Asteiidae is a small but widespread family of acalyptrate flies or

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

. About 130

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in 10

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

have been described worldwide. They are rarely collected.

Family description

For terms see

Morphology of Diptera Dipteran morphology differs in some significant ways from the broader insect morphology, morphology of insects. The Diptera is a very large and diverse Order (biology), order of mostly small to medium-sized insects. They have prominent compound ey ...

. Adult asteiids are minute to small (1–3 millimeters) thin-bodied and delicate (often weakly sclerotized) flies, with yellow-black or dark colours. The wings are relatively long and transparent. The head is rounded, the male almost always with distinct interfrontal stripes. The arista may be bare or pubescent but usually has a zigzag of longer and shorter alternating rays. The postvertical bristles are weakly developed, divergent or parallel or totally absent. Ocellar bristles may be present or absent. There is one orbital bristle on each side of the frons (Shtakel'berg] (0–2 pairs of frontal bristles). Interfrontal bristles may be present as may scattered interfrontal setulae. Vibrissae may be absent or present. On the mesonotum are one to two pairs of dorsocentral bristles. The costa is entire, without interruptions; the subcosta is reduced; posterior basal wing cell and discoidal wing cell are fused; anal cell of wing and anal vein of wing are absent. Tibiae lack a dorsal preapical bristle. Se

Biology

Adults are often found on flowers and low vegetation but have been collected at windows indoors and on tree wounds. In one genus (''Leiomyza'') adults are found on mushrooms and bracket fungi. Adults of the species ''Astiosoma rufifrons'' Duda are attracted to wood ash after bonfires especially at evening. Larval biologies are unknown, but adults have been reared from fungi (''Leiomyza''), stalks of ''Cannabis sativa'', flower buds, and dried reed stems. Sabrosky (1987) suggested that the larvae may be scavengers in the frass of other insects.

Species lists

Palaearctic Japan
One species

Identification (literature)

Curtis Williams Sabrosky, Sabrosky, C.W., 1943. New genera and species of Asteiidae (Diptera), with a review of the family in the Americas. ''Annals of the Entomological Society of America'': 36(3):501-514. Available online a
the Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University. Curtis Williams Sabrosky, Sabrosky, C.W., 1956. Additions to the knowledge of Old World Asteiidae.''Revue francaise d'entomologie'' (Nouvelle Serie) 23:216-243.

Authorship

The family Asteiidae was erected by

Hermann Loew Friedrich Hermann Loew (19 July 1807 – 21 April 1879) was a German entomologist who specialised in the study of Diptera, an order of insects including Fly, flies, mosquitoes, gnats and midges. He described many world species and was the first s ...

Phylogeny

Images

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Images at Diptera.info
*

Encyclopedia of Life The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It aggregates content to form "pages" for every known species. Content is compiled from existing trusted ...

World taxa list and images

References

Duda The Hungary, Hungarian duda (also known as ''tömlősíp'' and ''bőrduda'') is the traditional bagpipe of Hungary. It is an example of a group of bagpipes called Medio-Carparthian bagpipes. Accounts are conflicting regarding the exact form of ...

. 1934. Astiidae. In: Lindner, E. (Ed.). ''Die Fliegen der Paläarktischen Region'' 6, 1, 58b, 1–15. Keys to Palaearctic species but now needs revision (in German). *Papp, L. 1998. Family Asteiidae. In: Papp, L. and Darvas, B.: ''Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera''. 3: 295–303. Science Herald, Budapest. *Papp L., 1984. Family Asteiidae. In: Soós Á. & Papp L. (eds.), ''Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera'', 10. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest - Elsevier, Amsterdam: 63–66. *

Stackelberg __NOTOC__ Stackelberg is a surname, mainly known as the surname of a noble family of Baltic German descent (see Stackelberg family). Notable people with the surname include: A *Adolphe Stackelberg (1822–1871), Swedish count and Christian reviva ...

, A.A. Family Asteiidae in Bei-Bienko, G. Ya, 1988 ''Keys to the insects of the European Part of the USSR'' Volume 5 (Diptera) Part 2 English edition.Keys to Palaearctic species but now needs revision . {{Taxonbar, from=Q3627490 Brachycera families Articles containing video clips