BRACHYCERA, Muscomorpha Schizophora Acalyptratae, Carnoidea

Number of British species: 2

Size: S

Difficulty: 2

Minute to small (1.6-5 mm), robust, yellow to greyish black, pruinose flies, generally with conspicuous whitish to greyish markings. Head large with small antenna; arista bare to pubescent; ocelli present; Ocellar bristles present; Postvertical bristles absent but often replaced by diverging pseudopostocellar bristles; 2-5 pairs of frontal bristles, curving outward; interfrontal bristles present; gena with 1 or more upcurved bristles; vibrissae present. Wing unmarked; costa with a subcostal break; vein Sc parallel to vein R₁ and merging with that vein just before the costa; crossvein BM-Cu present; cell cup closed. Tibiae without dorsal preapical bristle.

All the European species live in the tidal zone where they feed on algae and organic matter.

Canzoneri & Meneghini (1983), Wirth (1951)