Allotrichoma lateralis
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Diptera
- Family: Ephydridae
- Genus: Allotrichoma
- Species: Allotrichoma lateralis
Visual Description
Based on examination of preserved museum specimens, Allotrichoma lateralis is a small fly characteristic of the family Ephydridae.[1] The specimens appear dark-bodied and are typically mounted on small triangular paper points.[1] Due to the small size of the specimens and the nature of the photographic documentation, finer morphological details such as wing venation or specific setal patterns are not clearly resolvable.[1]
Distribution and Habitat
Allotrichoma lateralis is widely distributed, being the most common species of its genus in southern Europe.[2] Its range extends through central Europe, with northern records reaching Britain, Germany, and Poland.[2] The species is also widespread across North Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and parts of Central Asia, including Afghanistan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.[2]
Adults typically inhabit river ecosystems and, to a lesser extent, inland still-water ecosystems.[2] They prefer areas with little to no vegetation, specifically favoring muddy microhabitats and environments with decaying material.[2]
Taxonomy and Systematics
The species was originally described by H. Loew in 1860 as Hecamede lateralis.[3] Allotrichoma pseudolaterale Raffone, 2001, has been established as a junior synonym of A. lateralis.[2] This synonymization was based on the observation of morphological variation in tarsal coloration and the appearance of the elongated cercus.[2]
Gallery
References
- 1 2 3 4 Dataset view for Animalia / Arthropoda / Insecta / Diptera / Ephydridae / Allotrichoma / lateralis 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 J. H. Stuke. Faunistic and taxonomic remarks on European Allotrichoma Becker, 1896 (Diptera: Ephydridae) with the description of a new species from Georgia. Euroasian Entomological Journal. 2022. https://doi.org/10.15298/rusentj.31.3.12.
- ↑ Allotrichoma lateralis (Loew, 1860). GBIF. https://www.gbif.org/species/1618962. Accessed 2026-07-15.