''Pygophora'' is a 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 ...

belonging to the family

Muscidae Muscidae are a family of flies found in the superfamily Muscoidea. Muscidae, some of which are commonly known as house flies or stable flies due to their synanthropy, are worldwide in distribution and contain almost 4,000 described species i ...

, comprising roughly 80 species as of 2023. The species of this genus are found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

Description

The head of adult ''Pygophora'' has the upper inclinate frontal

seta In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae, ...

e inserted much closer to lower reclinate frontal setae than to lower inclinate frontal setae. The arista of the antennae is very plumose (hairy) on the basal half and bare on the apical half (rarely, the basal four-fifths are sparsely plumose. The ocellar setae are moderately developed and always distinct. On the thorax, the lowest sternopleural setae is much shorter and finer than either of the upper sternopleural setae. The fore tibia has a strong submedian postero-ventral seta. The genus can be divided into two groups based on the number of preapical setae on the mid femur. Some species have only one preapical setae, and these occur in Asia and Africa while being unknown in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, Australia and the Pacific. Conversely, the species with two preapical setae occur mainly in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, New Guinea, Australia and the western Pacific, with few species in mainland Asia and none in mainland Asia.

Ecology

''Pygophora'', like some other members of subfamily

Coenosiinae The Coenosiinae are a subfamily of true flies, belonging to the family Muscidae Muscidae are a family of flies found in the superfamily Muscoidea. Muscidae, some of which are commonly known as house flies or stable flies due to their syna ...

, are

predators Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

. Their known prey include other flies in the families

Psychodidae Psychodidae, also called drain flies, sink flies, filter flies, sewer flies, or sewer gnats, is a Family (biology), family of Fly, true flies. Some genera have short, hairy bodies and wings, giving them a "furry" moth-like appearance, hence one ...

(moth flies), Culicidae (

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es),

Chironomidae Chironomidae , commonly known as non-biting midges or chironomids , are a family of Nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the families Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Although many chironomid ...

(non-biting midges) and

Mycetophilidae Mycetophilidae is a family of small flies, forming the bulk of those species known as fungus gnats. About 3000 described species are placed in 150 genera, but the true number of species is undoubtedly much higher. They are generally found in the ...

(fungus gnats).

Species

Source: *'' Pygophora absentiseta'' *'' Pygophora acromiata'' *'' Pygophora africana'' *'' Pygophora apicalis'' Pygophora apicalis 189582421

Identification

Revision and key to world species (1962)

Review and key to Japanese species (2018)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q19753048 Muscidae