Keroplatidae Rondani, 1856

Small to large (3.0-15 mm), morphologically diverse, yellowish to dark brown fungus gnats. Head with three ocelli; antenna with scape and pedicel short, flagellum with 14 segments, in some Macrocerinae very long (several times longer than body), in Keroplatinae sometimes with laterally flattened segments. Mouthparts in some genera elongated. Thorax hump-backed, legs with long coxae, abdomen usually narrow. Wings often with dark markings, wing membrane with or without macrotrichia. Sc ending in C, R and M fused for a short distance. The larvae are predaceous or mycophagous, usually associated with wood-decaying fungi. The larvae of Keroplatus Bosc, 1792 and some other genera are known for their bioluminescence. Adults occur in the undergrowth of forests, especially in shaded places alongside streams and on tree trunks, but also in meadow and steppe habitats.

At present, the family Keroplatidae is divided into four subfamilies – Keroplatinae, Macrocerinae, Arachnocampinae and Sciarokeroplatinae (Matile 1990, Papp & Ševčík 2005, Søli et al. 2000). Like other fungus gnat families of the superfamily Sciaroidea, it was formerly included in the Mycetophilidae. There are about 800 described species in the world (Søli et al. 2000), but probably the same number of species still await description. More than 100 species are known to occur in Europe (Chandler 2007, Søli et al. 2000); 61 are listed in the present checklist – 60 from the Czech Republic (43 in Bohemia, 55 in Moravia), and 45 from Slovakia. Since the PCV2 (Košel et al. 1997), 19 species have been added to the Czech Republic (14 species for Bohemia and 20 for Moravia), and 8 species to Slovakia (Martinovský 2001, Martinovský & Barták 2000, Martinovský & Ševčík 1998, Ševčík 2001a,  2001b, 2002, 2004, 2006a, 2006b, Ševčík & Martinovský 1999, Ševčík et al. 2005). Since the ECV1 (Ševčík & Košel 2006), one species has been added to the Czech Republic (Bohemia) and nine species to Slovakia (Ševčík 2007, 2009a, b, Ševčík & Vonička 2008). The species composition of Keroplatidae in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is relatively well known, although several additional species can still be expected, especially in Slovakia.

The basic characteristics of the family were recently given by Matile (1990), Søli et al. (2000), Hutson et al. (1980) and Zaitzev (1994), including the identification keys. The nomenclature used in the present checklist follows that in the Fauna Europaea (Chandler 2007).