Scathophaga

Yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria, copyright Ryszard.

Belongs within: Scathophagidae.

Scathophaga is a genus of flies with adults predaceous on other insects and larvae primarily feeding on decaying matter such as dung, rotting seaweed or carrion (Vockeroth 2010).

Characters (from Vockeroth 2010): Palpus with several apical bristles about one-quarter as long as palpus; anepisternum almost completely haired; postcoxal bridge present or absent; scutellum with four bristles; vein R₁ bare; posteroventral apical bristle of tibia at most one-quarter as long as anteroventral apical bristle.

<==Scathophaga Meigen 1803 [incl. Scopeuma Meigen 1800 (nom. rej.)] F92
    |  i. s.: S. aldrichi V10
    |         S. amplipennis Portschinsky 1887 [=Scatophaga amplipennis] F92
    |         S. apicalis V87
    |         S. gigantea Aldrich 1932 [=Scatophaga gigantea] F92
    |         S. intermedia V87
    |         S. mellipes Coquillett 1899 [=Scatophaga mellipes; incl. Scatophaga chinensis Malloch 1935] F92
    |         S. mollis V87
    |         S. reses V10
    |         S. scybalaria (Linnaeus 1758) [=Musca scybalaria] F92
    |--+--S. obscura KP10
    |  `--S. tinctinervis KP10
    `--+--+--S. stercoraria (Linnaeus 1758) KP10, F92 (see below for synonymy)
       |  |--S. pictipennis KP10
       |  |--+--S. calida KP10
       |  |  `--Ceratinostoma ostiorum KP10
       |  `--+--S. tropicalis KP10
       |     `--+--S. furcata KP10
       |        `--+--+--S. incola KP10
       |           |  |--S. suilla (Fabriciuys 1794) KP10, F92 [=Musca suilla F92]
       |           |  `--S. taeniopa (Rondani 1887) KP10, F92 (see below for synonymy)
       |           `--+--S. cineraria KP10
       |              `--+--S. lutaria KP10
       |                 `--+--S. analis KP10
       |                    `--S. inquinata KP10
       `--+--S. litorea KP10
          `--+--Spaziphora KP10
             |    |--S. cincta KP10
             |    `--S. hydromyzina KP10
             `--+--+--Chaetosa KP10
                |  |    |--C. palpalis KP10
                |  |    `--C. punctipes KP10
                |  `--Trichopalpus KP10
                |       |--T. fraterna KP10
                |       |--T. obscurella V87
                |       `--T. obscurus F15
                `--+--Acanthocnema KP10
                   |    |--A. albibarba V87
                   |    |--A. (Clinoceroides) capillata V87
                   |    `--A. glaucescens KP10
                   `--+--Microprosopa KP10
                      |    |--M. haemorrhoidalis V87
                      |    `--M. pallidicauda KP10
                      `--Pogonota KP10
                           |--P. sahlbergi KP10
                           `--+--P. barbata KP10
                              `--Okeniella KP10
                                   |--O. caudata KP10
                                   `--O. dasyprocta V87

Scathophaga stercoraria (Linnaeus 1758) KP10, F92 [=Musca stercoraria F92, Scopeuma stercorarium I92; incl. M. merdaria Fabricius 1794 F92, *Scathophaga merdaria F92]

Scathophaga taeniopa (Rondani 1887) KP10, F92 [=Scatophaga taeniopa F92; incl. Scatophaga ordinata Becker 1894 F92]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[F92] Fan Z. 1992. Key to the Common Flies of China 2^nd ed. Science Press: Beijing.

[F15] Ferguson, E. W. 1915. Descriptions of new Australian blood-sucking flies belonging to the family Leptidae. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 69: 233–243.

[I92] Imes, R. 1992. The Practical Entomologist. Aurum Press: London.

[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.

[V87] Vockeroth, J. R. 1987. Scathophagidae. In: McAlpine, J. F. (ed.) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 2 pp. 1085–1097. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[V10] Vockeroth, J. R. 2010. Scathophagidae (dung 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. 1267–1269. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.