Family Xylophagidae

Classification · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

pointy-end underbark larvae - Xylophagus

Large Flies (Stinkfliegen?) - Coenomyia ferruginea - male - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

No Taxon ("Orthorrhapha" (Brachycera excluding Aschiza and Schizophora))

Infraorder Xylophagomorpha

Family Xylophagidae

Numbers

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.

Size

2-25 mm, typically 10-13 mm

Identification

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).

Range

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

Habitat

Typically woodlands

Food

Adults sometimes take nectar and other fluids (1).

Life Cycle

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).

Print References

Arnett, p. 872 (1)

Lutz, 3rd ed., p. 230 (2)

Borror and White (1st ed.), pp. 272, 273, 275 (3)

Internet References

North Carolina State University Entomology Collection lists, for that state: Coenomyia ferruginea; Dialysis elongata, fasciventris, rufithorax; Rachicerus fulvicollis; Xylophagus cinctus, lugens.

USDA Diptera site discusses taxonomy briefly.

Works Cited

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

2.	Field Book of Insects of the United States and Canada, Aiming to Answer Common Questions, By Frank Eugene Lutz

3.	A Field Guide to Insects By Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson

Contributed by john and jane balaban on 19 September, 2004 - 2:30pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Keith Bayless
Last updated 12 March, 2007 - 2:10am

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