Bolitophilidae Malloch, 1917

Vladimír Košel¹, Jan Ševčík²

¹Department of Zoology, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, SK-842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia; kosel@fns.uniba.sk

²Silesian Museum, Tyršova 1, CZ-746 46 Opava, Czech Republic; sevcikjan@email.cz

Delicate, small to medium-sized flies (5.0-9.0 mm) with slender body and long legs. Body usually brown or grey, head with well developed eyes and 3 ocelli. Antenna 2+14 segmented, flagellomeres filiform, elongated, sometimes with long hairs. Wings narrow, slightly smoky, regularly with a spot (stigma) over R1 and R4, in some species also another one over r-m. Sc long, ending in C. R4 short, ending in C or R1 anteriorly. M with 3 branches. Wing membrane with microtrichia. The larvae are white, with head capsule strongly sclerotized, antenna three-segmented, prothorax and 7 abdominal segments with spiracles (peripneustic type). The larvae are oligomycophagous, developing in soft or wood-decaying fungi (Ševčík 2001); they pupate in the fungus or in the humus layer of the soil. The pupa is free, without a web cocoon. The adults occur mostly in the undergrowth of mixed forests, especially in mountains, and in shaded places alongside streams. Some species aestivate and hibernate in caves.

There are about 60 species in the world, with 38 species in one genus (two subgenera) in the Palaearctic region and 36 in Europe (Chandler 2005, Plassmann 1988, Søli et al. 2000, Ševčík & Papp 2004). In the present checklist, 17 species are reported from the Czech Republic, including 2 additional species recorded since the last checklist (Košel & Martinovský 1997, Máca 2003, Ševčík 2001) (2 species recently recorded from Bohemia (Martinovský & Barták 2000, Ševčík 2004a) and 1 from Moravia (Martinovský & Ševčík 1998). Eighteen species are here recorded from the Slovak Republic, including seven species recorded recently (Košel 1999, 2004, Ševčík 2002, 2004a, b, 2005).

References

[1] Chandler P.J. 2005: Fauna Europaea: Bolitophilidae. In Jong H. de  (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Nematocera. Fauna Europaea version 1.2, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[2] Košel V. 1999: Summer and winter parietal Nematocera (Diptera) in a cave in the Slovakian Carpathians. In Jedlička L. (ed.): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca Vol. 9, 214 pp. Slovak Entomological Society, Bratislava, pp. 97-101.

[3] Košel V. 2004: Parietal Diptera in caves of the Belianske Tatry Mts (Slovakia, the Western Carpathians) I. Introduction and species spectrum. In Bitušík P. (ed.): Dipterologica Bohemoslovaca Vol. 12, Acta Facultatis Ecologiae, 12/ Suppl. 1: 69-73.

[4] Košel V. & Martinovský J. 1997: Bolitophilidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum - Charles University Press, Prague, p. 18.

[5] Máca J. 2003: Inventarizační průzkum Národní přírodní rezervace Žofínský prales. Brouci (Coleoptera) a dvoukřídlí (Diptera). In Papáček M. (ed.): Biodiverzita a přírodní podmínky Novohradských hor II. Jihočeská univerzita a Entomologický ústav AV ČR, pp. 181-186.

[6] Martinovský J. & Barták M. 2000: Bolitophilidae. In Barták M. & Vaňhara J. (eds): Diptera in an industrially affected region (North-Western Bohemia, Bílina and Duchcov environs) I. Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 104: 55-56.

[7] Martinovský J. & Ševčík J. 1998: Bolitophilidae, Diadocidiidae, Ditomyiidae, Keroplatidae, Macroceridae, Mycetophilidae. In Rozkošný R. & Vaňhara J. (eds): Diptera of the Pálava Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO I. Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 99: 41-47.

[8] Plassmann E. 1988: Family Bolitophilidae. In Soós Á. & Papp L. (eds): Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera. Vol.3, Ceratopogonidae – Mycetophilidae. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 193-196.

[9] Søli G.E.E., Vockeroth J.R. & Matile L., 2000: A.4. Families of Sciaroidea. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Manual of Palaearctic Diptera. Appendix. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 49-92.

[10] Ševčík J. 2001: Diptera (excluding Mycetophilidae s. str.) associated with fungi in Czech and Slovak Republics: a survey of rearing records from 1998-2000. Acta Universitatis Carolinae Biologica 45: 157-168.

[11] Ševčík J. 2002: New records of Bolitophilidae, Keroplatidae and Mycetophilidae (Diptera) from Slovakia. Biologia, Bratislava 57: 198, 212.

[12] Ševčík J. 2004a: New data on Sciaroidea (Diptera) from the Czech and Slovak Republics, with descriptions of seven new species of Mycetophilidae. Časopis Slezského muzea, Opava (A) 53: 49-74.

[13] Ševčík J. 2004b: Diptera associated with fungi in the Poloniny National Park (Bukovské vrchy Mts., East Slovakia). Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 109: 293-304.

[14] Ševčík J. 2005: New records of Bolitophilidae, Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Mycetobiidae (Diptera) from Slovakia. Biologia, Bratislava 60: 588, 598.

[15] Ševčík J. & Papp L. 2004: Bolitophilidae (Diptera) from Taiwan: a family new to the Oriental Region. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 50: 55-62.