Lance flies
| Lance flies | ||||||||||||
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Lonchoptera lutea |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lonchopteridae | ||||||||||||
| Curtis , 1839 |
The lance flies (Lonchopteridae) are a family of the two-winged (Diptera). Within this they are assigned to the flies (Brachycera). Around 45 species of these flies are known worldwide, only nine of them in Germany. The flies are usually small and reach a body size between two and four millimeters.
The flies are quite long-legged and live mainly on moist forest floor and at the edges of water. They like to stay on the underside of the leaves and are good runners. The larvae are slice-shaped and flat. They live on the ground, mostly in the layer of gauze between the leaves and feed on fungal threads ( hyphae ), algae cells , pollen and humus particles . They can also be found in dung ( coprophagia ). The pupa also develops in the ground.
literature
- K. Honomichl, H. Bellmann: Biology and ecology of the insects. CD-ROM. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1994.
