Family Athericidae - Watersnipe Flies

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Habitat · Food · Print References · Works Cited

ID Request - Which Fly - Suragina concinna - male

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

No Taxon (Orthorrhapha)

Infraorder Tabanomorpha

Family Athericidae (Watersnipe Flies)

Other Common Names

Ibis Flies

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

formerly treated as part of Rhagionidae

Explanation of Names

Athericidae Nowicki 1873

Numbers

5 spp. in 2 genera in our area(1), >130 spp. in 12 genera total(2)

Identification

Adult: costa extends around entire wing; cell R1 closed by vein R2+3 meeting C at end of R1, vein CuA2 meeting vein A1 before wing margin, wings patterned; lower calypter much reduced or absent; stout tapered abdomen; tergite 1 with posterior margin straight; longish legs; 1st & 2nd antennal segments doughnut-shaped, last (3rd) segment with long, unsegmented bristle (slender, nonannulated arista); fore tibiae without spurs, mid and hind tibiae with 2 spurs; feet with triple pad beneath tarsal claws (2 pulvilli and a pulvilliform empodium in between)

Larva: 7 pairs of abdominal prolegs and a single proleg on the last segment; lack true head; long fleshy filaments extend from hind end; short filaments protrude from each side of each abdominal segment

Habitat

Larvae found in pristine streams, adults nearby

Food

larvae are aquatic and either predaceous on other invertebrates or saprophagous in wooden debris, submerged timbers, etc.; some adults are predaceous, but females of at least some species of 3 genera are blood feeders: Atrichops, Dasyomma, Suragina (3)(4)(5). Despite what prior and even some modern literature suggests, the genus Atherix does not contain blood feeding species. The mouthparts are not sufficiently modified for biting in the Palearctic Atherix ibis (Nagatomi & Soroida, 1985). The Neotropical Atherix longipes Bellard was moved to the genus Suragina.

Print References

Webb, D. W. 1977. The Nearctic Athericidae (Insecta: Diptera). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 50(4): 473-495. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25082966

Nagatomi, A., and Soroida, K. 1985. The structure of the mouthparts of the orthorrhaphous Brachycera (Diptera) with special reference to blood-sucking. Beiträge zur Entomologie Berlin 35(2): 263-368.

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.	Evenhuis N.L. (ed.) Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian regions (online version)

4.	Medical and Veterinary Entomology Gary Mullen, Lance Durden. 2002. Academic Press.

5.	Watson L., Dallwitz M.J. (2003-) British Insects

Contributed by Joel Kits on 11 March, 2005 - 8:52pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Keith Bayless, v belov, Arturo Santos
Last updated 10 July, 2021 - 1:33am

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