British Insects: the Families of Diptera
| British Insects: the Families of Diptera | |
Blow-flies, Green-flies, Bluebottles, Flesh-flies.
Life style parasitic (sometimes, in the larval stage), or non-parasitic.
Adult insects. Small to large; robustly-built. Antennae 3 segmented; ‘modified’. Antennae aristate; the bristle dorsal (and long-plumose). The second antennal segment distinctly grooved above. Ptilinal suture clearly defined. Eyes meeting above the antennae (some males), or not meeting. Mouthparts functional, or non-functional (Hypodermatinae); non-piercing. The maxillary palps 1 segmented (or lacking, Hypodermatinae); porrect. Vibrissae present, or absent (?). Thorax with the dorsal suture continuous across the middle; with well defined posterior calli. Postscutellum absent or weakly developed. Hypopleural bristles present (in a ‘fan’). Wings with a discal cell; with a subapical cell; with a closed anal cell. The anal cell short. The costa unbroken. Sub-costa apparent; reaching the costa independently of vein 1. The leading edge veins not noticeably stronger than the rest. Wings exhibiting a sharp bend in vein 4. Vein 6 present; falling short of the wing margin. Wings with a well developed lower calypter. Hind tibiae with strong bristles in the basal 4/5. Neither parasitic nor predatory (feeding mainly on nectar, honey-dew, etc., and on the liquid products of decomposition).
Larvae and pupae. Larvae terrestrial; saprophagous, or coprophagous, or consuming stored produce, or mycophagous, or parasitic (e.g., of worms and snails); acephalic. Pupa enclosed within a puparium.
Comments. Often metallic green or blue flies.
Classification. Suborder Brachycera; Division Muscomorpha Schizophora Calyptratae; Superfamily Oestroidea.
British representation: Genera 14; 38 species.
Illustrations: • Calliphora vomitoria and Cynomyia mortuorum (from Walker).
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Diptera. Version: 9th April 2007. http://delta-intkey.com’.
