BRACHYCERA, Muscomorpha Schizophora Acalyptratae, Ephydroidea

Number of British species: 5

Size: S

Difficulty: 4

Small (2-3.5 mm), slender, dark and lustrous flies. Arista with long rays above and shorter rays below; ocelli present; Ocellar bristles present; Postvertical bristles converging; 2 pairs of frontal bristles, the lower pair curving forward, the upper pair backward; scattered interfrontal setulae present; vibrissae present. Wing unmarked; costa with both humeral and subcostal breaks; vein Sc incomplete; crossvein BM-Cu absent; cell cup open. Femur of fore leg with a spine on its ventral side, beyond the middle; only tibia of mid leg with dorsal preapical bristle.

The biology of this small family is little known. Presumably the larvae feed on organic matter (dung and detritus); they have been collected in soil at the entrances of rabbit burrows and in the nest of a field vole (Microtus agrestis (Linnaeus)). The adults are frequently found on flowers, on low vegetation or on bare soil, near the entrance of burrows, and are often found on windows.

Collin (1933), Papp (1982), Papp (1985)