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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Acalyptratae" » Sciomyzoidea » Black Scavenger Flies (Sepsidae)

Family Sepsidae - Black Scavenger Flies

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Habitat · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Fly - Sepsis black scavenger fly - Sepsis punctum - female Nemopoda? Sepsidae - Black Scavenger Flies Sepsis - Sepsis Tiny Flies on Cow Pies diptera - Nemopoda nitidula Sepsis Sepsid(?) Fly - Sepsis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Acalyptratae")
Superfamily Sciomyzoidea
Family Sepsidae (Black Scavenger Flies)
Explanation of Names
Sepsidae Walker 1833
Numbers
34 spp. in 11 genera in our area(1), ~350 spp. in 38 genera total(2)
Identification
Small, shining blackish flies, sometimes with a reddish tinge; spherical head; abdomen narrowed at the base. Many species have a dark spot along the costal margin of the wing near the tip.
Habitat
Larvae in excrement and various types of decaying matter. Adults near larvaL substrate(3)
Life Cycle
see (3)
Print References
(4)
Internet References
image galleries: diptera.info(5) | sepsidnet(6)
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.The Sepsidae (Diptera) of Europe
Pont A.C., Meier R. 2002. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 37: 1-195.
4.Larval morphology of the Sepsidae (Diptera, Sciomyzoidea), with a cladistic analysis using adult and larval characters
Meier R. 1996. Bull. AMNH 228: 1-147.
5.Diptera.info
6.Sepsidnet
Contributed by Hannah Nendick-Mason on 20 November, 2004 - 8:39am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Bbarnd, John S. Ascher, Ron M., v belov
Last updated 30 May, 2023 - 8:17pm

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