Family PHORIDAE Curtis, 1833

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Family PHORIDAE Curtis, 1833

Scuttle Flies, Coffin Flies, Hump-backed Flies

Compiler and date details

April 2011 - Scott Ginn, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia

Introduction

Phoridae is a large family of flies with at least 3000 species described worldwide from over 200 genera. Adults are generally small (less than 5.0 mm) with a humped thorax. Colouration is usually blackish, brown or yellow. Many species are winged, but a number of brachypterous species are known. Important early publications on the world Phoridae include Brues (1915) and Schmitz (1927-28). Borgmeier (1967, in two parts) added many new Australian species and his 1968 publication presented a world catalogue for Phoridae.

An array of more recent publications particularly by Brown (Nearctic and Neotropical fauna) and Disney (Australasian/Oriental fauna) have provided a wealth of new descriptions for this group of insects. Disney (1994) includes a key to world genera. Disney (2008) provides a thorough treatment of the Tasmanian fauna as well as a catalogue of mainland Australian phorid fauna.

The higher taxonomy of this group of insects has gone through some overhaul in recent times. In this current catalogue 136 species in 23 genera are recorded from Australia (including introduced species). The former family Sciadoceridae is included in the Phoridae as subfamily Sciadocerinae. By far Megaselia is the largest genus in Australia with 84 species.

The discovery of numerous new species from samples taken in very localised populations (e.g. Disney 2003, 2008), indicates that there are many more new species to be discovered in Australia for this family. Of note, most Australian species are only known from their type locality.

Ecology
Phorid flies are known from some of the most diverse habitats. They are primarily scavengers or parasites. Their immature stages have been associated with other insect groups (Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hynemoptera), landsnails and millipedes. Several species are known to parasitize ant or termite nests. Disney (1994) provides a composite coverage of the varied life stages of the family. Most recently in Western Australia, a phorid species has been observed to aggregate in swarms in response to post-bushfire smoke plumes (Klocke et al. 2011).

Systematics

At the time of this publication, there appears to be some vagueries in the recognition of the higher taxonomy of some groups in this family, particularly in the distinction at genus/subgenus level of certain taxa e.g. Megaselia. For the purposes of this publication both recognised combinations of a species name where published (genus + species with or without sub-generic classification) have been included.