Nymphomyiidae

Nymphomyiidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Hexapoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Suborder:	Nematocera
Infraorder:	Blephariceromorpha
Family:	Nymphomyiidae

The Nymphomyiidae are a family of tiny (2 mm) slender, delicate flies (Diptera). Larvae are found among aquatic mosses in small, rapid streams in northern regions of the world, including northeastern North America, Japan, the Himalayas, and eastern Russia. Many fossil species and a few extant species are known. Three genera are currently recognized Under an alternative classification, they are considered the only living representatives of a separate, archaic suborder called "Archidiptera".

Nymphomyiidae are neotenic, retaining various larval features. They have strap-like wings with a very reduced venation, and the wing margins have long fringes like those of the Thysanoptera. The wings are shed after mating. The antennae are very reduced. Species in the genus Nymphomyia have atrophied mouthparts. Nymphomyiidae are unusual in that the adults are ventrally holoptic, meaning they possess two eyes that meet on the underside of the head.

These flies were discovered in a fast-flowing stream in Japan by Masaaki Tokunaga Entomological Laboratory, Saikyo University, Kuyoto.

Species

Currently there is one genera with six species

• Nymphomyia Tokunaga 1932
  • N. albaTokunaga 1932 - Japan
  • N. levanidovae Rohdendorf & Kalugina 1974
  • N. brundini Kevan 1970
  • N. holoptica Courtney 1994
  • N. rohdendorfi Makarchenko, 1979
  • N. walkeri Ide 1964

Further reading

• Courtney, G.W. 1994. Biosystematics of the Nymphomyiidae (Insecta: Diptera): life history, morphology, and phylogenetic relationships. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 550: 1-41.
• Cutten, F.E.A. & Kevan, D.K.McE. 1970. The Nymphomyiidae (Diptera) with special reference to Palaeodipteron walkeri Ide and its larva in Quebec, and a description of a new genus and species from India. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 48: 1-24.
• Ide, F.P. 1965. A fly of the archaic family Nymphomyiidae (Diptera) from North America. Canadian Entomologist, 97: 496-507.
• Wagner, R., C. Hoffeins, & H.W. Hoffeins. 2000. A fossil nymphomyiid (Diptera) from the Baltic and Bitterfeld amber. Systematic Entomology 25, 115-120.

External links

• Courtney,G. W. Biosystematics of the Nymphomyiidae (Insecta: Diptera): Life. History, Morphology, and Phylogenetic Relationships pdf [1] (Backup at WayBack Machine)