Milichiidae Schiner, 1862

Jindřich Roháček

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

Minute to small (1.0-6.0 mm), mostly dark-coloured flies characterised by a rich cephalic chaetotaxy including setae on the exposed frontal lunule, inclinate frontal (lower orbital) and exclinate (upper) orbital setae, and several interfrontal pairs of setae. Proboscis usually elongate, palps often enlarged. Wing with two costal breaks, often more or less notched at subcostal break, and anal cell closed. Male postabdomen symmetrical including dorsal pregenital sclerite, epandrium strikingly small, cerci large, gonostyli simple and disparate, aedeagus simple (not coiled.): and postgonites absent. Female abdomen with well-sclerotised but retractible segments 7-10; two spermathecae with reduced spermathecal capsules, on extremely elongated ducts that form a spool-like coil; female cerci free, not fused. The larvae are saprophagous and develop in decaying vegetation, wood detritus, birds' nests, nests of ants (myrmecophilous species) and other social insects, excrement, carrion, dead insects and snails, etc. The adults of some species are commensals or kleptoparasites of predatory insects and spiders, whilst others can be collected on umbelliferous flowers or near the breeding substrates.

Altogether 43 species are recorded from Europe and the adjacent areas as included in the Fauna Europaea (Carles-Tolrá 2004); 24 of them are listed in the present checklist (22 in the Czech Republic, 20 in Bohemia, 20 in Moravia, and 21 in Slovakia). Since the last version of the checklist, the number of species in the Czech Republic has increased by 2 (2 in Bohemia, 2 in Moravia) and in Slovakia by 1. The fauna of Milichiidae is relatively well known in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Current knowledge of the family was summarised by Papp and Wheeler (1998) and Brake (2000) who also provided modern keys to the genera. Central European species can be identified using Hennig (1937) and Papp (1978, 1993). Faunistic data on the Czech and Slovak Milichiidae are scattered in a number of papers, which are reviewed by Roháček and Barták (2001). The nomenclature and higher classification used in the present checklist follow Brake (2000), except that Leptomyza niveipennis Strobl is dated differently because it was first described (in Serbian) in 1898 (Strobl 1898) whilst the German version of the same Strobl paper appeared in 1900 (Strobl 1900).

References

[1] Brake I. 2000: Phylogenetic systematics of the Milichiidae (Diptera, Schizophora). Entomologica scandinavica suppl. 57: 1-120.

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

[3] Hennig W. 1937: Milichiidae et Carnidae. In Lindner E. (ed.): Die Fliegen der palaearktischen Region. Vol. 6(1). Schweizerbart, Stuttgart, 91 pp. 

[4] Papp L. 1978: Milichiidae. In Fauna Hungariae, 133. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 9-32.

[5] Papp L. 1993: Three new milichiid species (Diptera, Milichiidae) from Hungary. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 85: 133-139.

[6] Papp L. & Wheeler T.A. 1998: 3.28. Family Milichiidae. In Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds): Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera. Vol. 3., Higher Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest, pp. 313-324.

[7] Roháček J. 2004: Milichiidae. Faunistic records from the Czech and Slovak Republics: Diptera. In Kubík Š. & Barták M. (eds): Dipterologica bohemoslovaca 11. Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 109: 345-346.

[8] Roháček J. & Barták M. 2001: Milichiidae. In Barták M. & Vaňhara J. (eds):  Diptera in an industrially affected region (north-western Bohemia, Bílina and Duchcov environs), II. Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 105: 389-393.

[9] Roháček J., Kubík Š. & Barták M. 2005: Milichiidae. In Barták M. & Kubík Š. (eds): Diptera of Podyjí National Park and its Environs. Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze, Praha, pp. 315-318.

[10] Strobl G. 1898: Fauna diptera Bosne, Hercegovine i Dalmacije. Glasnik Zemaljskog Museja u Bosni Hercegovini, Sarajevo 10: 387-466, 562-616.

[11] Strobl G. 1900: Dipterenfauna von Bosnien, Herzegovina und Dalmatien. Wissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen aus Bosnien und Herzegovina 7: 552-670.