Simuliidae

Reconstruction of Archicnephia ornithoraptor from Cretaceous amber, from Grimaldi & Engel (2005).

Belongs within: Culicomorpha.
Contains: Simulium.

The Simuliidae, black flies, are small stout flies whose larvae are found in water. The aquatic larvae anchor themselves to the substrate by means of a silken pad and feed by filtering particulate matter from the water. Adult flies feed on sugar (such as nectar) after emerging; females of most species also feed on animal blood. The family is divided between two subfamilies by features of the wing venation; Parasimulium species have longer dorsal and ventral setae on veins C, Sc and R with vein R₁ joining C only slightly beyond the middle of the wing, whereas Simuliinae have shorter setae (if any) on said veins and have R₁ joining C well beyond the middle of the wing (Peterson 1981).

Characters (from Peterson 1981): Small stout flies, 1.2-5.5 mm long, usually black or dark brown in color, but sometimes reddish brown, gray, orange, or yellow. Antenna short, rather stout, erect, with seven to nine flagellomeres; all segments bead-like; pedicel usually largest of segments. Legs short. Fore tibia with one apical spur; mid and hind tibiae with two apical spurs. Wing broad; anterior veins strong; posterior veins weak.

<==Simuliidae [Melusinidae]
    |  i. s.: Austrosimulium P81
    |           |--A. australense O81
    |           |--A. bancrofti CM91
    |           |--A. pestilens C94
    |           `--A. ungulatum O81
    |         Simulimima grandis GE05
    |         Baisomyia incognita GE05
    |         Crozetia crozetensis P81
    |--Parasimulium P81 [Parasimuliinae AC09]
    |    |  i. s.: P. crosskeyi WT11
    |    |--P. (Parasimulium) P81
    |    |    |--P. (P.) furcatum P81
    |    |    `--P. (P.) stonei P81
    |    `--P. (Astoneomyia) melanderi P81
    `--Simuliinae AC09
         |  i. s.: Greniera P81
         |           |--G. abdita P81
         |           `--G. denaria P81
         |         Stegopterna mutata P81
         |         Metacnephia P81
         |           |--M. jeanae P81
         |           `--M. saileri P81
         |         Ectemnia P81
         |           |--E. invenusta P81
         |           `--E. taeniatifrons P81
         |         Cnephia P81
         |           |--C. dacotensis P81
         |           |--C. ornithophila BMA03
         |           `--C. tonnoiri ASD05
         |                |--C. t. tonnoiri HM70
         |                `--C. t. fuscoflava HM70
         |--Simuliini AC09
         |    |--Simulium AC09
         |    |--Archicnephia ornithoraptor GE05
         |    |--Gigantodax AC09
         |    |    |  i. s.: G. nasutus M96
         |    |    |--G. brophyi M96
         |    |    |--G. cilicinus M96
         |    |    |--G. cortesi M96
         |    |    |--G. igniculus M96
         |    |    |--G. minor M96
         |    |    |--G. multifilis M96
         |    |    |--G. cormonsi group M96
         |    |    |    |--G. cormonsi M96
         |    |    |    `--G. lazoi Takaoka et al. 1988 M96
         |    |    `--G. wrighti group M96
         |    |         |--G. adleri Moulton 1996 M96
         |    |         |--G. biergi Vargas & Ramírez-Pérez 1989 M96
         |    |         |--G. willei Vargas & Ramírez-Pérez 1989 M96
         |    |         `--G. wrighti AC09
         |    `--Tlalocomyia [incl. Mayacnephia] AC09
         |         `--T. salasi AC09
         `--Prosimuliini AC09
              |--Kovalevimyia lacrimosa GE05
              |--Prosimulium P81
              |    |--P. (Parahelodon) decertimaculum P81
              |    |--P. magnum BMA03
              |    |--P. (Prosimulium) mixtum P81
              |    |--P. neomacropyga P81
              |    |--P. (Helodon) onychodactylum P81
              |    |--P. (Distosimulium) pleurale P81
              |    |--P. travisi M96
              |    `--P. ursinum P81
              |--Urosimulium M96
              |--Levitinia M96
              |--Gymnopais holopticus M96, P81
              `--Twinnia tibblesi M96, P81

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AC09] Adler, P. H., & D. C. Currie. 2009. Simuliidae (black flies, bocones). 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. 389–406. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[ASD05] Armstrong, K. N., A. W. Storey & P. M. Davies. 2005. Effects of catchment clearing and sedimentation on macroinvertebrate communities of cobble habitat in freshwater streams of southwestern Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 88 (1): 1–11.

[BMA03] Beard, C. E., J. W. McCreadie & P. H. Adler. 2003. Prevalence of the trichomycete fungus Harpella melusinae (Harpellales, Harpellaceae) in larval black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) across a heterogeneous environment. Mycologia 95 (4): 577–583.

[C94] Colless, D. H. 1994. A new family of muscoid Diptera from Australasia, with sixteen new species in four new genera (Diptera: Axiniidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 471–534.

[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).

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

[HM70] Hinton, H. E., & I. M. Mackerras. 1970. Reproduction and metamorphosis. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 83–106. Melbourne University Press.

[M96] Moulton, J. K. 1996. A new species of Gigantodax Enderlein (Diptera: Simuliidae) from the United States. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 98 (4): 741–751.

[O81] O’Brien, C. O. 1981. A. A. Book of New Zealand Wildlife: A guide to the native and introduced animals of New Zealand. Lansdowne Press: Auckland.

[P81] Peterson, B. V. 1981. Simuliidae. 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. 355–391. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[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: 27 December 2020.