The Curtotonidae or quasimodo flies are a small family of small grey to dark brown humpbacked flies (

Diptera 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 ...

) with a worldwide distribution, but with very few species in the

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

, Australasian/Oceanian, and

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

regions. Most members of the family are found in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

s in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

. Many remain undescribed in collections, since little work on the family has been done since the 1930s.

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) ...

Medium-sized flies. The postvertical bristles on head are well developed and cruciate and there are three orbital bristles on head on each side of frons. Arista with long plumosity. Costa with two interruptions one more distal to the humeral crossvein and one before subcosta. Subcosta developed throughout its length up to costa. The posterior basal wing cell and discoidal wing cell are fused. The costa bears spinules.

Classification

The family has at various times been placed in the

Drosophilidae The Drosophilidae are a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes species called fruit flies, although they are more accurately referred to as vinegar or pomace flies. Another distantly related family of flies, Tephritidae, are true f ...

Diastatidae Diastatidae are a family of flies, and are in the order Diptera. They occur primarily in the Holarctic Region, but several species are known from the Oriental, Neotropical, and Australasian regions. Members of the family number over 20 describe ...

, and

Ephydridae Ephydridae (shore fly, sometimes brine fly) is a family of insects in the order Diptera. Shore flies are tiny flies that can be found near seashores or at smaller inland waters, such as ponds. About 2,000 species have been described worldwide, in ...

. In 1934

Duda ) (Polish, Ukrainian Carpathians) *Diple (Dalmatian Coast) *Tulum (Turkish and Pontic) *Tsambouna (Dodecanese and Cyclades) *Askambandoura (Crete) *Gajdy (Polish/Czech/Slovak) *Gaita ( Galician) *Surle (Serbian/Croatian) *Mezoued/Zukra (Northern A ...

proposed the family name Curtonotidae and nowadays family rank is now widely accepted.

Genera and Species

*Genus '' Axinota'' Wulp, 1886 **'' A. kyphosis'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2010 **'' A. obscuripes'' Meijere, 1911 **'' A. pictiventris'' Wulp, 1886 **'' A. rufipes'' Okada, 1966 **'' A. sarawakensis'' Delfinado, 1969 **'' A. simulans'' Delfinado, 1969 *Genus '' Curtonotum'' Macquart, 1844 **'' C. adusticrus'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. atlanticum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. balachowskyi'' Tsacas, 1974 **'' C. bivittatum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. boeny'' Tsacas, 1974 **'' C. brunneum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011. **'' C. ceylonense'' Delfinado, 1969 **'' C. coronaeformis'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2011 **'' C. curtispinum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. desperatum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. flavisetum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. floridense'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. gladiiformis'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2011 **'' C. gracile'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. griveaudi'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2011 **'' C. hunkingi'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. irwini'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2011 **'' C. keiseri'' Tsacas, 1974 **'' C. nigrum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. papillatum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. parkeri'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2011 **'' C. pauliani'' Tsacas, 1974 **'' C. rinhatinana'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2011 **'' C. sakalava'' Tsacas, 1974 **'' C. scambum'' Klymko & Marshall, 2011 **'' C. sternithrix'' Tsacas, 1974 **'' C. stuckenbergi'' Tsacas, 1974 *Genus '' Cyrtona'' Séguy, 1938 **'' C. albomacula'' (Curran, 1933) **'' C. capensis'' Hackman, 1960 **'' C. consobrina'' Hackman, 1960 **'' C. pictipennis'' (Thomson 1869) *Genus '' Tigrisomyia'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2010 **'' T. amnoni'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2010 **'' T. kinskii'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2010 **'' T. rhayaderi'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2010 **'' T. scoliosis'' Kirk-Spriggs, 2010

Distribution

Palaearctic
1 species

1 species

1 species
Afrotropical
many species

Biology

Greathead (1958) records the immature stages as scavengers within egg pods of the

desert locust The desert locust (''Schistocerca gregaria'') is a species of locust, a periodically swarming, short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae. They are found primarily in the deserts and dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, Arabia, and sou ...

, ''Schistocerca gregaria'' . Cuthbertson (1936) reared an Afrotropical species, ''Cyrtona albomacula'' Curran, from human

faeces Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relati ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Others have been found in the burrows of

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly cons ...

s and ant bears.

Fossils

Only one fossil species of Curtonotidae is known, ''Curtonotum gigas'' Théobald, from

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

deposits in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Identification

, O. (1934), Curtonotidae 6, 1,58d, 1-5 In: Lindner, E. (Ed.). ''Die Fliegen der Paläarktischen Region'' 6: 1–115. Keys to Palaearctic species but now needs revision (in German). * A.A. Stackelberg Family Curtonotidae in Bei-Bienko, G. Ya, 1988 ''Keys to the insects of the European Part of the USSR'' Volume 5 (Diptera) Part 2 English edition. Keys to Palaearctic species but now needs revision.

Phylogeny

Gallery

See images at

and at Diptera.inf

References and sources

*McAlpine, J. P. (ed.), 1981–89.''Manual of Nearctic Diptera''. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada Monograph * Papp, L. 1998. Family Curtonotidae. I: Papp, L. and Darvas, B. (Ed.). ''Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera''. 3: 497–502. Science Herald, Budapest. * :no:Curtonotidae *Pollck, J.N., 2002 Observations on the biology and anatomy of Curtonotidae (Diptera: Schizophora), by J. N. Pollock ''Journal of Natural History'', 36,14:1725 - 1745.New information concerning the biology and anatomy of ''Curtonotum quinquevittatum''. During the hot, dry season the latter species leaves its warthog burrow refuges at night. ''Cyrtona'' spp. rest in densely shaded humid habitats during the same season, dispersing in the cooler parts of the year. *Meier, R., Kotrba, M., Barber, K. 1997. On the natural history and morphology of the egg, first instar larva, puparium, and female reproductive system of Curtonotum helvum (Curtonotidae; Ephydroidea; Diptera). ''American Museum Novitates'' 3219:1-2

*Greathead, D.J., Kooyman, C., Launois-Luong, M.H. and Popov, G.B., 1994. ES collection Acridologie Opérationnelle no 8 (199

Some information on Curtonotidae on pp. 17–18. *Kirk-Spriggs, A.H. & Freidberg, A. 2007. The Palaearctic species of Curtonotidae (Diptera: Schizophora), with special reference to the fauna of Israel. ''Bulletin de l’Institut r. des sciences naturelles de Belgique'' (Entomologie) 77: 133–146.

External links

RU
Revision of the Afrotropical species of Curtonotidae (Diptera: Ephydroidea) systematics, biology, immature stages and biogeography Proposal {{Taxonbar, from=Q3699691 Brachycera families Ephydroidea Articles containing video clips