Family CONOPIDAE Latreille, 1802
Thick-headed Flies
Compiler and date details
September 2010 - Scott Ginn, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia
2007 - R. Johnson, data taken from Evenhuis, N.L. Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions (accessed 2007)
- Conopsaires Latreille, P.A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Ouvrage faisant suite à l’histoire naturelle générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon, et rédigée par C.S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs sociétés savantes. Familles naturelles des genres. Tome troisième. Paris : F. Dufart xii + 13–467 + [1] pp. [An "X" (title page = 1802)] [442].
Type genus:
Conops Linnaeus, 1758.
Introduction
Conopidae are a family of flies numbering some 800 species described worldwide. Nineteen genera within four subfamilies are recognised in the Australian fauna, among which 100 species have been described. Many conopids resemble wasps and syrphid flies, being black with yellow to orange bands or markings. Conopid larvae are mostly internal parasites of the wasps that their adults mimic. Other species are known to parasitise bees, flies and orthopteroids. The conopid head is generally large, being wider than the thorax, and thus earning them the common name of 'thick-headed flies'.
A number of taxonomic works have been published dealing with the Australian conopid fauna. Earlier workers include Kröber (1915, 1939, 1940) and Camras (1955, 1961). Smith (1979) described three new species in the genus Stylogaster. Schneider (2010) most recently carried out a major review of the whole family including 45 new species, a new subfamily Notoconopinae, and four new genera — Atrichoparia, Camrasiconops, Setosiconops and Tanyconops. No tribal classification has been used for the Australian fauna listed here, as there are characters in the local fauna that do not conform with proposed tribal classification for Nearctic Conopidae. A review of the higher classification of Conopidae, particularly at subfamily and tribal level is needed to resolve these relationships.
Historically the position of the family in the order Diptera has been subject to some conjecture, derived mostly from the syrphid-like characters of some species and whether these were secondarily acquired features. The parasitic life cycle is also thought to have had an influence on some chraracter states. Family Conopidae is placed here in the superfamily Conopoidea.
General References
Camras, S. 1955. New Conopidae from South America, Africa, and Australia (Diptera). Entomological News 66: 119-125
Camras, S. 1961. Notes on Australian flies of the family Conopidae. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 113: 61-76 [Date published 1 August]
Gibson, J.F. & Skevington, J.H. 2013. Phylogeny and taxonomic revision of all genera of Conopidae (Diptera) based on morphological data. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 167(1–2): 43–81
Kröber, O. 1915. Die indo-australischen und sudamerikanischen Physocephala - arten. Archiv für Naturgeschichte (A) 81(4): 117-145
Kröber, O. 1915. Die kleineren Gattungen der Conopiden. Archiv für Naturgeschichte (A) 81(1): 68-89
Kröber, O. 1939. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Conopiden. — IV. Die Conopiden der Australischen Region. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (11) 4: 594-607
Kröber, O. 1940. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Conopiden. V. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 11(5): 64-82
Schneider, M.A. 2010. A taxonomic revision of Australian Conopidae (Insecta: Diptera). Zootaxa 2581: 1-246 + 61 pls
Smith, K.G.V. 1979. The genus Stylogaster (Diptera: Conopidae: Stylogasterinae) in the Australian region. Australian Journal of Zoology 27: 303-310
Smith, K.G.V. 1989. Family Conopidae. pp. 459-462 in Evenhuis, N.L. (ed.). Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. Honolulu and Leiden : Bishop Museum Press and E.J. Brill 1155 pp.
History of changes
Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
01-Feb-2019 | DIPTERA Linnaeus, 1758 | 10-Jan-2019 | MODIFIED | |
13-Dec-2010 | 13-Dec-2010 | MODIFIED | ||
12-Feb-2010 | (import) |