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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Diptera |
Adult insects. Very small to small; slender-bodied; stilt-legged. Antennae 8–24 segmented; ‘simple’ (long, with bead-like segments, often with whorls of hairs). Ocelli present, or absent. Eyes asymmetric, nearly or quite connected above the antennae. The maxillary palps (1–)3–5 segmented; drooping. Wing veins reaching the margin (2–)3, or 4(–6). Wings without a discal cell; without a sub-apical cell; without a closed anal cell. The costa extending around the entire wing. Sub-costa absent or only dubiously identifiable. Wings with the lower calypter much reduced or absent.
Larvae and pupae. The larvae terrestrial; phytophagous, or saprophagous, or predatory (on other insects, mostly plant bugs and immature stages of other Diptera, also mites); when phytophagous,very often forming galls (the forms of galls usually characteristic of the species), or not gall-forming; eucephalic. The pupae without a puparium.
Comments. Small to minute, delicate flies with broad and often hairy wings having greatly reduced venation, and sometimes a very short first tarsal segment. Including many gall-forming species. Females often with a very long ovipositor.
Classification. Suborder Nematocera; Division Bibionomorpha; Superfamily Sciaroidea.
British representation. 620 species in Britain. Genera about 140; with numerous species in Contarinia, Dasineura, Jaapiella, Lestodiplosis, Planetella, Rabdophaga, etc.
Illustrations. • Lestremia cinerea and L. leucophaea (Walker). 7, Lestremia leucophaea, male. 8a-8c, Lestremia cinerea: male antenna (8a), female antenna (8b), and wing (8c). 9, Lestremia cinerea, female; and (9a, cf. 8a) antenna of male. From Walker (1856, Plates XXII and XXIX), with approximate insect lengths (front of head to tip of abdomen) added. • Anarete, Catocha, and Micromya (Walker). 1, Catocha latipes, male. 1a-1c, Catocha latipes, female: details of antenna (1a); fore-leg, with dilated tarsus (1b); and claws and pulvillus of the fore-leg (1c). 2, Anarete candidata, with details of an antenna (2a), and the labium and palps (2b). 3, Micromya globifera, with details of an antenna (3a). From Walker (1856, Plate XXIII), with approximate lengths (front of head to tip of abdomen) added. • Asphondylia, Asynapta, Cecidomyia, Rhabdophaga (Walker). 1, "Cecidomyia longipes Loew" (name not located in modern lists). 1a, antenna of Cecidomyia pini. 1b, wing of Asynapta pectoralis. 1c, wing of Rhabdophaga rosaria. 1d, antenna of Asphondylia sarothamni. From Walker (1856, Plate XIV). • Planetella, Porricondyla (Walker). 8, Planetella grandis, with detail of antenna (8a). 8b, antenna of Porricondyla gracilis (not British). From Walker (1856, Plate XXIX), with approximate length of insect added. • Brachyneuria, Lasioptera (Walker). 2, Brachyneuria stygia, with details of an antenna (2a). 2b and 2c, antenna and wing of Lasioptera rubi. From Walker (1856, Plate XXIV), with approximate length of insect (front of head to tip of abdomen) added. • Contarina verna (Curtis): Vernal Crane-fly (as Cecidomyia verna): B. Ent. 178. • Contarina verna (detail: B. Ent. 178). • Contarina verna (dissections: B. Ent. 178). • Contarina verna (B. Ent. 178, legend+text). • Contarina verna (B. Ent. 178, text cont.). • Lasioptera rubi: as Diomyza pulchra(?), Stephens 1846.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Diptera. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
