Aptilotus
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Diptera
- Family: Sphaeroceridae
- Genus: Aptilotus
Visual Description
Aptilotus species exhibit variation in wing development, with some species being wingless while others possess fully developed wings[2]. Observations of specimens in the TreeOfLife-200M dataset show small, dark-bodied flies with distinct, segmented legs and characteristic sphaerocerid body proportions[1]. The body is often described as black and shining in some species, such as A. longinervis[2].
Biology and Ecology
The genus Aptilotus Mik, 1898, is a group within the family Sphaeroceridae. Historically, the genus was known from Europe, North India, and North America, with 18 described species prior to 1989. The discovery of Aptilotus longinervis in Japan extended the known range of the genus to the East Palaearctic region[2].
Ecologically, some species have been associated with decaying organic matter, such as leaf litter and garbage mixed with rotten vegetables, and have been observed during spring months[2].
Gallery
References
- 1 2 Dataset view for Animalia / Arthropoda / Insecta / Diptera / Sphaeroceridae / Aptilotus constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- 1 2 3 4 Toshihiko Hayashi. A new species of the genus Aptilotus Mik, 1898 (Diptera, Sphaeroceridae) from Japan. Medical Entomology and Zoology. 1989. https://doi.org/10.7601/mez.40.303.