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Small (2.0-5.0 mm), slender, yellow, brown to blackish flies,
usually with narrow, often maculated wings (at least with tip
darkened). Head rounded, ocelli present; arista pubescent to plumose;
ocellar setae present, postverticals (postocellars) absent or
divergent, only one reclinate orbital, interfrontal setulae scattered,
true vibrissa absent. Thorax with one or more anepimeral (pteropleural)
setae; anepisternum (mesopleuron) usually setulose; two scutellar
setae. Wing narrow, alula and anal lobe reduced or absent. Costa
with only subcostal break, subcosta reduced and fused with R1,
forming a preapical kink on it, cross-vein bm-cu present but
incomplete. Tibiae without dorsopreapical setae. Male genitalia with
gonostylus fused to epandrium. The adults are typical inhabitants of
grassland (both wet and dry) but some also occur in the grassy
undergrowth of forests. The larvae are phytophagous in graminoid
herbs, feeding in stems and causing “dead heart” damage to grasses;
several species are cereal pests.
Three genera and 34 species are listed in the Fauna
Europaea (Van
Zuijlen 2007), but this number should be reduced to 33 because of
synonymy, see Van Zuijlen and Roháček (2006).
Altogether 21 species of two genera are included in the present
checklist: 21 in the Czech Republic (19 in Bohemia, 19 in Moravia),
and 17 in Slovakia. Since the ECV1, the
number of species has not been changed in the Czech Republic (Bohemia and
Moravia) but has increased by two in Slovakia. The family is well studied in the Czech
Republic but is less well known in Slovakia. It was characterised in
detail by Brunel (1998)
who also keyed the Palaearctic genera. The species occuring in
Central Europe can be identified by means of Drake (1993),
with additions and corrections by Martinek (1978a),
Drake (1992),
Carles-Tolrá (1993),
and Van Zuijlen (1999).
There is no comprehensive study on the Czech and Slovak species of
Opomyzidae, except for that by Martinek (1978b);
subsequent faunistic data are scattered in a number of papers (for
references, see
Martinek & Barták 2001,
Van Zuijlen & Roháček 2006,
2009). The nomenclature used here follows
the Fauna Europaea (Van
Zuijlen 2007), with the changes proposed by Van Zuijlen and Roháček (2006).
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