Bombyliidae

Checklist of Diptera of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Bombyliidae Latreille, 1802

Jaroslav Bosák

Ecological Consulting, a. s., Na Střelnici 48, CZ-779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic; jaroslav.bosak@ecological.cz

The family Bombyliidae includes several significantly differentiated subfamilies. Many different opinions concerning their taxonomic status and position have been formulated in last few decades (e.g. Greathead & Evenhuis 1997, Zaitzev 1991). The checklist of Czech and Slovak Diptera from 1997 (Bosák 1997a, b) ranked the Phthiriidae as an separate family. However, we are again classifying the Phthiriinae as a subfamily of the family Bombyliidae, in agreement with the overall approach to the family within the framework of the Fauna Europaea (Greathead 2004).

Body size of adults ranging from 0.9 to 27.0 mm. Body in most cases covered with hairs, bristles or pollinosity. Wings absolutely hyaline or with diverse colour patterns frequently covering the entire wing surface. Head rounded and convex anteriorly; occiput flat or tumid with a single occipital foramen or concave with occipital foramen divided and with a deep groove behind the ocellar triangle. Ocelli present. Proboscis short (Anthracinae, Lomatiinae) to long, as much as four times as long as head (e. g. Bombyliinae, Phthiriinae). Legs slender and long, empodium absent, and pulvilli present or absent. Thorax uniform in structure. Abdomen wide, rounded, cylindrical or short to elongate-conical. The adult morphology is treated in detail in a number of papers e. g. (Greathead & Evenhuis 1997, Hull 1973). The adults are heliophilous and suck nectar from flowers. The larvae are parasites or hyperparasites, and their hosts are various insect species from the orders Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera and Orthoptera.

The total number of species worldwide is approximately 4,000. Altogether 335 species of the family are currently known from Europe (Greathead 2004) and 54 of them also from the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Bohemia 42 species, Moravia 41 species, Slovakia 46 species) (Bosák 1997a, b, Greathead et al. 2005). The species-richness of the bee-fly fauna is well known in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

References

[1] Bosák J. 1997a: Phthiriidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University press, Praha, pp. 45-46.

[2] Bosák J. 1997b: Bombyliidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Karolinum – Charles University press, Praha, pp. 45.

[3] Greathead D. 1995: A review of the genus Bombylius Linnaeus sensu lato (Diptera:Bombyliidae) from Africa and Eurasia. Ent. scand. 26:47-66.

[4] Greathead D. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Bombyliidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[5] Greathead D.J. & Evenhuis N.L. 1997: Bombyliidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera (with special reference to flies of economic importance). Vol. 2. Nematocera and Lower Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest, 487-512 pp.

[6] Greathead D., Gregor T., Barták M., Kubík Š. & Bosák J. 2005: Bombyliidae. In Barták M. & Kubík Š. (eds): Diptera of podyjí National Park and its Environs. Česká zemedělská univerzita v Praze, 137-140 pp.

[7] Hull F.M. 1973: Bee flies of the World. The genera of the family Bombyliidae. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 286, 687 pp.

[8] Zaitzev V.F. 1991: The phylogeny and system of Diptera of the superfamily Bombylioidea (Diptera). Entomological Review 71 (4): 94-114.