''Dolichopus'' is a large cosmopolitan genus of
flies
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...
in the family
Dolichopodidae
Dolichopodidae, the long-legged flies, are a large, cosmopolitan family of true flies with more than 8,000 described species in about 250 genera. The genus '' Dolichopus'' is the most speciose, with some 600 species.
Dolichopodidae generally a ...
. Adults are small flies, typically less than 8 mm in length. Nearly all species are metallic greenish-blue to greenish-bronze.
It is the largest genus of Dolichopodidae with more than 600 species worldwide.
The name of the genus (, long, and , foot) refers to the length of the feet of its species.
Gallery
File:Dolichopus spec. with prey.ogv, ''Dolichopus sp.'' female with prey (video, 1m 23s)
File:Dolichopus P1070821a.jpg
File:Dolichopus P1070659a.jpg
Species groups and subgenera
The following
species group
In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
s exist in ''Dolichopus'':
* ''Dolichopus latipennis'' species group (= ''Hygroceleuthus''
Loew, 1857)
* ''Dolichopus lonchophorus'' species group
* ''Dolichopus longisetus'' species group
* ''Dolichopus planitarsis'' species group (8 species)
–
Palaearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
Th ...
* ''Dolichopus plumipes'' species group (11 species)
–
Palaearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
Th ...
* ''Dolichopus sagittarius'' species group
* ''Dolichopus salictorum'' species group
* ''Dolichopus signifer'' species group
* ''Dolichopus sublimbatus'' species group (4 species)
* ''Dolichopus tewoensis'' species group (3 species)
–
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
Sometimes the following are considered subgenera of ''Dolichopus'':
* ''Dolichopus''
Latreille, 1796
* ''Hygroceleuthus''
Loew, 1857 (= ''Dolichopus latipennis'' species group)
* ''Macrodolichopus''
Stackelberg, 1933
See also
*
List of Dolichopus species
References
{{Authority control
Dolichopodidae genera
Dolichopodinae
Articles containing video clips
Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille