Family CORETHRELLIDAE Edwards, 1932

Corethrellidae

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Introduction

Historically, the Corethrellidae have been treated as a group within the Chaoboridae. However, the similarity has been shown to be based on symplesiomophy (primitive shared characters) and separate family status is appropriate. Adult females have functional mandibles, which are used in at least some species to pierce the cuticle of frogs. They have been shown to respond positively to the recorded calls of certain species of frogs.
The known immature stages of all species live in either phytotelmata, such as leaf axils, tree holes, etc., or small bodies of water, in which they are predatory on zooplankton.
The family is monogeneric, and quite widely distributed throughout tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Fossils provide evidence of their presence in the Oligocene and Miocene periods.

General References

Borkent, A. 1993. A world catalogue of fossil and extant Corethrellidae and Chaoboridae (Diptera), with a listing of references to keys, bionomic information and descriptions of each known life stage. Entomologica Scandinavica 24: 1-24

Colless, D.H. 1994. Two new species of Corethrella Coquillet from Australia, with further observations on morphological variation within the genus (Diptera: Corethrellidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 33: 105-109

McKeever, S. & Colless, D.H. 1991. Mouthparts of Australian Corethrella (Diptera: Corethrellidae), with a report of a nonbiting species. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 93: 925-929

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