Family Mycetophilidae - Fungus Gnats

Classification · Numbers · Size · Range · Habitat · Food · Remarks · Works Cited

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

No Taxon ("Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera))

Infraorder Bibionomorpha (Gnats, Gall Midges, and March Flies)

Superfamily Sciaroidea (Fungus Gnats and Gall Midges)

Family Mycetophilidae (Fungus Gnats)

Numbers

ca. 620 spp. in >70 genera in our area(1), well over 4000 spp. in >200 genera worldwide(2)

Size

2.2-13.5 mm(1)

Range

cosmopolitan, well-represented in forested areas worldwide(3)

Habitat

mostly wet forests; also quite common in swamps; some live in the moister parts of heath and open grassland. Larvae mainly bound to the sporophores of fleshy Basidiomycetes, others (esp. Mycomyinae, Sciophilinae, and Leiinae) spin glutinous webs under sporophores or under bark of dead trunks and branches.(3)

Food

Spores and/or hyphae of fleshy Basidiomycetes; some species can be bred from Polyporaceae (bracket fungi) and rarely from Ascomycetes and Myxomycetes. A few species are monophagous or polyphagous, but the majority of species are restricted to particular genera or families of fungi. Some of the web-spinning larvae are predaceous and others mycophagous. A few exotic species live on mosses and liverworts.(3)

Remarks

The distinctive black-headed larvae abundant in mushrooms belong to this family.(4)

The flowers of Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema) lure and trap adult fungus gnats with their fungus smell and accomplish pollination by these means.

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico By Ross H. Arnett

2.	USDA Diptera Site (now closed)

3.	Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions (online version) edited by N.L. Evenhuis

4.	Insects: Their Natural History And Diversity: With a Photographic Guide to Insects of Eastern North America By Stephen A. Marshall

Contributed by Joel Kits on 11 March, 2005 - 9:41pm
Additional contributions by Stephen Cresswell, Beatriz Moisset, Bbarnd, v belov
Last updated 8 October, 2011 - 11:27am

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