Axymyiidae Shannon, 1921

Jindřich Roháček

Department of Entomology, Silesian Museum, Tyršova 1, CZ-746 01 Opava, Czech Republic; rohacek@szmo.cz

Medium-sized to large (9.0-12.0 mm), non-biting nematocerous flies. Body stout, dull black to reddish-brown, resembling that of bibionids. Ocelli distinct; eye divided longitudinally into two parts, with different (male) or identical (female) size of facets, holoptic in males, dichoptic in females; antenna compact, relatively short, with 14-17 segments. Wing darkened, with distinctive venation: C reaching to apex of R4+5, R1 long, R2 ending in or close to apex of R1 in C, radial sector branched proximally to r-m, M forked with a short stem, A1 well developed but its distal part atrophied. Haltere very long. Legs short, tibial spurs absent. The larva lives in the very moist rotten wood of fallen tree trunks that have lost their bark, forming a flask-shaped cavity filled with liquid; it moves in the cavity with its respiratory siphon remaining on the surface. The few relict species inhabit damp places in primeval forests. Adults of the only European species, Mesaxymyia kerteszi (Duda, 1930), are strongly stenochronous and are therefore seldom collected.

One rare species is known to occur in Europe (de Jong 2004); so far it has only been recorded from Ukraine and East Slovakia. Current knowledge of the family is summarised by Krivosheina (2000) who has provided keys to the Palaearctic genera (both to adults and immature stages). M. kerteszi can be identified with the keys by Mamaev (1968) and Martinovský and Roháček (1993). The nomenclature used here follows that in the Fauna Europaea (de Jong 2004).

References

[1] Jong H. de. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Axymyiidae. In  Jong H. de (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Nematocera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[2] Krivosheina M. G. 2000: A.2. Family Axymyiidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera.  Appendix. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 31-39.

[3] Mamaev B.M. 1968: [New Nematocerous Diptera of the USSR fauna (Diptera, Axymyiidae, Mycetobiidae, Sciaridae, Cecidomyiidae).] Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 47: 605-616. (in Russian).

[4] Martinovský J. & Roháček J. 1993: First records of Synneuron annulipes Lundström (Synneuridae) and Mesaxymyia kerteszi (Duda) (Axymyiidae) from Slovakia, with notes on their taxonomy and biology. Časopis Slezského zemského muzea (A) 42: 73-78.