Axymyiidae

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Axymyiidae
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Holometabola
Order : Fly (Diptera)
Subordination : Mosquitoes (Nematocera)
Partial order : Axymyiomorpha
Family : Axymyiidae
Scientific name of the  partial order
Axymyiomorpha
McAlpine et al., 1981
Scientific name of the  family
Axymyiidae
Shannon , 1921

The Axymyiidae are a small family of the two-winged species with a European species. The larvae live in dead wood on the banks of water.

features

Adults

Axymyiidae are robustly built, inconspicuously dark colored to red-brown, medium-sized mosquitoes with a body length of 9 to 12 millimeters, with relatively short legs and antennae. Their habitus resembles the much more common hair gnats of the genus Bibio (Bibionidae), with which they are, however, not very closely related. The large head has very large complex eyes , which consist of two sections separated by a fine transverse line or pit. In males, these collide on the top of the head ("holoptic"), in females they are widely separated. There are also three ocelles . The short, pearl-like antennae (with constrictions at the segment boundaries) consist of 16 (14 to 17) barely differentiated limbs. The mouthparts are largely regressed and rudimentary; two slender, five-limbed palps can be seen . The trunk section bears three short pairs of legs, the tibia without spurs, thorns or longer hairs. The empodium is truncated spatulate and longer than the adhesive pads (pulvilli) of the claws. The wings are elongated (more than body length) and usually somewhat darkened. The wing vein is characteristic: The radius ends in four branches, where R2 branches off from its trunk almost at right angles and reaches the edge vein (Costa) near the confluence of R1. The cross artery rm is clear and appears as a continuation of the radius artery. The media has two branches. The swinging bulbs ( holders ) have a strikingly long stalk.

Larvae

The larvae of the Axymyiidae are unmistakable in shape. They are colored white or translucent. Their body is plump, with a head capsule that is partially drawn into the torso and a very long breathing tube (the reshaped eighth abdominal segment) with a stigma plate at the tip of the abdomen. The breathing tube is longer than the rest of the larva’s body. They also have a small pair of stigmas on the prothorax (amphipneustic larva). On the side of the breathing tube, the tip of the abdomen bears one or two pairs of very large, branched anal papillae half the length of the body (unbranched in Protaxymyia thuja ). The large, protruding mandibles work parallel to each other, the maxillae are small and inconspicuous.

Biology and life cycle

The larvae live in bark and moss-free dead wood, mostly in forest swamps and on the edge of small forest streams. Since they need uniform, moist conditions all year round, they are absent both in temporarily drying out wetlands and in fast-flowing waters with frequent floods. Each larva sits in a bottle-shaped, self-gnawed cavity in the wood, so that only the tip of the breathing tube protrudes outside. It feeds on the eaten wood mass and probably the microorganisms it contains. Their position is often revealed by curved, fresh wood chips on the surface of the populated block. Only partially decomposed, but still hard and stable wood that is saturated with water through direct contact with water or wet mud is settled. A two-year development is assumed. Presumably there are four larval stages (investigated on Axymyia furcata ). Mature larvae turn around in the cavity and widen the tunnel to the wooden surface, at the mouth of which they pupate. The adult mosquitoes hatch in North America in April or early May. They are rarely found, almost nothing is known about their way of life. Some species have been observed forming schools, presumably to mate.

distribution

The small family is spread across the Palearctic . It occurs in northern North America, in Siberia and northern Asia, south to southern China and Taiwan, west to eastern Europe. The only European species is Mesaxymyia kerteszi .

Phylogeny, taxonomy, systematics

The family includes four living ( recent ) genera with eight species.

  • Axymyia McAtee, 1921
    • Axymyia furcata McAtee, 1921. northeastern North America, south to South Carolina
    • Axymyia japonica Ishida, 1953. Japan
  • Mesaxymyia Mamaev, 1968
    • Mesaxymyia kerteszi (Duda, 1930). So far known from European Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Slovakia. Very rare on the soaked dead wood of the spruce and the aspen.
  • Protaxymyia Mamaev & Krivosheina, 1966
    • Protaxymyia melanoptera Mamayev and Krivosheina. Russia
    • Protaxymyia sinica Yang. China
    • Protaxymyia taiwanensis cardboard. Taiwan
    • Protaxymyia thuja Fitzgerald & Wood, 2014. North America (Oregon, Washington)
  • Plesioaxymyia Sinclair, 2013
    • Plesioaxymyia vespertina Sinclair, 2013. Alaska, Washington

In addition, three fossil genera are known: Psocites (Hong), Juraxymyia Zhang and Sinaxymyia Zhang. These come from the Jura and the Lower Cretaceous. Finds come from the Daohugou strata in Inner Mongolia (China), from the fossil deposits Karatau in Kazakhstan and Khasurty in Transbaikalia .

The position of the Axymyiidae within the system is still unclear and controversial. The initially only known genus Axymyia was placed in the families Bibionidae, Pachyneuridae or Anisopodidae . Shannon placed them in a separate subfamily of the Anisopodidae, an independent family was first proposed by Rodendorf . Dalton de Souza Amorim then proposed a separate suborder Axymyiomorpha in 1993, which should include the three families Axymyiidae, Pachyneuridae and Perissommatidae . Vladimir A. Blagoderov proposed instead an inclusion in the Bibionomorpha, which would form the clade of the Neodiptera together with the Brachycera . Molecular studies by Jan Ševčík and colleagues now make an inclusion in the Bibionomorpha seem very questionable again. Therefore, until the sister group relationships have been clarified, it is now usually placed as the only family in its own subordination Axymyiomorpha, since there are no clear apomorphies that would allow a different placement. A closer relationship to the Nymphomyiidae, which has been considered at times, appears improbable for morphological reasons.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c D.M. Wood: Axymyiidae. In JF McAlpine, BV Peterson, GE Shewell, HJ Teskey, JR Vockeroth, DM Wood (editors): Manual of Nearctic Diptera. Vol. 1. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Monograph No. 27, 1981. Canadian Government Publishing Center, ISBN 0-660-10731-7 .
  2. ^ Pjotr ​​Oosterbroek: The European Families of the Diptera: Identification - Diagnosis - Biology. KNNV Publishing (Brill), 2006. ISBN 9789004278066 . P. 115.
  3. ↑ Stephen A. Marshall: Flies. The Natural History and Diversity of Diptera. Firefly Books Ltd., Richmond Hill, Ontario, ISBN 978-1-77085-100-9 , pp. 132-133.
  4. ↑ Matthew W. Wihlm, and Gregory W. Courtney (2011): The Distribution and Life History of Axymyia furcata McAtee (Diptera: Axymyiidae), a Wood Inhabiting, Semi-Aquatic Fly. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 113 (3): 385-398. doi: 10.4289 / 0013-8797.113.3.385
  5. ↑ Alexei Polevoi, Anna Ruokolainen, Ekaterina Shorohova (2018): Eleven remarkable Diptera species, emerged from fallen aspens in Kivach Nature Reserve, Russian Karelia. Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e22175. doi: 10.3897 / BDJ.6.e22175
  6. ↑ Jaroslav Martynovský & Jindřich Roháček (1993): First records of Synneuron annulipes Lundström (Synneuridae) and Mesaxymyia kerteszi (Duda) (Axymyiidae) from Slovakia, with notes on their taxonomy and biology (Diptera). Casopis Slezskeho Zemskeho Muzea - ​​serie A - vedy prirodni 42 (1): 73-78.
  7. ^ Scott J. Fitzgerald & D. Monty Wood (2014): A new species of Axymyiidae (Diptera) from western North America and a key to the Nearctic species. Zootaxa 3857 (1): 101-113. doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.3857.1.4
  8. ↑ Bradley J. Sinclair (2013): Rediscovered at last: a new enigmatic genus of Axymyiidae (Diptera) from western North America. Zootaxa 3682 (1): 143-150. doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.3682.1.7
  9. ↑ Vladimir A. Blagoderov & Elena D. Lukashevich (2013): New Axymyiidae (Insecta: Diptera) from the Mesozoic of East Siberia. Polish Journal of Entomology 82 (4): 257-271.
  10. ↑ Jan Ševčík, David Kaspřák, Michal Mantič, Scott Fitzgerald, Tereza Ševčíková, Andrea Tóthová, Mathias Jaschhof (2016): Molecular phylogeny of the megadiverse insect infraorder Bibionomorpha sensu lato (Diptera). PeerJ 4: e2563 doi: 10.7717 / peerj.2563
  11. ↑ DM Wood & A. Borkent: Phylogeny and Classification of the Nematocera. in JF McAlpine (Editor) & DM Wood: Manual of Nearctic Diptera Vol. 3. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Monograph No. 32, 1989. Canadian Government Publishing Center, ISBN 0-660-12961-2 .
  12. ↑ Katharina Schneeberg, Katrin Krause, Rolf G. Beutel (2013): The adult head of Axymyia furcata (Insecta: Diptera: Axymyiidae). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 71 (2): 91-102.