Pipunculidae Walker, 1834

Small to medium-sized (2.0-12.0 mm), mostly dark coloured flies, a few species with a yellow pattern; body mostly dusted grey. Head subhemispherical (Chalarinae), hemispherical (Nephrocerinae), or nearly spherical (Pipunculinae), on an extremely narrow conical cervix. Compound eyes covering almost the whole head surface, in males usually contiguous (except Chalarinae), in females mostly with enlarged frontal ommatidia; three ocelli present. Antenna varying in colour, with 3 segments; segments 1-2 small, segment 3 large, laterally flattened, oval-shaped, or reniform, or ventrally prolonged, obtuse or acuminate at apex. Mouthparts muscoid. Thorax robust, with groups of bristles defining the different genera; legs with well-developed pulvilli. Wings long and narrow, hyaline, sometimes infuscated brown; all the species are very skilled fliers. Abdomen slender and elongate. Male postabdomen with segments 6 and 7 asymmetric, twisted towards the left. Female postabdomen with segments 7-9 forming the ovipositor, segment 9 modified into a piercer; 3 spermathecae present. The Nephrocerinae are parasitoids of Tipulidae (Skevington 2005), and the other subfamilies are endoparasitoids of Fulgoromorpha and Cicadomorpha (Hemiptera). The females deposit eggs into the haemocoel of the host. Larval development passes through two instars, with the mature larva emerging from the host through a hole made in the intersegmental membrane and pupating in the soil.

Altogether more than 1390 valid species are known worldwide, and 217 are known to occur in Europe (De Meyer 2007, Kehlmaier 2006, 2008, Kehlmaier & Assmann 2008); 122 species are listed in the present checklist: 112 in the Czech Republic (89 in Bohemia, 93 in Moravia), and 99 in Slovakia. Since the ECV1, the number of species in consequence  of new discovered synonymy has decreased by one in the Czech Republic (one in Bohemia and two in Moravia) and by three in Slovakia. The pipunculid fauna of both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is well known compared to other European countries.

The basic characteristics of the family are given by Kozánek et al. (1998) and also in most modern taxonomic revisions (e.g. Albrecht 1990, Kehlmaier 2005, 2006, 2008). Most genera have been revised recently. The nomenclature in the present checklist follows the Fauna Europaea (De Meyer 2007), and the recent taxonomical changes (Kehlmaier 2006, 2008, Kehlmaier & Asmann 2008).