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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Acalyptratae" » Nerioidea » Stilt-legged Flies (Micropezidae)

Family Micropezidae - Stilt-legged Flies

Insect with white/black circle on back - Taeniaptera trivittata

Stolt-legged Fly - Rainieria antennaepes

Odd Fly ID Request - Compsobata univitta

Rainieria antennaepes behavior? - Rainieria antennaepes

Compsobata univitta? - Compsobata univitta

Stilt Fly (Calobatina geometra) - Rainieria antennaepes

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

No Taxon ("Acalyptratae")

Superfamily Nerioidea

Family Micropezidae (Stilt-legged Flies)

Other Common Names

Small-footed Flies

Explanation of Names

Micropezidae Blanchard 1840

Numbers

>30 spp. in 9 genera in our area(1), ~600 spp. in >50 genera worldwide(2)

Size

4-15 mm

Identification

Known for their walking around and lifting their prominently marked front legs imitating ichneumon wasps(3)

review of our fauna, with keys, in(4)

key to western spp. in(5)

The vertical row of bristles above the base of the mid leg puts this fly in subfamily Taeniapterinae [comment by John F. Carr]

Range

Worldwide, much more diverse in the tropics, poorly represented in cooler climes(3)

Habitat

Moist areas, marshes, wet woods

Food

Adults of some species are attracted to rotting fruit or dung; in other species adults are predaceous; larvae saprophagous

Print References

Merritt R.W. (1972) Geographic distribution of Micropezidae in the western United States (Diptera). Northwest Sci. 46: 40-43. (Full text)

Internet References

key to genera, family page by Herschel Raney

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.	Insects: Their Natural History And Diversity: With a Photographic Guide to Insects of Eastern North America Stephen A. Marshall. 2006. Firefly Books Ltd.

4.	The Neriidae and Micropezidae of America north of Mexico (Diptera) Cresson E.T. 1938. Trans. Am. Entl. Soc. 64: 293-366.

5.	The Micropezidae of California (Diptera) Merritt R., James M.T. 1973. Bull. Calif. Insect Survey 14: 1-29.

Contributed by Cotinis on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Stephen_WV, Beatriz Moisset, Aaron Schusteff, v belov, Marci Hess
Last updated 22 January, 2019 - 4:17pm

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