The Camillidae are a family of

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

, or Diptera. The family has five

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

(four living; one fossil).

Description

For terms see

Morphology of Diptera Dipteran morphology differs in some significant ways from the broader morphology of insects. The Diptera is a very large and diverse order of mostly small to medium-sized insects. They have prominent compound eyes on a mobile head, and (at most) ...

Minute ( long), slender, lustrous black flies with hyaline wings. The postvertical bristles on the head are cruciate. There are three small orbital bristles on head on each side of frons, one of which is poorly developed. The vibrissae on the head are well developed. The arista has long rays above and shorter rays below. There are two pairs of dorsocentral bristles on thorax and one mesopleural bristle on the side of the thorax. The costa is interrupted near R1, the subcosta reduced and close to R1, the posterior basal wing cell and discoidal wing cell are fused; anal wing cell rudimentary. Femur of forelegs has a spine on its ventral side.

Biology

The lifestyle of the Camillidae is for the most part little known. There is an assumption that the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e feed on decaying plant matter or animal faeces. Adults have frequently been found at the entrances of mammal burrows, or captured in mammal nests. Adults may be also found feeding on flowers. One species has been reared from larvae in the dung of rock hyraxes in Southern Africa (Barraclough, 1992).

Genera

*'' Camilla'' Haliday in

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' ( Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Ga ...

, 1837 *'' Afrocamilla'' Barraclough, 1992 *'' Katacamilla'' Papp, 1978 *'' Teratocamilla'' Barraclough, 1993 *†'' Protocamilla'' Hannig 1965

Identification

*Duda, O. 1934. Camillidae. In Lindner, E. ''Die Fliegen der Paläarktischen Region'', Band VI/1: 1-7, Textfig. 1-8, Stuttgart. *Papp, L. 1985. A key of the World species of Camillidae (Diptera). Acta zoologica hungarica 31: 217-227. * A.A. Stackelberg Family Camillidae in Bei-Bienko, G. Ya, 1988 ''Keys to the insects of the European Part of the USSR'' Volume 5 (Diptera) Part 2 English edition.

Phylogeny

References

External links

*http://delta-intkey.com/britin/dip/www/camillid.htm {{Taxonbar, from=Q3651438 Brachycera families