Simuliidae

Belongs within: Culicomorpha.
Contains: Simulium.

The Simuliidae, black flies, are small stout flies whose larvae are found in water. The aquatic larvae anchor themselves to the substrate by means of a silken pad and feed by filtering particulate matter from the water. Adult flies feed on sugar (such as nectar) after emerging; females of most species also feed on animal blood.

The family is divided between two subfamilies by features of the wing venation; Parasimulium species have longer dorsal and ventral setae on veins C, Sc and R with vein R₁ joining C only slightly beyond the middle of the wing, whereas Simuliinae have shorter setae (if any) on said veins and have R₁ joining C well beyond the middle of the wing (Peterson 1981). Within Simuliinae, members of the tribe Prosimuliini have a long distinct fork in Rs whereas Simuliini have Rs unforked or with a short apical fork only (Peterson 1981).

Characters (from Peterson 1981): Small stout flies, 1.2-5.5 mm long, usually black or dark brown in color, but sometimes reddish brown, gray, orange, or yellow. Antenna short, rather stout, erect, with seven to nine flagellomeres; all segments bead-like; pedicel usually largest of segments. Legs short. Fore tibia with one apical spur; mid and hind tibiae with two apical spurs. Wing broad; anterior veins strong; posterior veins weak.

<==Simuliidae [Melusinidae]
    |  i. s.: AustrosimuliumP81
    |           |--A. australenseO81
    |           |--A. bancroftiCM91
    |           |--A. pestilensC94
    |           `--A. ungulatumO81
    |         Simulimima grandisGE05
    |         Baisomyia incognitaGE05
    |         Crozetia crozetensisP81
    |--ParasimuliumP81 [ParasimuliinaeAC09]
    |    |  i. s.: P. crosskeyiWT11
    |    |--P. (Parasimulium)P81
    |    |    |--P. (P.) furcatumP81
    |    |    `--P. (P.) stoneiP81
    |    `--P. (Astoneomyia) melanderiP81
    `--SimuliinaeAC09
         |  i. s.: GrenieraP81
         |           |--G. abditaP81
         |           `--G. denariaP81
         |         Stegopterna mutataP81
         |         MetacnephiaP81
         |           |--M. jeanaeP81
         |           `--M. saileriP81
         |         EctemniaP81
         |           |--E. cerberus [=Simulium cerberus]P92
         |           |--E. invenustaP81
         |           `--E. taeniatifronsP81
         |         CnephiaP81
         |           |--C. aurantiacumPH10
         |           |--C. dacotensisP81
         |           |--C. ornithophilaBMA03
         |           `--C. tonnoiriASD05
         |                |--C. t. tonnoiriHM70
         |                `--C. t. fuscoflavaHM70
         |--ProsimuliiniAC09
         |    |--Kovalevimyia lacrimosaGE05
         |    |--UrosimuliumM96
         |    |--LevitiniaM96
         |    |--Gymnopais holopticusM96, P81
         |    |--Twinnia tibblesiM96, P81
         |    `--ProsimuliumP81
         |         |--P. (Parahelodon) decertimaculumP81
         |         |--P. magnumBMA03
         |         |--P. (Prosimulium) mixtumP81
         |         |--P. neomacropygaP81
         |         |--P. (Helodon) onychodactylumP81
         |         |--P. (Distosimulium) pleuraleP81
         |         |--P. travisiM96
         |         `--P. ursinumP81
         `--SimuliiniAC09
              |--SimuliumAC09
              |--Archicnephia ornithoraptorGE05
              |--Tlalocomyia [incl. Mayacnephia]AC09
              |    `--T. salasiAC09
              `--GigantodaxAC09
                   |  i. s.: G. nasutusM96
                   |--G. brophyiM96
                   |--G. cilicinusM96
                   |--G. cortesiM96
                   |--G. igniculusM96
                   |--G. minorM96
                   |--G. multifilisM96
                   |--G. cormonsi groupM96
                   |    |--G. cormonsiM96
                   |    `--G. lazoi Takaoka et al. 1988M96
                   `--G. wrighti groupM96
                        |--G. adleri Moulton 1996M96
                        |--G. biergi Vargas & Ramírez-Pérez 1989M96
                        |--G. willei Vargas & Ramírez-Pérez 1989M96
                        `--G. wrightiAC09

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[AC09] Adler, P. H., & D. C. Currie. 2009. Simuliidae (black flies, bocones). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 1 pp. 389–406. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[ASD05] Armstrong, K. N., A. W. Storey & P. M. Davies. 2005. Effects of catchment clearing and sedimentation on macroinvertebrate communities of cobble habitat in freshwater streams of southwestern Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 88 (1): 1–11.

[BMA03] Beard, C. E., J. W. McCreadie & P. H. Adler. 2003. Prevalence of the trichomycete fungus Harpella melusinae (Harpellales, Harpellaceae) in larval black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) across a heterogeneous environment. Mycologia 95 (4): 577–583.

[C94] Colless, D. H. 1994. A new family of muscoid Diptera from Australasia, with sixteen new species in four new genera (Diptera: Axiniidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 471–534.

[CM91] Colless, D. H., & D. K. McAlpine. 1991. Diptera (flies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 717–786. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[HM70] Hinton, H. E., & I. M. Mackerras. 1970. Reproduction and metamorphosis. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 83–106. Melbourne University Press.

[M96] Moulton, J. K. 1996. A new species of Gigantodax Enderlein (Diptera: Simuliidae) from the United States. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 98 (4): 741–751.

[O81] O’Brien, C. O. 1981. A. A. Book of New Zealand Wildlife: A guide to the native and introduced animals of New Zealand. Lansdowne Press: Auckland.

[P81] Peterson, B. V. 1981. Simuliidae. In: McAlpine, J. F., B. V. Peterson, G. E. Shewell, H. J. Teskey, J. R. Vockeroth & D. S. Wood (eds) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 1 pp. 355–391. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[PH10] Pinder, A. M., S. A. Halse, R. J. Shiel & J. M. McRae. 2010. An arid zone awash with diversity: patterns in the distribution of aquatic invertebrates in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 78 (1): 205–246.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[WT11] Wiegmann, B. M., M. D. Trautwein, I. S. Winkler, N. B. Barr, J.-W. Kim, C. Lambkin, M. A. Bertone, B. K. Cassel, K. M. Bayless, A. M. Heimberg, B. M. Wheeler, K. J. Peterson, T. Pape, B. J. Sinclair, J. H. Skevington, V. Blagoderov, J. Caravas, S. N. Kutty, U. Schmidt-Ott, G. E. Kampmeier, F. C. Thompson, D. A. Grimaldi, A. T. Beckenbach, G. W. Courtney, M. Friedrich, R. Meier & D. K. Yeates. 2011. Episodic radiations in the fly tree of life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108 (14): 5690–5695.