Micropezidae Loew 1862

• Published in: European Journal of Taxonomy
• Main Author: Lonsdale, Owen
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2020
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Arthropoda; Insecta; Diptera; Micropezidae; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3679564; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/BD15296C6A5AFFAAFF1AFD28D88EA09A

Micropezidae Loew, 1862 (Figs 312–394, 421–422) Type genus: Micropeza Meigen 1803: 276, in Loew (1862: 38) [see Sabrosky (1999) for discussion]. Type species of genus: Musca corrigiolata Linnaeus, 1767: 995, by monotypy. Micropezidae is the most diverse family of Nerioidea with about 700 described species (Marshall, 2012) and it is certain that many more await discovered based on the productivity of recent revisionary work. Species occur globally except for Antarctica and New Zealand, with most diversity to be found in tropical regions. Five subfamilies are presently accepted within a monophyletic Micropezidae—Calycopteryginae, Calobatinae, Eurybatinae, Micropezinae and Taeniapterinae—reflecting the most recent classification of D.K. McAlpine (1975, 1998). Micropezidae are relatively elongate and gracile, with long, narrow legs, and sometimes colourful patterning. While these aspects are modestly developed in Calobatinae, which is more typically acalyptrate in appearance, they can be exceptionally exaggerated in the other subfamilies, especially in the length of the mid and hind legs, which may far exceed the length of the body (see Marshall (2016: fig. 43, 2017: fig. 97)). A number of species mimic Hymenoptera, especially Ichneumonidae, and lineages in several subfamilies have independently converged on ant-mimicry (see Marshall (2016: figs 40, 41), sometimes including the development of a petiolate and sometimes nodular abdomen. The latter is well-illustrated in the apterous Australian Badisis ambulans McAlpine (Eurybatinae). Wing loss is also seen in Calycopteryx moseleyi Eaton (Figs 328–333), the sole member of the subfamily Calycopteryginae , where vestiges of the wing and halter are still evident. This species, restricted to the Kergulen and Heard Islands in the south Indian Ocean, is adapted to life on windswept islands, and is atypically drab, robust and stout. The more “modestly” proportioned subfamily Calobatinae (Figs 312–316) differs from other Micropezidae in lacking strong dorsal setae on the mid ...