Atelestidae
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Diptera
- Family: Atelestidae
Visual Description
Atelestidae are small flies. Observations of specimens, including those of the genus Atelestus, reveal a compact body form typical of many small Diptera. The wings are well-developed, and the overall morphology is consistent with the characteristics of the superfamily Empidoidea.[1]
Characteristics
The family Atelestidae (Diptera: Empidoidea) comprises 15 extant species across five genera and a higher fossil diversity of 28 species in nine genera, primarily from Cretaceous ambers.[2]
Atelestidae are characterized within the Empidoidea by a well-developed anal lobe, a distinct alula, unforked $R_{4+5}$, and $M_{1+2}$ that is typically unforked or forked beyond cell $dm$. Additionally, cell $cua$ is long (at least as long as cell $bm$), female tergite 10 is absent, and male terminalia are symmetrical and unrotated with elongate gonocoxal apodemes and a shortened hypandrium.
Ecology
Extant adults are known to be flower visitors, feeding on nectar and pollen. Some genera, such as Meghyperus, are associated with primeval forests or areas with old trees.
Gallery
References
- 1 2 Dataset view for Animalia / Arthropoda / Insecta / Diptera / Atelestidae constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- ↑ Bradley J. Sinclair; Andreas Stark; Christel Hoffeins; Agnieszka Soszyńska‐Maj. A new fossil genus near Meghyperus Loew from Baltic amber (Diptera: Atelestidae). Palaeoentomology. 2024. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.7.1.2.