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For a long time the Phaeomyiidae were treated as
a subfamily of the Sciomyzidae, but their family status has recently
become generally accepted. Small to moderately long acalyptrate
flies (3.0-11.0 mm), differing from Sciomyzidae in presence of
medial bristles on the middle and hind tibiae. Body colour usually
brownish, and wing brown, infuscated. First radial vein setose in
apical half but bare in Pelidnoptera nigripennis. The larva
of this species is a parasitoid of millipedes (Vala
et al. 1990), and usually only one larva develops to maturity
per host. Adults are characteristic for mesic woods, and
P.
nigripennis also penetrates into more xerothermic habitats.
The general characteristics of the family are
given by Rozkošný (1987,
1998), and all the species may be identified using the key
published by Rozkošný (1987).
Three species of this family are distributed throughout most of
Europe (Rozkošný
& Knutson 2007) and
all were recorded from both parts of the Czech Republic as well as
from Slovakia in the
PCV2 (Rozkošný
1997). Some recent records have been summarised by Rozkošný and
Barták (2001).
For financial support, the Ministry of Education of
the Czech Republic and the Masaryk University (grant No. MSM
0021622416) are acknowledged.
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