Apystomyiidae is a small
family of
flies containing the living genus ''
Apystomyia
''Apystomyia'' is a genus of flies in the family Apystomyiidae. The genus contains the single living Apystomyiidae species, ''Apystomyia elinguis'', which is primarily found in California. Details of its life history are largely unknown. The exti ...
'' and the extinct genera ''
Apystomimus'' and ''
Hilarimorphites''. The single living Apystomyiidae species, ''
Apystomyia elinguis
''Apystomyia'' is a genus of flies in the family Apystomyiidae. The genus contains the single living Apystomyiidae species, ''Apystomyia elinguis'', which is primarily found in California. Details of its life history are largely unknown. The exti ...
'', is native to California. Species of ''Hilarimorphites'' have been described from
Mid to late Cretaceous Burmese
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese (hor ...
and
New Jersey ambers, while the single ''Apystomimus'' species is from the Late Jurassic of
Kazakhstan.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Apystomyia'' was first collected in the 1940s, described in 1950 and long placed into the bee-fly family
Bombyliidae
The Bombyliidae are a family of flies, commonly known as bee flies. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, some being important pollinators. Larvae are mostly parasitoids of other insects.
Overview
The Bombyliidae are a large family of fl ...
. The first specimens seen after the 1940s type series were collected in 2005.
A study in 1993 suggested the genus was a sister-group to
Eremoneura, while placement of the genus into Hilarimorphidae or allied to
Therevidae
The Therevidae are a family of flies of the superfamily Asiloidea commonly known as stiletto flies. The family contains about 1,600 described species worldwide, most diverse in arid and semiarid regions with sandy soils. The larvae are predators ...
was suggested in 1994. Conversely a new family, Apystomyiidae, was erected for the genus by Nagatomi and Liu based on the distinct structure of the male and female terminalia. They suggested a closer relationship with
Cyclorrhapha
Cyclorrhapha is an unranked taxon within the infraorder Muscomorpha. They are called "Cyclorrhapha" ('circular-seamed flies') with reference to the circular aperture through which the adult escapes the puparium. This is a circumscriptional name t ...
.
This placement was solidified and refined via molecular phylogenetic studies in 2010 which placed the genus as a sister of the Cyclorrhapha within the clade Eremoneura.
''Hilarimorphites'' was originally placed into the family
Hilarimorphidae
The Hilarimorphidae or hilarimorphid flies are a family of Diptera. They are of uncertain placement and may be related to the Acroceridae. Most species are Nearctic.
Species
Genus '' Cretahilarimorpha'' Myskowiak, Azar & Nel, 2016
*'' Cretahila ...
, but the wing morphology is closer to that of ''Apystomyia''. Similarly ''Apystomimus'' was first placed as ''
incertae sedis'' in the fly infraorder
Asilomorpha, though noted as being near ''Apystomyia'' in relationship. both extinct genera have very similar wing structure, and are distinguished by the notably large cerci of ''Apystomimus zaitzevi'', combined with the smaller wing-to-body ratio compared to that seen in ''Hilarimorphites''.
The group existed as a clade or stem grade on
Laurasia
Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ...
from the Late Jurassic
Karatau Lagerstätte of Kazakhstan through the middle Cretaceous
Burmese amber forest.
The Late Cretaceous
New Jersey amber forest species are the oldest members of the clade in North America and the family is now reduced to a relic modern range scattered in California.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4782349
Brachycera families
Asiloidea