Lonchaeidae Rondani, 1856

Jan Máca

Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the CR, Nám. Přemysla Otakara 34, CZ-370 01 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; jan_maca@nature.cz

The European Lonchaeidae are small (2.0-7.0 mm), predominantly black or metallic coloured flies, often superficially resembling some calyptrate flies. In addition to the key characters of acalyptrate flies (e.g. incompleteness of mesonotal suture), they can be distinguished by the absence of long setae in the presutural part of mesonotum (except notopleurals) and always black halteres. The retractile ovipositor with its species-specific chaetotaxy has given rise to the vernacular name of lance flies. Members of the family occur predominantly in forests. The larvae have a saprophagous type of cephalopharyngeal skeleton (Krivosheina 1976). They are usually phytosaprophagous, most often associated with tree bark and living in the galleries of Scolytidae and other wood-boring insects, where they are probably dependent on proper taxonomic group or even species of trees and not on the taxonomic group of xylophagous insects; they appear to feed on ambrosia fungi and frass. The larvae of some species are necrophagous and/or predatory on the preimaginal stages (mostly pupae) of Scolytidae, whilst others mine in the stems of various herbs, in conifer cones or in the florets of Cirsium spp. The larvae of Dasiops Rondani, 1856 occur in damaged trunks, on rotting vegetable and in galls.

There are some 550 described species worldwide; 96 valid species have been recorded in Europe and adjacent islands including the Macaronesian subregion (Carles-Tolrá 2004). 59 species have been recorded from the Czech Republic and Slovakia by Máca (1997a). Currently, 62 species of Lonchaeidae are known from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Almost all of these (61 spp.) are recorded from the Czech republic (52 from Bohemia, 46 from Moravia), and only 30 species are recorded from Slovakia (Máca 1997b, 1999, 2006, Roháček 1998, Máca & Barták 2001, Máca et al. 2005). The fauna of this family in Slovakia is much less known than in the Czech Republic.

The last monographic paper on the Central European species was published by Morge (1963), and an updated key to the European species is being prepared by I. McGowan (Perth, Scotland). Mostly faunistic data have been published by Máca (1997b) and in the more recent publications cited above.

References

[1] Carles-Tolrá M. 2004: Fauna Europaea: Camillidae. In Pape T. (ed.): Fauna Europaea: Diptera, Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 1.1, http://www.faunaeur.org.

[2] Krivosheina N.P. 1976: [Comparative morphological characteristics of the larvae of Palaearctic species of the genus Lonchaea Fall. (Diptera, Lonchaeidae). Evolutional morphology of the insect larvae]. Nauka, Moskva, pp. 22-55. (In Russian.)

[3] Máca J. 1997a: Lonchaeidae. In Chvála M. (ed.): Check List of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics, Karolinum, Praha,pp. 68-69. 

[4] Máca J. 1997b: New and interesting records of Lonchaeidae (Diptera) from the Czech and Slovak Republics. In Vaňhara J. & Rozkošný R. (eds): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca Vol. 8. Folia Facultatis Scientiarium Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 95: 107-110.

[5] Máca J. 1999: Lonchaeidae. In Rozkošný R. & Vaňhara J. (eds): Diptera of the Pálava Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO II. Folia Facultatis Scientiarium Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 100: 243-245.

[6] Máca J. 2006: Faunistic records. Lonchaeidae. In Kinkorová J. (ed.): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca, Vol. 13. Acta Universitatis Carolinae - Biologica 50: 149-150.

[7] Máca J. & Barták M. 2001: Lonchaeidae. In Barták M. & Vaňhara J. (eds): Diptera in an industrially affected region (North-Western Bohemia, Bílina and Duchcov environs), II. Folia Facultatis Scientiarium Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 105: 273-277.

[8] Máca J., Kubík Š. & Barták M. 2005: Lonchaeidae. In Barták M. & Kubík Š. (eds): Diptera of Podyjí National Park and its environs, Česká zemědělská univerzita, Praha, pp. 245-248.

[9] Morge G. 1963: Die Lonchaeidae und Pallopteridae Österreichs und der angrenzenden Gebiete. 1. Teil: Die Lonchaeidae. Naturkundliche Jahrbücher Linz, 9: 123-312.

[10] Roháček J. 1998., Barták M. & Kubík Š. 1998: Diptera (Acalyptrata) of the Hraniční (Luzenská) slať peat-bog in the Šumava Mts. (SW Bohemia, Czech Republic). Časopis Slezského muzea Opava (A) 47: 1-12.