republic (nine in Bohemia, nine in Moravia), and nine in Slovakia. Since the ECV1 the number of species has not increased. The faunistics of both Czech and Slovak species are probably completely known.

The basic characteristics of the family are given by Barták (1998) and Peterson (1987). Identification keys to all the Central European species are in Barták (1986) and Bährmann and Bellstedt (1988). The nomenclature of the Fauna Europaea (Barták 2007) is followed in the present checklist.

This paper was partly supported by IRP MSM 6046070901 (Ministry of education, youth and sports).