Swing flies
| Swing flies | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sepsidae | ||||||||||||
| Walker , 1833 |
The swinging flies (Sepsidae) are a family of small, mostly dark metallic, shiny flies , which are characterized above all by the abdomen, which is narrowed at the front like a wasp. The slow swinging back and forth of the often dotted wings earned them their name.
features
They are small flies two to six millimeters in length, the body of which is more or less bare and mostly black and - often slightly reddish or purple - has a metallic sheen. The head is spherical.
In most species, the abdomen is narrowed at the front like a wasp. The rear end is often shorter or more pointed.
The wings are crystal clear and in many species have a dark spot just before the tip. In the wing vein, the costa and subcosta are complete and separated from the vein r 1 .
Way of life
The larvae of the swinging flies develop in the faeces of animals, more rarely in rotting plant remains. Many species are particularly attached to the faeces of mammals . The eggs are from the Imagines placed directly on the culture medium. After one to two days, the larvae hatch and go through a total of three developmental stages. Pupation then takes place in the nutrient medium itself or in the soil below. The puparium has a reddish color. The development from egg to adult animal takes a total of 14 to 32 days.
The adults feed mainly on nectar . An evaluation of the flower visits of Central European swing flies can be found in Flügel (2013). In addition to reproduction, excrement is probably also visited by the sepsids to meet their protein and mineral requirements. The animals can often be seen on the leaves of smaller plants, where they spread their wings and move noticeably forwards and backwards.
distribution
The swinging flies are spread all over the world, 32 species have so far been known from Germany. Many species of the family have markedly wide ranges because they followed livestock and humans.
European genera
The family includes around 20 genera with around 318 species worldwide (Ozerov 2005). The European genera are (after):
swell
Individual evidence
literature
- J. Haupt, H. Haupt: Flies and mosquitoes - observation, way of life . Augsburg 1998.
- Wing, H.-J. (2013): The swinging flies on the grounds of the Living Bee Museum (Diptera: Sepsidae) and their flower visits in Central Europe. - Philippia 16/1: 81-93, Kassel
- Ozerov, AL (2005): World catalog of the Family Sepsidae (Insecta: Diptera). - Zoologicheskie Issledovania 8: 1-74, Moscow
- Stuke, J.-H. (2005): The Sciomyzoidea (Diptera: Acalyptratae) of Lower Saxony and Bremen. - Drosera 2005: 135-166; Oldenburg
- Ziegler, J. (2003): 36th order Diptera, Zweiflügler (flies and mosquitoes). - In: Dathe, HH (ed.): Invertebrates, 5th part: Insecta: 756-860, Spektrum-Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin
