Atelestidae
| Atelestidae Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Atelestus pulicarius | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Superfamily: | Empidoidea |
| Family: | Atelestidae Hennig, 1970 |
| Genera | |
| |
Atelestidae is a
basal of the living Empidoidea, the monophyly of the family is not fully proven.[2] The genus Nemedina seems to represent a most ancient lineage among the entire superfamily, while Meghyperus is probably not monophyletic in its present delimitation, and it is liable to be split up eventually, with some species being placed elsewhere.[3] In 2010, the genus Alavesia, previously only known from Cretaceous fossils, was found alive in Namibia,[4]
subsequent species were also described from Brazil.
Atelestidae has been shown to form the sister group to the remaining members of the Empidoidea superfamily. Subfamilies include Atelestinae and Nemedininae.[5]
Description
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Atelestidae are small (2–3 mm) greyish-dusted flies. They are quite similar to
prosternum separated from proepisternum.[5]
They have a disjunct distribution, being found in both the
Neotropical regions (Chile
).
Systematics
Based on the most recent phylogenetic studies,[5] the relationship between Atelestidae and other members of Empidoidea is as follows. The placement of Atelestidae is emphasized in bold formatting.
| Atelestidae | |
Genera
- Subfamily Atelestinae Hennig 1970
- Acarteroptera Collin, 1933 Chile, Recent
- Alavesia Waters & Arillo, 1999 Spanish amber, Albian, Burmese amber, Cenomanian Namibia, Brazil, Recent
- †Atelestites Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999 Lebanese amber, Barremian
- Atelestus Walker, 1837 Palearctic, Recent
- †Dianafranksia Coram et al., 2000 Lulworth Formation, United Kingdom, Berriasian
- †Kurnubempis Kaddumi, 2007 Jordanian amber, Albian
- Meghyperus Loew, 1850 Palearctic, Nearctic, Recent
- Subfamily Nemedininae Sinclair & Cumming, 2006
- †Cretodromia Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999 Canadian amber, Campanian
- Nemedina Chandler, 1981 Baltic amber, Eocene, Palearctic, Recent
- †Nemedromia Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999 New Jersey amber, Turonian Canadian amber, Campanian
- †Neoturonius Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999 New Jersey amber, Turonian
- †Phaetempis Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999 Lebanese amber, Barremian
- †Prolatomyia Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999 Canadian amber, Campanian
Footnotes
References
- Chvála, M. (1983): The Empidoidea (Diptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. II. General Part. The families Hybotidae, Atelestidae and Microphoridae. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 12: 1–279.
- Moulton, J. K. & Wiegmann, B. M. (2007): The phylogenetic relationships of flies in the superfamily Empidoidea (Insecta: Diptera). PMID 17468014(HTML abstract)
- Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) (2007): Atelestidae. Version of 2007-NOV-29. Retrieved 2008-JUL-30.
- Wahlberg, E. & Johanson, K.A. (2018): Molecular phylogenetics reveals novel relationships within Empidoidea (Diptera).
External links
Wikispecies has information related to Atelestidae.
- Dipterists Forum
- Diptera.info Images.