Platypezidae

Flat Lackporling with teat Gallen the teat gall fly ( Agathomyia wankowiczii )

The Tummelfliegen ( Platypezidae ), also known as mushroom flies, Plattfüßer sole or flies, are a family of two-winged flies (Diptera ). Within these they are assigned to the flies ( Brachycera ). Worldwide there are about 250 species of Tummelfliegen known, including 23 in Germany. The flies are usually small and can reach heights between two and three millimeters.

Features

The Tummelfliegen are black or yellow, where the males are often darker than females and have larger compound eyes that touch centrally. The tarsi ( tarsi ) of the last pair of legs are broadened in many species, and the males can wear it in some North American species also appendages. The male genitalia are stamped under the abdomen.

Way of life

To find the flies are common in larger accumulations on shaded leaves in moist forests, where they " frolic " accordingly and so got their name. They often fly up and down in swarms and can thereby striking the legs dangling. Also typical is their zigzag running on leaves and on damp sand soils.

Larval development

The larvae reach a length of four to five millimeters and are often assel shaped and yellowish to brown leather in their coloring. You have species-specific attachments and are primarily in mushrooms, especially in bracket fungi eating to find. However, they are also found in decaying dead wood, this obviously only for deciduous trees. The dolls are in the ground, often with mushroom pieces are cocoon -like present. There are probably two generations per year, with the larvae of the second generation overwinter.

System

The world's approximately 250 species of Tummelfliegen be assigned to 14 genera. Fossil these flies since the law known so far 11 fossil species have been found, which are classified into nine genera.

The most familiar type of Tummelfliegen is the teat gall fly ( Agathomyia wankowiczii ), in which the larvae in peg-shaped teats galls on the underside of the tree seemingly exclusively sponge Ganoderma applanatum live. The larva leaves the bile through a hole at the top thereof, and pupates on or in the ground. Other common species are the representatives of the genus Platypeza.