Psilidae

Psila collaris, copyright Charley Eiseman.

Belongs within: Schizophora.

The Psilidae are a group of elongate-bodied flies whose larvae, where known, are phytophagous on trees or herbaceous plants (Buck 2010). The carrot rust fly Psila rosae is a widespread pest of carrots and related crops (Steyskal 1987).

Characters (from Buck 2010): Small to medium-sized flies (body length 3–12 mm) with more or less elongated body. Head chaetotaxy including zero to two fronto-orbital bristles, ocellar bristles, inner and outer vertical bristles (the latter sometimes duplicated), divergent postocellar bristles (sometimes reduced), and no vibrissa. Antenna with arista short- to medium-pubescent; pedicel with distinct dorsal seam. Thorax relatively sparsely bristled, with one to two dorsocentral, one notopleural, one supra-alar, one postalar, and no pleural bristles. Legs normal to elongated, without bristles. Wing with subcostal break; subcosta vanishing before curving anteriorly to C. Male abdomen with well-developed symmetrical tergite and sternite 6, dorsal pregenital sclerite present or absent. Surstyli present or absent. Phallapodeme connected to hypandrium, in Psilinae forming large phallapodemic plate. Phallus usually short, rarely long with bifid apex. Ejaculatory apodeme small or absent. Female with elongate ovipositor. Spermathecae desclerotised, ventral receptacle present.

<==Psilidae B10
    |  i. s.: Chamaepsila WT11
    |           |--C. hennigi WT11
    |           `--C. rosae O98
    |         Electrochyliza succini S87
    |--Belobackenbardiinae B10
    |--Chyliza [Chylizinae] B10
    |    |--C. apicalis B10
    |    |--C. bigoti B10
    |    |--C. consanguinea B10
    |    |--C. enthea B10
    |    |--C. notata B10
    |    `--C. varipes B10
    `--Psilinae B10
         |--Loxocera B10
         |    |  i. s.: L. albiseta B10
         |    |         L. collaris [incl. L. californica] B10
         |    |         L. cylindrica S87
         |    |--L. (Loxocera) ichneumonea [=Scatophaga (L.) ichneumonea] G20
         |    `--L. (Imantimyia) B10
         |         |--L. (I.) achaeta B10
         |         `--L. (I.) ignyodactyla B10
         `--Psila B10 [incl. Pseudopsila S87]
              |  i. s.: P. gracilis K01
              |         P. nigra K01
              |         P. pallida K01
              |         P. rosae S87
              |--P. (Psila) exigua B10
              `--P. (Xenopsila) B10
                   |--P. (X.) collaris B10
                   `--P. (X.) lateralis B10

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B10] Buck, M. 2010. Psilidae (rust flies, psilid 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. 837–842. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

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

[K01] Kertész, K. 1901. Legyek [Dipteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 179–201. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

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

[S87] Steyskal, G. C. 1987. Psilidae. In: McAlpine, J. F. (ed.) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 2 pp. 781–784. 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: 29 June 2021.