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| | Dolichopodid
Flies, Long-legged Flies - Family Dolichopodidae
Order
Diptera
- This page contains pictures and information about Dolichopodid Flies
that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. They are also known
as Long-legged Flies.
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 - Body length 6mm
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- Dolichopodid Flies are minute to small in size with bright metallic colors,
mostly green or bronze. They usually have slender body and large eyes. They have taped long antenna. Their legs are long
so they have other common name Long-legged
Flies. They are very good fliers but usually found resting on large green leaves.
They are also found rest on tree trunks, muddy ground and river rocks.
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They are predator.
Adult Dolichopodid Flies' mouthparts are modified for predation, but not elongated.
They feed on smaller soft body insects such
as aphids. We usually found
those Dolichopodid Flies resting on large leaves. They can
also be found on tree trunks, mud flats and river rocks.
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- Larvae are maggot-like. They are usually found in moist soil and under tree bark. They are either
scavengers or predators of other insects larvae.
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- Most Long-legged Flies we found were in subfamily Sciapodinae. They
are generally recognized by the branched vein M1+2 and excavated vertex, is the largest subfamily in Australia.
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- Sympycninae - Dull-coloured
Long-legged Flies
- Those Long-legged Flies in subfamily Sympycninae are relatively small in
size and dull-coloured. Not much is known about their life
cycle.
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- Sciapodinae - Green Long-legged
Flies
- Long-legged Flies in subfamily Sciapodinae can be recognized by the wing veins, the excavated vertex
on head and the special metallic green body colour. Male Long-legged Fly has
the 360° twisting of the postabdomen.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p760.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p365.
- 3. Northern
Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 4. Dolichopodidae (Longlegged Flies) - Save Our Waterways Now.
- 5. Dolichopodidae - Graeme's Insects of Townsville, Australia.
- 6. Family DOLICHOPODIDAE - Australian Biological Resources Study, Australian Faunal Directory.
- 7. The Australian Sciapodinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with a review of the Oriental and Australasian faunas, and a world conspectus of the subfamily
- Bickel, Daniel J. 1994, records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 21: 1-394 [174].
- 8. On
the Fly, The Interactive Atlas and Key to Australian Fly Families CD Rom
- Hamilton, J. et al. 2006. Brisbane : CBIT & ABRS.
[ Sciapodinae ] [ Sympycninae ] [ Others ]
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