Family Xylophagidae

Nearctica.com lists 6 genera: Arthropeas Loew 1850 (2 spp.), Coenomyia Latreille 1796 (1 sp.), Dialysis Walker 1850 (9 spp.), Rachicerus Walker 1854 (5 spp.), Triptotricha Loew 1872 (1 sp.), Xylophagus Meigen 1803 (8 spp.), for a total of 25 species.

Insects of Cedar Creek, and Arnett (1) list 27 species for North America.

2-25 mm, typically 10-13 mm

Slender-bodied without prominent hair. Usually black, but sometimes marked with yellow, or nearly all yellow (1). Facial orbits and cheeks not sutured (2). Calypters (lobes on base of wing along trailing edge) small or absent. Third antennal segment is elongated, execept in Rachicerus, where the antennae appear to have many segments. M3 cell of wing (see references) open (3).

Wing venation:

Many North American species are distributed in the northern part of the continent (1).

Typically woodlands

Adults sometimes take nectar and other fluids (1).

Larvae feed on decaying vegetation and live under bark or in decaying wood, or sometimes predatory (1). Larvae of Xylophagus reported to be predatory on larvae of bark beetles (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research).