Sciomyzoidea

Kelp fly Coelopa vanduzeei, copyright Alice Abela.

Belongs within: Schizophora.
Contains: Conopidae, Sciomyzidae.

The Sciomyzoidea are a group of acalyptrate flies characterised by having the face desclerotised along the vertical midline, and possessing a densely setose frontal vitta. Members include the Coelopidae, robust flies with a somewhat flattened habitus most commonly found along coastlines (Vockeroth 1987). The Dryomyzidae are a Holarctic group with a large and prominent clypeus bulging below the lower margin of the face in profile. The coastal Helcomyzidae resembly Dryomyzidae but have a triangular prosternum forming a precoxal bridge. The Helosciomyzidae, found in Australasia and South America, resemble members of the Sciomyzidae but for an anteriorly protruding prelabrum, a short second antennal segment, spaced anterior spines on the costa, and two strong sternopleural bristles present (Colless & McAlpine 1991). Stylogaster is a genus of slender flies, females of which have an elongate ovipositor usually about as long as the rest of the abdomen, that develop as endoparasites of orthopteroids such as cockroaches and crickets (Skevington et al. 2010).

<==Sciomyzoidea [Helcomyzinae] WT11
    |--+--Natalimyza [Natalimyzidae] WT11
    |  `--Heterocheila [Heterocheilidae] WT11
    |       |--H. buccata WT11 [=Oedoparea buccata S87]
    |       `--H. hannai S87
    `--+--Stylogaster [Stylogastrinae] WT11
       |    |--S. biannulata SP87
       |    |--S. malgachensis A71
       |    |--S. neglecta STC10
       |    `--S. stylosus STC10
       `--+--+--+--Pelidnoptera [Phaeomyiidae, Phaeomyiinae] WT11
          |  |  |    `--P. nigripennis WT11
          |  |  `--+--Conopidae WT11
          |  |     `--Sciomyzidae WT11
          |  `--Dryomyzidae [Dryomyzinae] WT11
          |       |--Oedoparena glauca WT11
          |       |--Paractora S87
          |       |--Maorimyia S87
          |       |--Palaeotimia lhoesti S87
          |       |--Prodryomyza electrica S87
          |       `--Dryomyza WT11
          |            |--D. anilis WT11
          |            `--D. flaveola S87
          `--+--+--Huttonina [Huttoninidae, Huttonininae] WT11
             |  |    `--H. glabra WT11
             |  `--Helcomyza WT11 [incl. Actora RD77; Helcomyzidae]
             |       |--H. mirabilis WT11
             |       `--H. ustulata S87
             `--+--Helosciomyzidae [Helosciomyzinae] WT11
                |    |--Neosciomyza luteipennis WT11
                |    |--Helosciomyza CM91
                |    |--Eurotocus CM91
                |    |--Xenosciomyza CM91
                |    |--Polytocus CM91
                |    `--Sciogriphoneura S87
                `--Coelopidae [Phycodromidae] WT11
                     |  i. s.: Dasycoelopa australis CM91
                     |         Chaetocoelopa sydneyensis CM91
                     |         Malacomyia V87
                     |         Baeopterus robustus V87, N91
                     |         Icaridion debile V87, KP10
                     |--Lopa [Lopinae] M10
                     |    `--L. convexa WT11
                     `--Coelopinae M10
                          |--Glumini M10
                          |    |--Gluma nitida KP10
                          |    `--Coelopina anomala M10
                          `--Coelopa [Coelopini] M10
                               |  i. s.: C. alluaudi [incl. C. palauensis] O98
                               |         C. littoralis O81
                               |         C. stejnegeri V87
                               |--C. (Fucomyia) M10
                               |    |--C. (F.) frigida M10
                               |    `--C. (F.) nebularum M10
                               `--C. (Neocoelopa) vanduzeei M10

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A71] Askew, R. R. 1971. Parasitic Insects. Heinemann Educational Books: London.

[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).

[KP10] Kutty, S. N., T. Pape, B. M. Wiegmann & R. Meier. 2010. Molecular phylogeny of the Calyptratae (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha) with an emphasis on the superfamily Oestroidea and the position of Mystacinobiidae and McAlpine's fly. Systematic Entomology 35: 614–635.

[M10] Mathis, W. N. 2010. Coelopidae (kelp flies). 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. 2 pp. 1013–1016. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[N91] Norris, K. R. 1991. General biology. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 68–108. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[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.

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

[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.

[STC10] Skevington, J. H., F. C. Thompson & S. Camras. 2010. Conopidae (thick-headed flies). 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. 2 pp. 847–855. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[SP87] Smith, K. G. V., & B. V. Peterson. 1987. Conopidae. In: McAlpine, J. F. (ed.) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 2 pp. 749–756. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[S87] Steyskal, G. C. 1987. Dryomyzidae. In: McAlpine, J. F. (ed.) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 2 pp. 923–926. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[V87] Vockeroth, J. R. 1987. Coelopidae. In: McAlpine, J. F. (ed.) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 2 pp. 919–922. 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: 17 April 2022.