The
Nematocera
The Nematocera (the name means "thread-horns") are a suborder of elongated flies with thin, segmented antennae and mostly aquatic larvae. This group is paraphyletic and contains all flies but species from suborder Brachycera (the name means "sh ...
n family Axymyiidae is the sole member of the infraorder Axymyiomorpha, though it is often included within the infraorder
Bibionomorpha
The Bibionomorpha are an infraorder of the suborder Nematocera. One of its constituent families, the Anisopodidae, is the presumed sister taxon to the entire suborder Brachycera. Several of the remaining families in the infraorder (those shown wi ...
in older classifications. It is known from only nine species in four genera, plus eight fossil species.
Family characteristics
The Axymyiidae have the general appearance of the
Bibionidae
Bibionidae (March flies) is a family of flies (Diptera) containing approximately 650–700 species worldwide. Adults are nectar feeders and emerge in numbers in spring. Because of the likelihood of adults flies being found ''in copula'', they h ...
. Unlike bibionids, axymyiids have four branches of the radial vein, Bibionidae have two or three.
The head is rounded. The eyes of the male are
holoptic
Holoptic refers to one of the ways in which the arthropod eye develops, particularly the eyes of various species of insects. Unlike dichoptic and cycloptic eyes, holoptic eyes meet along the median dorsal line of the head, in many species near ...
for a considerable distance and divided into a larger dorsal part consisting of large facets and (separated by a groove) a smaller ventral part of smaller facets. The eyes of the female are separated by a broad frons and consist of separated facets. The three ocelli are on a prominence. The antennae are short with 14 to 16 transverse segments which are covered with sparse, short hairs. The oral parts are reduced. The palpi are four- to five-segmented.
Wings have an ocellus. Wing-venation: The subcostal vein merges into the anterior alar margin near its midpoint; radial vein 1 reaches the distal quarter of wings, there usually fused with radial vein 2+3; radial vein 4 is branched proximal to the anterior crossvein of the wing. Median vein 1 and 2 have short trunks. The anal vein does not reach the alar margin.
The tibiae are slightly longer than the femora, but somewhat shorter than the tarsi. The empodium and pulvilli are well developed.
Biology
Larvae live in decomposing wood.
Genera
The family contains four extant genera and four extinct genera:
*''
Axymyia''
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Axymyia furcata''
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Mesaxymyia''
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Mesaxymyia kerteszi''
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Mesaxymyia stackelbergi''
*''
Plesioaxymyia''
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Plesioaxymyia vespertina''
*''
Protaxymyia''
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Protaxymyia japonica''
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Protaxymyia melanoptera''
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Protaxymyia sinica''
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Protaxymyia taiwanensis''
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Protaxymyia thuja''
*†''
Juraxymyia''
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Juraxymyia evae''
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Juraxymyia fossilis''
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Juraxymyia krzeminskii''
*†''
Psocites''
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Psocites pectinatus''
*†''
Raraxymyia''
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Raraxymyia parallela''
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Raraxymyia proxima''
*†''
Sinaxymyia''
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Sinaxymyia rara''
**†''
Sinaxymyia szadziewskii''
References
*Krivosheina, M. G. 2000. A. 2. Family Axymyiidae, pp. 31–39. In L. Papp, and B. Darvas
ds. ''Contribution to a Manual of the Palaearctic Diptera'', Appendix. Science Herald, Budapest, Hungary.
*B. M. Mamaev Family Axymyiidae in Bei-Bienko, G. Ya, 1988 ''Keys to the insects of the European Part of the USSR'' Volume 5 (Diptera) Part 2 English edition.
*Mamaev, B. M. 1968. New nematocerous Diptera of the USSR fauna (Diptera, Axymyiidae, Mycetobiidae, Sciaridae, Cecidomyiidae). ''Entomol. Oboz.'' 47: 605–616.
*Mamaev, B. M., and N. P. Krivosheina. 1966. New data on the taxonomy and biology of Diptera of the family Axymyiidae. ''Entomol. Obozr.'' 45: 168–180.
External links
UBC Diptera Description of Order and Families in British ColumbiaFamily description.
Nematocera families
Axymyiomorpha
Taxa named by Raymond Corbett Shannon
{{Nematocera-stub