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Family Lonchopteridae - Pointed-winged Flies

Fly in grass - Lonchoptera bifurcata - female Lonchopteridae - Lonchoptera Lonchoptera sp. . - Lonchoptera bifurcata Lonchoptera bifurcata? - Lonchoptera bifurcata fly - Lonchoptera Pointed-winged Fly - Lonchoptera bifurcata - female All-brown spear-wing - Lonchoptera Lonchoptera bifurcata - Maybe? - Lonchoptera
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Aschiza")
Superfamily Platypezoidea
Family Lonchopteridae (Pointed-winged Flies)
Other Common Names
Spear-winged Flies
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
some workers recognize multiple genera, but these are inadequately defined(1)
Explanation of Names
Lonchopteridae Macquart 1823
Numbers
a single genus, with 7 spp. in our area and ~55 described spp. worldwide + many undescribed (esp. in se. Asia)(1) [65 spp. in 6 genera total per(2)]
Size
2-5 mm(1)
Identification
apically pointed wing is unique
key to NA spp. in(1)
Range
Habitat
larvae under leaves and decaying plant remains in gardens, forests, and meadows in both dry and moist locations; adults occur, often in large numbers, in humid places near water (incl. hot springs), in shady woods with thick leaf litter, in rocky tidal zones, and in dry-meadow and mountain-meadow vegetation(3)
Food
adult feed on nectar(3)
Remarks
Most known species are bisexual. In some species (e.g., L. bifurcata) males are rare or nonexistent, and females are parthenogenetic(3)
Works Cited
1.Review of the Nearctic Lonchopteridae (Diptera), including descriptions of three new species
Klymko J., Marshall S.A. 2008. The Canadian Entomologist 140: 649-673.
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.Manual of Nearctic Diptera Volume 2
Varies for each chapter; edited by J.F. McAlpine, B.V. Petersen, G.E. Shewell, H.J. Teskey, J.R. Vockeroth, D.M. Wood. 1987. Research Branch Agriculture Canada.