Family HYBOTIDAE Meigen, 1820

Museums

Regional Maps

• Hibotinae Meigen, J.W. 1820. Systematische Beschreibung der bekannten europischen zweiflügeligen Insekten. Zweiter Theil. Aachen : Forstmann xxxvi + 363 pp. [Date published 31 December+] [x].

  Type genus:

   Hybos Meigen, 1803.

Introduction

Taxonomy follows Sinclair & Cumming (2006) and Wahlberg & Johanson (2018). Formerly a part of family Empididae, Hybotidae are now recognised as a separate family in the Empidoidea. In Australia, 28 species are described from 8 genera.

Notable early workers on this group include Bezzi (1904) and White (1916). More recently Sinclair & Cumming (2000) (revision of Apterodromia) and (2007) (new genus Leptopezella) added many more Australian species to the known fauna.

Members of the subfamily Hybotinae have raptorial hind legs which are used to capture prey in flight. Apterodromia (subfamily Ocydromiinae) was originally described based on an ant-like flightless species from Tasmania, but most members of this widespread Australian genus are fully winged The subfamily Tachydromiinae comprises species that are largely cursorial on tree-trunks, leaves and other surfaces. In Australia this subfamily includes a large number of undescribed species.

General References

Bezzi, M. 1904. Empididi Indo-Australiani raccolti dal Signor L. Biró. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 2: 320-361 [Date published 25 June]

Evenhuis, N.L., [Originally] by Smith, K.G.V. 2011. Family Hybotidae. In Evenhuis, N.L. (ed.) Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. 15 December 2011. http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/aocat/hybotidae.html

Sinclair, B.J. & Cumming, J.M. 2000. Revision of the genus Apterodromia (Diptera: Empidoidea), with a redefinition of the tribe Ocydromiini. Records of the Australian Museum 52(2): 161-186 [Date published 29 November]

Sinclair, B.J. & Cumming, J.M. 2006. The morphology, higher-level phylogeny and classification of the Empidoidea (Diptera). Zootaxa 1180: 1-172

Sinclair, B.J. & Cumming, J.M. 2007. Leptopezella, a new Southern Hemisphere genus of Ocydromiinae (Diptera: Empidoidea: Hybotidae). Zootaxa 1629: 27-37 [Date published 2 November]

Wahlberg, E. & Johanson, K.A. 2018. Molecular phylogenetics reveals novel relationships within Empidoidea (Diptera). Systematic Entomology 43: 619–636 [632]

White, A. 1916. The Diptera-Brachycera of Tasmania. Part III. Families Asilidae, Bombyliidae, Empididae, Dolichopodidae and Phoridae. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1916: 148-266 [Date published 30 November 1916]

History of changes