Ibis flies
| Ibis flies | ||||||||||||
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Atherix ibis |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Athericidae | ||||||||||||
| Stuckenberg , 1973 | ||||||||||||
| Genera | ||||||||||||
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The ibis flies (Athericidae) are a family of the two-winged (Diptera) and are assigned to the flies (Brachycera). Around 70 species of these medium-sized flies are known worldwide, of which only four species of the genus Atherix are in Germany.
The flies of this family are long-legged and slim and are characterized by an extended trunk. They mostly feed on insects, although some species are also said to suckle on frogs . The animals are lazy fliers.
The females of the ibis flies gather in large numbers in the vegetation of flowing waters to lay their eggs, where they stick the eggs with the bodies of their own bodies that die afterwards to form a large cluster. The hatching larvae feed on the bodies at the beginning of their life and then drop into the water. They are greenish in color and have two feathered appendages on their abdomen, which may be used for breathing. The stigmas are closed. The body is equipped with eight pairs of stubby feet, each with two groups of hooks. With these feet you can move very quickly over the substrate. They hunt small insect larvae and worms, which they kill with a poison , after which the saliva is pumped from the large salivary glands into the victim, which is then digested. Finally, the larva sucks up the pre-digested food pulp.
The ibis flies were spun off from the snipe fly family in 1973 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Brian R. Stuckenberg: The Athericidae, a new family in the lower Brachycera (Diptera) . In: Annals of the Natal Museum. 21, 1973, pp. 649-673.
literature
- J. Haupt, H. Haupt: Flies and mosquitoes - observation, way of life. Augsburg 1998.
- K. Honomichl, H. Bellmann: Biology and ecology of the insects. + CD-Rom. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1994.
