Acartophthalmus
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Diptera
- Family: Acartophthalmidae
- Genus: Acartophthalmus
Visual Description
Acartophthalmus species are minute to small flies, typically measuring 1.0–2.5 mm in length [2]. They are generally dark-colored, with a body form typical of small acalyptrate flies. Observations from the TreeOfLife-200M dataset reveal that these flies possess a distinct, somewhat flattened head and thorax, with wings that are often held flat over the abdomen when at rest [1]. The eyes are prominent, and the forehead features short setae, which has led to their common names "shaved-eye flies" or "stubble head flies" [2].
Biology and Ecology
Acartophthalmus is the sole genus within the family Acartophthalmidae [2]. These flies are primarily associated with damp woodland environments [2]. Adults are frequently found near decaying organic matter, such as fungi, carrion, excrement, and sap from tree wounds [2]. The larvae are saprophagous or mycetophagous, developing in these same decaying materials [2]. Males have been observed defending these resources through territorial behavior, which includes wing-flapping [2].
Gallery
References
- 1 2 Dataset view for Animalia / Arthropoda / Insecta / Diptera / Acartophthalmidae / Acartophthalmus 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.