Scholastinae is a subfamily 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 ...

(Diptera) in the family

Platystomatidae The Platystomatidae (signal flies) are a distinctive family of flies (Diptera) in the superfamily Tephritoidea. Signal flies are worldwide in distribution, found in all the biogeographic realms, but predominate in the tropics. It is one of the ...

(Signal flies), which currently includes 14 genera.

Subfamily classification

The Platystomatidae were comprehensively divided into five subfamilies, but more recent reviews of morphology suggest that some aspects of this classification are unsatisfactory. This led to reducing the number of subfamilies to four, being the Plastotephritinae, Platystomatinae, Scholastinae and Trapherinae - Angitulinae being subsumed into Platystomatinae. Nonetheless, definition of the subfamily Scholastinae is still open to debate and requires phylogenetic confirmation. At present, genera assigned to the subfamily are considered as having the following subset of characters: fully developed calypters, tergite 5 much shorter than tergite 3 (especially in females where it may be absent), distiphallus terminating at the glans often with terminal filaments and tergite 6 in the female abdomen absent. Although McAlpine rejected the use of the presence of an anepisternal (=sternopleural) seta, Whittington more recently continued to use it as it provides an additional character besides those given above, all of which are transitional to some extent in the other subfamilies of the Platystomatidae. In particular, head and genitalic morphology, and perhaps larval biology once more of this is known, should play a role in the definition of the subfamilies, the debate for which remains open. Three of the 14 genera in the Scholastinae are monotypic: ''Chaetorivellia'', ''Pseudoscholastes'' and ''Tomeus''.

Biology

Little is known of the biology of Scholastines. Adults have been taken on leaves of bananas - Musa

Musa Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province *Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran *Musa, Kerman, Iran * Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaijan ...

, rubber - Hevea

Hevea ''Hevea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, with about ten members. It is also one of many names used commercially for the wood of the most economically important rubber tree, '' H. brasiliensis''. The genus is n ...

, coconuts - Cocos Cocos, Xanthorrhoea

Xanthorrhoea ''Xanthorrhoea'' () is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants endemic to Australia. Species are known by the name grass tree. Description All are perennials and have a secondary thickening meristem in the stem. Many, but not all, sp ...

, Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

and Macrozamia

Macrozamia ''Macrozamia'' is a genus of around forty species of cycads, family Zamiaceae, all of which are endemic to Australia. Many parts of the plant have been utilised for food and material, most of which is toxic if not processed correctly. Descripti ...

. Habitats in which they are encountered range therefore from rainforest, dry forests, coastal forest, coastal heaths, and agricultural land. Larvae are sometimes associated with the sap runs of boring beetles, but the association is unclear and requires further investigation.

Biogeography

Without doubt, the largest concentration of species of Scholastinae occurs in the Austalasian region. The subfamily is entirely absent from the Americas and the Palaearctic. There are five genera known from the Afrotropical region, seven from the Oriental (five of which also occur in the Australasia region) and 12 from Australasia. ''Naupoda'' and ''Scholastes'' are the only two genera to be distributed across all three regions and Paryphodes is found in both the Afrotropical and Australasian regions.

Genera

*'' Asyntona''

Osten-Sacken The House von der Osten-Sacken is an old and distinguished noble family of Baltic Germans. The family members held the titles of ''Baron'', ''Graf'', ''Knyaz'' and ''Fürst''. History The origins of the family are traced to 14th century. In 16 ...

, 1881 *'' Chaetorivellia'' Hendel in de Meijere, 1913 *'' Lenophila'' Guérin-Méneville, 1843 *'' Mesoctenia'' Enderlein, 1924 *'' Naupoda''

, 1881 *'' Neohemigaster'' Malloch, 1939 *'' Parardelio'' Hendel, 1912 *'' Paryphodes''

Speiser Speiser is a German and Yiddish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ambros Speiser (1922–2003), Swiss engineer and scientist *Andreas Speiser (1885–1970), Swiss mathematician *Elisabeth Speiser (born 1940), Swiss operatic sopra ...

, 1911 *'' Pseudoscholastes''

Frey Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden and ...

, 1932 *'' Pterogenia''

Bigot Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

, 1859 *'' Scholastes'' Loew, 1873 *'' Tomeus'' McAlpine, 2001 *'' Trigonosoma'' Gray, in Griffith & Pidgeon, 1832 *'' Zygaenula''

Doleschall Carl Ludwig Doleschall ( hu, Doleschall Lajos; sk, Karol Ľudovít Doležal; born 15 July 1827 – died 26 February 1859) was born in Vág-Újhely, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (now Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Slovakia), as the son of the theolo ...

, 1859

References

External links

Biolib
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q97356080 Brachycera subfamilies Platystomatidae Taxa named by Günther Enderlein