Acartophthalmidae
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Diptera
- Family: Acartophthalmidae
Visual Description
Acartophthalmidae are minute to small, dark-colored flies, often referred to as "shaved-eye flies" or "stubble head flies" [2]. Observations of specimens in the TreeOfLife-200M dataset reveal these flies possess a compact, robust body form with a dark, often blackish or brownish, exoskeleton [1]. The head is typically distinct, with prominent, divergent postocellar bristles visible under magnification [2]. The wings are generally clear and held over the abdomen when at rest [1].
Characteristics and Ecology
Morphologically, the family is characterized by the absence of true vibrissae, tibiae lacking a dorsal preapical bristle, and a costa with only a humeral break and a closed anal cell [2].
The family is represented by the single genus Acartophthalmus Czerny, 1902, which contains four or five recognized species, including A. bicolor Oldenberg, 1910, A. coxata (Zetterstedt, 1848), A. latrinalis Ozerov, 1986, A. nigrinus (Zetterstedt, 1848), and A. pusio Frey, 1947 [2].
Ecologically, adults are typically found in damp woodlands or humid forests, where they are associated with decaying organic matter, including wood, fungi, carrion, excrement, and rotten meat [2]. Larvae are considered saprophagous or mycetophagous [2]. Territorial behavior has been noted in males of A. bicolor [2].
Gallery
References
- 1 2 3 Dataset view for Animalia / Arthropoda / Insecta / Diptera / Acartophthalmidae constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carlos Henrique Marchiori. Survey of conceptual and taxonomic characteristics of the Families Acartophthalmidae, Canacidae and Carnidae (Insecta: Diptera). Open Access Research Journal of Science and Technology. 2023. https://doi.org/10.53022/oarjst.2023.7.1.0014.