Ephydridae (shore flies, sometimes brine flies) is a family of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s in the order

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 ...

. Shore flies are tiny flies that can be found near seashores or at smaller inland waters, such as ponds. About 2,000 species have been described worldwide, including Ochthera. The petroleum fly, ''Helaeomyia petrolei'', is the only known insect whose larvae live in naturally occurring crude petroleum. Another notable species is '' Ephydra hians'' which lives in vast number at

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a Salt lake, saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes Hypersaline lake, high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake ...

Description

The flies are minute to small (0.9 to 7.0 mm), with black or gray colorations. Wings are sometimes patterned. Costa with two interruptions are present in first section, near the humeral cross-vein and again near the end of vein 1. The second basal cell is not separated from the discal cell. Arista are bare or with hairs on the upper side (plumose on the upper side). The mouth opening is very large in some species. The ratio of vertical diameter of eye and height of gena (face index) is widely used in identification of individual species.

Larvae

In the tribe Notiphilini the head is reduced to a cephalic skeleton, there are no anterior spiracles and the posterior spiracles are extended as spines. The other taxa have

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e similar to the

Sciomyzidae The family (biology), family Sciomyzidae belongs to the typical flies (Brachycera) of the order (biology), order Fly, Diptera. They are commonly called marsh flies, and in some cases snail-killing flies due to the food of their larvae. Here, t ...

, with the posterior spiracles at the apices of divergent branches from a common base. They may be differentiated by short thoracic segments (like the abdominal ones) and by the absence of a ventral arch linking the mouth hooks.

Habitats

Ephydridae occupy a diverse array of seashore and wetland habitats including

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s, petroleum pools, salt pools, alkaline lakes, marshes. Imago are

phytophagous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet (nutrition), diet. These more broadly also encompass an ...

, sometimes feeding on microscopic algae and bacteria (''Paracoenia'', ''Ephydra''), or predatory (''Ochthera'', Ephydrinae). As larvae, many are phytophagous, grazing on aquatic plants (including cultivated rice), others are algal grazers or saprophagous. Larvae of ''Trimerina'' are predatory. Some species are an important food source for other animals. Others cause damage to agricultural crops.Louis S. Hesler 1995 Bibliography on Hydrellia griseola Fallen (Diptera: Ephydridae) and review of its biology and pest statu
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln
/ref> Larvae of some Ephydridae live in very unusual habitats. For example, ''Ephydra brucei'' lives in hot springs and

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Ea ...

s where the water temperature exceeds 45 degrees Celsius; some ''Scatella'' live in hot sulphur springs; ''Helaeomyia petrolei'' develops in pools of crude oil; and ''Ephydra cinerea'', the brine fly proper, in pools with very high concentrations of salt. Some have public health significance being associated with sewage filter beds and septic tanks. Flies develop in moist soils or mine leaves of aquatic, subaquatic, and rarely dry soil (''Hydrellia'') plants. Flies are found near water along coasts, among aquatic vegetation and sometimes on water surfaces (''Ephydra'').

Phylogeny

References

External links

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Diptera.info Image Gallery

Identification

*Andersson, H. (1971), The European species of ''Limnellia'' (Dipt., Ephydridae). ''Entomologica Scandinavica'' 2: 53–59.Key to European species. * Becker, T. (1926), Ephydridae. 56a. In: Lindner, E. (Ed.). ''Die Fliegen der Paläarktischen Region'' 6: 1–115. Keys to Palaearctic species but now needs revision (in German). *Canzoneri, S. & Meneghini, D. (1983), Ephydridae e Canaceidae. ''Fauna d’Italia'' XX.Revision of the Italian species for these two families (in Italian). *Mathis, W.N. & Zatwarnicki, T. (1990), A revision of the western Palaearctic species of Athyroglossa (Diptera: Ephydridae). ''Transactions of the American Entomological Society'' 116: 103–133. Revision of the West Palaearctic species of the genus. *E.P. Narchuk Family Ephydridae in Bei-Bienko, G. Ya, 1988 ''Keys to the insects of the European Part of the USSR'' Volume 5 (Diptera) Part 2 English edition. *Zatwarnicki, T. (1997), Ephydridae. In: Nilsson, A. (Ed.) ''Aquatic Insects of North Europe'' (''A Taxonomic Handbook''). Apollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark. Includes a key (in English) to the genera.

Species lists

Western Palaearctic Japan
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