Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Unique-headed Bugs (Enicocephalomorpha) » Gnat Bugs (Enicocephalidae)

Family Enicocephalidae - Gnat Bugs

tiny insect - Systelloderes biceps - male

Systelloderes sp., Enicocephalidae - Unique-headed Bug - Systelloderes

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)

Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)

Infraorder Enicocephalomorpha (Unique-headed Bugs)

Family Enicocephalidae (Gnat Bugs)

Other Common Names

Unique-headed Bugs(1)(2)

Explanation of Names

Enicocephalidae Stål 1860

Numbers

poorly understood group(3) with ~10 spp. in 6 genera in our area and >400 spp. in 55 genera worldwide(4)

Size

1‒17 mm(5); our spp., 2‒5 mm

Identification

slender body with unusual elongated head constricted behind eyes and at base; ocelli present; antennae and beak 4-segmented; forewings entirely membranous; front femora and tarsi thickened; middle and hind tarsi 2-segmented.

Range

worldwide

Habitat

under leaf litter, rocks, bark

Life Cycle

Some species form swarms in sunny patches in woodland, resembling the behavior of midges(1)

Remarks

may form aggregations of many thousands of individuals(4)

Works Cited

1.	How to Know the True Bugs Slater, James A., and Baranowski, Richard M. 1978. Wm. C. Brown Company.

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

3.	Revision of the New World Enicocephalomorpha (Heteroptera) Wygodzinsky, P.W. and K. Schmidt. 1991. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History ; no. 200.

4.	Biodiversity of the Heteroptera Henry T.J. 2009. In: Foottit R.G., Adler P.H., eds. Insect biodiversity: Science and society. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 223−263.

5.	Australian Faunal Directory

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 30 July, 2005 - 11:21pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 9 October, 2023 - 12:50pm

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