Family EPHYDRIDAE Zetterstedt, 1837

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

Ephydridae is a large and diverse family of flies, with at least 1800 species already described worldwide, and many more as yet undescribed. Numerous recognised new species in existing institutional collections await description. In Australia, the diversity of this family is reflected in the high species to genus/subgenus ratio with 98 species currently described in 38 genera representing 17 of the 19 tribes recognised worldwide. Three species Dryxo lispoidea, Hecamede (Hecamede) albicans and Leptopsilopa mutabilis are added tentatively in this work, based on specimen records in the Australian Museum reference collection.

Early work on this family of flies in Australia was done predominantly by non-Australian entomologists — Malloch (in the 1920s), Cresson (pre-1950), and then later Mathis (numerous publications from 1974 onwards) either by himself or in collaboration with other workers. The World Catalogue of Shore Flies by Mathis and Zatwarnicki (1995) is the most comprehensive publication on this family. Bock is the only Australian to have worked extensively on this family publishing several major revisionary works (1987, 1988, 1990). The currently accepted classification based initially on that proposed by Zatwarnicki (1992) is updated to reflect more recent phylogenetic hypotheses as set out in Zatwarnicki (2023).

Biology
Knowledge of the biology of Ephydridae is poor. The immatures of many species feed as browsers, filter feeders or leaf miners. Some species are aquatic or semi-aquatic. Others are parasitoids of spider and frog eggs, or are saprophages feeding on dead snails, carrion or faeces. Ephydrids are even known from some bizarre toxic habitats such as hot sulphur springs, highly alkaline or saline springs and even exposed pools of crude petroleum. Species of Hydrellia are of economic importance as their leaf-mining habits are known to damage crops such as rice and barley. Hydrellia tritici is often found in vast numbers along seeps and wet pastures.

 

Excluded Taxa

Other Excluded

EPHYDRIDAE: Dagini [Restricted to New World tropics, single genus recorded from Australia placed in Hyadinini following Zatwarnicki (2023)] — Zatwarnicki, T. 2023. Major lineages of shore flies (Diptera: Ephydridae) and the resultant subfamilial classification. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 73(4): 659-682

 

General References

Bock, I.R. 1987. The Australian species of Ephydrella and Setacera (Diptera : Ephydridae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 1: 155-166

Bock, I.R. 1988. The Australian species of Paralimna and Notiphila (Diptera : Ephydridae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 2(7): 885-902

Bock, I.R. 1990. The Australian species of Hydrellia Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera: Ephydridae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 3(7): 965-993

Evenhuis, N. (Originally by Mathis, W.N.) 28 May 2007. Family Ephydridae. In Evenhuis, N.L. (ed.) Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/aocat/ephydridae.html

Mathis, W.N. 1992. The first shore fly of the genus Glenanthe Haliday from the Australasian Region (Diptera: Ephydridae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 94: 78-82 [Date published 24 January]

Mathis, W.N. 1994. A revision of the shore-fly genus Clasiopella Hendel (Diptera: Ephydridae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 96(3): 454-465 [Date published July]

Mathis, W.N. & Wirth, W.W. 1981. Studies of Ephydrinae (Diptera: Ephydridae), IV: Revision of the Australian species of subgenus Neoscatella Malloch. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 325: 1-27 [Date published 21 January]

Mathis, W.N. & Zatwarnicki, T. 1993. A revision of the shore-fly genus Chlorichaeta Becker (Diptera: Ephydridae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 136(1): 55-76

Mathis, W.N. & Zatwarnicki, T. 2004. A revision of the shore-fly genus Trimerogastra Hendel (Diptera: Ephydridae). Bishop Museum Bulletin in Entomology 12: 89-108

Mathis, W.N & Zatwarnicki, T. 1995. World catalog of shore flies (Diptera: Ephydridae). Memoirs on Entomology, International 4: 1-423

Zatwarnicki, T. 1992. A new classification of Ephydridae based on phylogenetic reconstruction (Diptera: Cylorrhapha). Genus (Wroclaw) 3(2): 65-119

Zatwarnicki, T. 2023. Major lineages of shore flies (Diptera: Ephydridae) and the resultant subfamilial classification. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 73(4): 659-682

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
01-Jun-2021	EPHYDRIDAE Zetterstedt, 1837	22-Nov-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Bryan Lessard (ABRS)
10-Nov-2020	ACALYPTRATAE Macquart, 1835	22-Nov-2024	MODIFIED	Max Beatson (AM)
02-May-2019	SCHIZOPHORA Becher, 1882	22-Nov-2024	MODIFIED
01-Feb-2019	DIPTERA Linnaeus, 1758	22-Nov-2024	MODIFIED
18-Jun-2015	EPHYDRIDAE	22-Nov-2024	MODIFIED
07-Dec-2011		22-Nov-2024	MODIFIED
		22-Feb-2010	MODIFIED