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Small to medium-sized (3.0-6.0 mm),
yellowish-brown to dark brown midges, resembling Simuliidae. Head
with dichoptic eyes, without ocelli; antenna short, flagellum with
14 segments. Thorax hump-backed, mesonotum usually with dark
longitudinal stripes, coxae relatively short, legs long and narrow,
abdomen elongated and narrow. Wings relatively broad, hyaline,
without markings, wing membrane without macrotrichia or scales. Vein
Sc ending in C, veins R2+3 and R4+5 convergent towards wing margin.
The larvae are aquatic, restricted to springs, small brooks and
waterfalls. They live on the surface of wet rocks in a thin film of
water. The adults are poor fliers and are found near the larval
habitat, usually sitting on vegetation over the water. They are
usually rare and stenotopic, but some species are locally abundant.
Most species of Thaumaleidae are typical mountain flies, but several
species also occur in submontane areas.
There are some 100 described Palaearctic species
(Wagner
1997,
2007) and about 75 species in Europe
(Wagner
2007). Altogether 15 species are
listed in the present checklist
– 11 from the Czech Republic (4 in
Bohemia, 11 in Moravia), and 13 from Slovakia. Since the PCV2
(Martinovský
1997), no species has been added to
the Czech Republic, but one species of Androprosopa Mik,
1898, that was described as new to science, was added to the fauna
of Slovakia
(Martinovský
1999).The species composition of
Thaumaleidae in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is relatively
well known, although several additional species are still to be
expected.
The basic characteristics of the family were
recently given by
Disney (1999),
Martinovský and Barták (2000)
and Wagner (1997).
The identification of most European species is possible using the
papers by Edwards (1929),
Martinovský and Rozkošný (1976)
and Vaillant (1977).
The nomenclature used in the present checklist follows that in the
Fauna Europaea (Wagner
2007).
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