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Family Rhinophoridae - Woodlouse Flies

Melanophora roralis - male Black Fly - Melanophora roralis Another Unidentified Fly - Melanophora roralis Small Black Fly - Melanophora roralis - male Fly - Stevenia deceptoria Fly - Stevenia deceptoria Melanophora roralis Woodlouse Fly - Melanophora roralis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Calyptratae)
Superfamily Oestroidea
Family Rhinophoridae (Woodlouse Flies)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
includes Bezzimyia (previously placed in Tachinidae(1)); the monophyly of the family remains contentious(2)
Explanation of Names
Rhinophoridae Robineau-Desvoidy 1863
Numbers
worldwide, ~170 spp. in 26 genera(3); in our area, 2 native spp. (Bezzimyia americana and B. busckii) and 3 spp. introduced from Europe: Melanophora roralis, Phyto discrepans, and Stevenia deceptoria
Identification
Rhinophorids have a weakly developed subscutellum, narrow calypters, and a closed r5 cell. Melanophora have dark wings, M meeting R4+5 perpendicularly far from wing margin, Phyto have clear wings, M meeting R4+5 obtusely near wing margin.
Range
all zoogeographic regions except Australasia and Oceania; mainly Palaearctic and Afrotropical
Food
hosts: where known, woodlice(2), also beetles, spiders, and other arthropods, and occasionally snails. The only entirely parasitic calyptrate family besides Tachinidae(4)
Works Cited
1.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.
2.Molecular phylogeny of the Calyptratae (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha)...
S.N. Kutty, T. Pape, B.M. Wiegmann, R. Meier. 2010. Systematic Entomology 35: 614–635.
3.USDA Diptera Site (now closed)
4.Insects: Their Natural History And Diversity: With a Photographic Guide to Insects of Eastern North America
Stephen A. Marshall. 2006. Firefly Books Ltd.