Anthomyiidae

Anthomyiidae sp.

• Delia
• Hammomyia
• Hylephila
• Fucellia
• Pegohylemyia
• Pegomya
• Lasiomma
• Chiastocheta

The flower flies ( Anthomyiidae ) are a family of two-winged flies (Diptera ) and belong to the flies ( Brachycera ). Worldwide there are about 1200 species of this group known, including about 220 in Central Europe. The flower flies are not identical with the English flower flies, so are usually the hoverflies (Syrphidae ) meant.

The small to medium sized flies are often bristles strong and inconspicuously colored, but some marked conspicuously gray - black or with yellow legs and yellow abdomen.

Behavior of Flowers Fly

As their name suggests, they are often found on flowers where they feed on nectar and pollen. However, some species also feed on other liquids, such as liquid manure, sweat or blood flowing from wounds. Before the food is absorbed, it is mixed with saliva and often several times regurgitated and sucked again as droplets. On the way Anthomyia pluvialis small amounts of cantharidin already seem enticing, the meaning of which is, however, still unclear.

The eggs are laid mostly on the host plants of the larvae, the representatives of the genus Delia lay the eggs in the soil.

Larval development

The larvae of most flower flies live fungi or plant food. The larvae of Tangfliegen (about the Fucellia species) often occur in masses in the alluvial Tang coastlines. The larvae of several other species ( Hammomyia, Hylephila ) live in nests of wasps and solitary bees and eat there, especially the registered owners of the nest inventories or the waste. Some species are parasitoids, such as clutches of eggs of grasshoppers and larvae of various insects. Hibernation takes place mostly as a pupa in the soil.

Species

Genus Botanophila

Botanophila phrenione is a Pilzmyzelfresser. The female lays, probably lured by smell, an egg on the piston-shaped fruit bearing of grass - core mushroom ( Epichloe typhina ), the larva eats after the mycelium inside the camp. The imago eats the mushroom and probably promote its dissemination by the fact that they continue to bear the spores.

The Lattichfliege or salad fly ( Botanophila gnava ) lays her eggs singly in July to mid-September on lettuce flowers. The larva eats out the seeds, the doll overwinters in the soil.

Genus Pegomya

The beet or Runkel fly ( Pegomya hyoscyami ) probably exists in two subspecies, one of which to the nightshade family (Solanaceae ) and lives on Beetroot. After overwintering the doll in the soil and lay eggs on the underside of leaves of quinoa, beet, spinach or chard nate the larvae in the leaves, where a larva can infest several leaves or plants. In probably three to four generations occur.

Genus Lasiomma

The larch larch seeds fly or fly Zapf ( Lasiomma laricicola ) pushes in May, pretty much directly after hatching from the pupa, the eggs under the scales of young larch cones in which the larvae then befressen the ovules and the PTO shaft. The damage is sometimes considerable.

Genus Delia

The fallow fly ( Delia coarctata ) sets in July-September about 40 eggs in light loose soil. The larvae hatch in February to March of the following year and penetrate the seedlings of grasses one, also of cereals ( mainly winter wheat). Destroying the heart sheet and migrate into new plants. Pupation takes place in mid-May in the soil.

The onion fly ( Delia antiqua ) lays the eggs in young onions after hatching the imago from the pupae that have overwintered. The larvae feed in the stems and onions and migrate to new plants over; the larvae of the second and probably of the third generation in the feed blown bulbs.

The little cabbage root fly ( Delia brassicae) is a very important pest of cabbage plants. The female lays from the end of June about a hundred eggs on the food plant, which they perceive visually and olfactory. The experiment was carried out by an attracting about rutabaga press juice or Senfölglukosid sinigrin. It runs first on the leaves around (presumably important for chemoreception by the tarsi ), then stalk down to the ground, laying eggs on the base of the stem and the eggs are then covered with soil particles. The larvae that reach a body length up to 9 mm, live in two or three generations at different, mustard oil and Senfölglukoside containing cruciferous vegetables and feed on or in the roots as well as on higher parts of plants. They can cause considerable damage.

The larvae of the Great cabbage root fly ( Delia floralis ) live mainly on Radishes. The way of life corresponds to that of the cabbage fly, but she is only one generation per year out.