Explanation of Names
Family name is from platu Greek flat, or plate, plus pez Latin (or Greek?) foot. The "pezidae" means "footed", presumably.
Numbers
Arnett, p. 883, lists 67 North American species
(1).
Identification
Usually black or brown, enlarged hind
tarsi.
Season
Late summer-fall. Brimley
(2) lists collection dates of October for
Platypeza in North Carolina.
Insects of Cedar Creek (Minnesota) lists dates of August-September for
Platypeza and July for
Bertamyia.
Food
Adults may feed on fungi. Some groups are reported to take honeydew from leaves (Chandler,
The Flat-footed Flies of Europe--review
here).
Life Cycle
Males sometimes swarm, and females are attracted to these swarms. Some are attracted to smoke. (Do they mistake a column of smoke for a swarm? This seems possible.) Larvae live on fungi.
Some genera associated with stinkhorn mushrooms,
Phallaceae (comments
here).
Anna Botsford Comstock, in Handbook of Nature Study (1913), makes an interesting observation about spore dispersal in stinkhorn mushrooms:
The spores are borne in the chambers of the cap, and when ripe the substance of these chambers dissolves into a thick liquid in which the spores float. The flies are attracted by the fetid odor and come to feast upon these fungi and to lay their eggs within them, and incidentally they carry the spores away on their brushy feet, and thus help to spread the species.
Speculation. It seems quite possible that the elongated tarsi of the Platypezidae are a
co-evolutionary adaptation for spreading the spores of their host mushrooms.
Print References
Borror and White, p. 280-281
(3)
Kessel, E. L. 1987. 50. Platypezidae. Manual of Nearct. Dipt. 2:681-688.
Contributed by
Cotinis on 16 November, 2004 - 8:08am
Additional contributions by
Keith BaylessLast updated 30 September, 2008 - 8:56am
