Culicomorpha

Specimen of Androprosopa americana, from the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario.

Belongs within: Neoneura.
Contains: Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, Simuliidae, Culicidae, Chaoboridae.

The Culicomorpha are a major clade of flies including mosquitoes, midges and related taxa. Most are relatively slender, long-legged flies but some are more robust, including the Simuliidae, Thaumaleidae and some Ceratopogonidae. The majority of culicomorphs have aquatic larvae, most of which are filter-feeders or gleaners of algae, protozoa and other micro-organisms. Of the two main lineages within the Culicomorpha, adults have wing venation reduced in Chironomoidea relative to that found in the Culicoidea. The Thaumaleidae are small, stocky flies, most diverse in the Holarctic region, with holoptic eyes (meeting dorsally along the midline of the head) and relatively short, slender antennae (Stone & Peterson 1981).

Synapomorphies (from Blagoderov et al. 2002): Torsion joint at R kink, radial and axillary hair plates, R₂ lost, R₃₊₄ stalk formed, MA vein-like and transverse, M₃₊₄ simple, im lost, Cu base tends to be captured by cu-a, CuP base angled towards 1A, pedicel enlarged, (post)laterocervicale with ventromedian projection, empodium tends to be setiform. Pupa with palpal sheath curved posteromesad, hind leg sheath S-shaped and concealed beneath wing sheath. Larva with labral brush complex, torma and premandible invaginated.

<==Culicomorpha
    |--Chironomoidea CM91
    |    |--+--Ceratopogonidae WT11
    |    |  `--Chironomidae WT11
    |    `--+--Simuliidae WT11
    |       `--Thaumaleidae [Orphnephilidae, Thaumalaeidae] WT11
    |            |--Mesothaumalea fossilis Kovalev 1989 RJ93
    |            |--Trichothaumalea pluvialis SP81
    |            |--Niphta CM91
    |            |--Afrothaumalea Stuckenberg 1960 S61
    |            |    `--*A. pamelae Stuckenberg 1960 S61
    |            |--Austrothaumalea Tonnoir 1927 S61
    |            |    `--A. neozealandica S61
    |            |--Thaumalea SP81
    |            |    |--T. americana SP81
    |            |    `--T. testacea RD77
    |            `--Androprosopa SP81
    |                 |--A. americana WT11
    |                 `--A. larvata SP81
    `--Culicoidea CM91
         |  i. s.: Hesperinidae [Hesperininae] H02
         |           |--Longicornia Hong 2002 H02
         |           |    `--*L. tenuis Hong 2002 H02
         |           `--Heperinus Walker 1848 H02
         |                |--*H. renifrons Walker 1848 H02
         |                |--H. brevifrons H81
         |                `--H. rohdendorfi H81
         |--+--Culicidae WT11
         |  `--+--Chaoboridae WT11
         |     `--Corethrellidae [Corethrellinae] WT11
         |          |--Lutzomiops kerrvillensis C81
         |          `--Corethrella B09b
         |               |--C. amazonica WT11
         |               |--C. brakeleyi C81
         |               |--C. calathicola B09b
         |               |--C. dicosimoae B09b
         |               |--C. towadensis B09b
         |               `--C. wirthi BW09
         `--Dixidae WT11
              |  i. s.: Dixella B09a [incl. Dixapuella P81]
              |           |--D. alexanderi P81
              |           |--D. californica P81
              |           |--D. clavata P81
              |           |--D. dyari P81
              |           |--D. naevia P81
              |           |--D. nicholsoni O98
              |           |--D. nova B09a
              |           `--D. suzukii B09a
              |         Neodixa RD77
              |--Paradixa GE05 [Paradixinae B09a]
              |--Meringodixa P81 [Meringodixinae B09a]
              |    `--M. chalonensis P81
              `--Dixinae B09a
                   |--Syndixa sibirica BLM02
                   `--Dixa P81
                        |--D. aprilina [=Bolitophila (Dixa) aprilina] G20
                        |--D. brevis P81
                        |--D. nicholsoni CM91
                        `--D. submaculata WT11

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BLM02] Blagoderov, V. A., E. D. Lukashevich & M. B. Mostovski. 2002. Order Diptera Linné, 1758. The true flies (=Muscida Laicharting, 1781). In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 227–240. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[B09a] Borkent, A. 2009a. Dixidae (meniscus midges). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera, vol. 1 pp. 359–360. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[B09b] Borkent, A. 2009b. Corethrellidae (frog-biting midges). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 1 pp. 361–363. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[BW09] Buck, M., N. E. Woodley, A. Borkent, D. M. Wood, T. Pape, J. R. Vockeroth, V. Michelsen & S. A. Marshall. 2009. Key to Diptera families—adults. In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 1 pp. 95–156. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[CM91] Colless, D. H., & D. K. McAlpine. 1991. Diptera (flies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 717–786. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[C81] Cook, E. F. 1981. Chaoboridae. In: McAlpine, J. F., B. V. Peterson, G. E. Shewell, H. J. Teskey, J. R. Vockeroth & D. S. Wood (eds) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 1 pp. 335–339. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[H81] Hardy, D. E. 1981. Bibionidae. In: McAlpine, J. F., B. V. Peterson, G. E. Shewell, H. J. Teskey, J. R. Vockeroth & D. S. Wood (eds) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 1 pp. 217–222. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[H02] Hong Y. 2002. Amber Insect of China. Beijing Scientific and Technological Publishing House.

[O98] Oosterbroek, P. 1998. The Families of Diptera of the Malay Archipelago. Brill: Leiden.

[P81] Peters, T. M. 1981. Dixidae. In: McAlpine, J. F., B. V. Peterson, G. E. Shewell, H. J. Teskey, J. R. Vockeroth & D. S. Wood (eds) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 1 pp. 329–333. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[SP81] Stone, A., & B. V. Peterson. 1981. Thaumaleidae. In: McAlpine, J. F., B. V. Peterson, G. E. Shewell, H. J. Teskey, J. R. Vockeroth & D. S. Wood (eds) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 1 pp. 351–353. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[S61] Stuckenberg, R. R. 1961. Diptera (Nematocera): Thaumaleidae. In: Hanström, B., P. Brinck & G. Rudebeck (eds) South African Animal Life: Results of the Lund University Expedition in 1950–1951 vol. 8 pp. 409–412. Almqvist & Wiksell: Uppsala.

[WT11] Wiegmann, B. M., M. D. Trautwein, I. S. Winkler, N. B. Barr, J.-W. Kim, C. Lambkin, M. A. Bertone, B. K. Cassel, K. M. Bayless, A. M. Heimberg, B. M. Wheeler, K. J. Peterson, T. Pape, B. J. Sinclair, J. H. Skevington, V. Blagoderov, J. Caravas, S. N. Kutty, U. Schmidt-Ott, G. E. Kampmeier, F. C. Thompson, D. A. Grimaldi, A. T. Beckenbach, G. W. Courtney, M. Friedrich, R. Meier & D. K. Yeates. 2011. Episodic radiations in the fly tree of life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108 (14): 5690–5695.

Last updated: 28 December 2020.