Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Orthorrhapha » Xylophagidae

Family Xylophagidae

i.d help please - Coenomyia ferruginea - female

Unknown Diptera - Dialysis elongata - male

Dialysis rufithora? - Dialysis rufithorax - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

No Taxon (Orthorrhapha)

Family Xylophagidae

Explanation of Names

Xylophagidae Fallén 1810

Numbers

23 spp. in 6 genera in our area(1), ~150 spp. in 15 genera total(2)

Size

2-25 mm(1)

Identification

Wing venation:

Range

much of the world (none in the Afrotropical Region)(3); mostly northern NA(1)

Habitat

Typically woodlands; larvae on decaying vegetation, under bark, or in decaying wood(1)

Food

Adults sometimes take nectar and other fluids(1)

Larvae each other insect larvae.(4)

Unlike the translation of their name, neither the adults nor the larvae feed on wood.(4)

Life Cycle

Larvae scavengers or predators(1). Xylophagus larvae may prey on bark beetle larvae

Remarks

Possibly sister to the Tabanomorpha

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

2.	Order Diptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification... Pape T., Blagoderov V., Mostovski M.B. 2011. Zootaxa 3148: 222–229.

3.	A catalog of the World Xylophagidae (Insecta: Diptera) Woodley N.E. 2011. Myia 12: 455–500.

4.	Hidden Company that Trees Keep: Life from Treetops to Root Tips James B. Nardi. 2023. Princeton University Press.

Contributed by john and jane balaban on 19 September, 2004 - 2:30pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Keith Bayless, v belov, Marci Hess, Arturo Santos, zdanko
Last updated 24 September, 2023 - 10:43am

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2024 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by: