Rhinophoridae
Encyclopedia
Rhinophoridae are a small family of flies
(Diptera) with around 500 species
. Rhinophoridae are found in all zoogeographic regions except Australasia
and Oceania
but mainly in the Palaearctic and Afrotropic
al regions.
They are small slender black bristly flies phylogenetically close to Tachinidae
although some authors consider them a sister group of Calliphoridae. The larva
e are mostly parasitoids of woodlice
, beetle
s, spider
s and other arthropod
s and (a few species of snail
s).
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
(Diptera) with around 500 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. Rhinophoridae are found in all zoogeographic regions except Australasia
Australasia ecozone
The Australasian zone is an ecological region that is coincident, but not synonymous , with the geographic region of Australasia...
and Oceania
Oceania ecozone
Oceania is one of the WWF ecozones, and unique in not including any continental land mass. The ecozone includes the Pacific Ocean islands of Micronesia, the Fijian Islands, and most of Polynesia...
but mainly in the Palaearctic and Afrotropic
Afrotropic
The Afrotropic is one of the Earth's eight ecozones. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the southern and eastern fringes of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly...
al regions.
They are small slender black bristly flies phylogenetically close to Tachinidae
Tachinidae
Tachinidae is a large and rather variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. There are over 1300 species in North America. Insects in this family are commonly called tachina flies or simply tachinids...
although some authors consider them a sister group of Calliphoridae. The larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e are mostly parasitoids of woodlice
Woodlouse
A woodlouse is a crustacean with a rigid, segmented, long exoskeleton and fourteen jointed limbs...
, beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
s, spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s and other arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s and (a few species of snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s).
Species lists
Identification
- Crosskey, R.W., 1977 A Review of the Rhinophoridae (Diptera) and a revision of the Afrotropical species Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. Ent. 36 (1) 66 pp.
- Herting, B., 1961. Rhinophorinae. In: Lindner E. (ed.), Die Fliegen der palaearktischen Region, IX, 64e. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart.
- Seguy, E.Eugène SéguyEugène Séguy was a French entomologist who specialised in Diptera. He held a chair of entomology at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris from 1956 -1960.Portraits and Number 7, bottom row.-Works:...
,1928. Etudes sur le mouches parasites 2 - Ccalliphorides. Calliphorines (suite), Sarcophaginae et Rhinophorinae de l'Europe occidentale et meridionale.Recherches sur la morphologie et la distribution geographique des Dipteres a larves parasites. Encyclopédie Entomologique, 9. Lechevalier, Paris.