Family CLUSIIDAE
Druid Flies
Compiler and date details
June 2011 - Scott Ginn, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia
Introduction
The Clusiidae are a medium-sized family of acalypterate files with an almost worldwide distribution. The richest clusiid fauna occurs in the Neotropical and Oriental regions. For Australia, 34 species are currently described, which are placed in five genera in two subfamilies. Small population size or extreme localisation of species seem to be factors that contribute to the apparent rarity of this group of flies. Larvae of Clusiidae are known to inhabit rotting wood and termite galleries.
McAlpine (1960) carried out a major review of the Australian species of Clusiidae, adding 19 new species and two genera to the known fauna. Prior to this only two species had been described for Australia, by Malloch (1926, 1930). Lonsdale and Marshall have presented more recent generic level reviews of the Clusiidae. Lonsdale (2009) added 13 new Australian species in the genus Heteromeringia. A phylogenetic analysis of the Clusiidae (Lonsdale et al. 2010) is the basis for the current generic placement in this catalogue. Species that were originally described in genus Czernyola and subsequently transferred to Craspedochaeta are now returned to Czernyola, which is considered a valid replacement name.
General References
Lonsdale, O. 2009. The Heteromeringia (Diptera: Clusiidae: Clusiodinae) of Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 61: 229-262
Lonsdale, O., Marshall, S.A., Fu, J. & Wiegmann, B. 2010. Phylogenetic analysis of the druid flies (Diptera: Schizophora: Clusiidae) based on morphological and molecular data. Insect Systematics and Evolution 41: 231-274
Malloch, J.R. 1926. Notes on Australian Diptera. No. viii. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 51: 31-49
Malloch, J.R. 1930. Notes on Australian Diptera. XXV. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 55: 429-450
McAlpine, D.K. 1960. A review of the Australian species of Clusiidae (Diptera, Acalyptrata). Records of the Australian Museum 25(4): 63-94 [Date published 1 July]
McAlpine, D.K. 1971. Status and synonymy of the genus Craspedochaeta Czerny (Diptera: Clusiidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 10: 121-122
Pitkin, B.R. & Evenhuis, N.L. [original authors] 2007. Family Clusiidae. In Evenhuis, N.L.(ed.) Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. (online version, last updated 23 May 2007). http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/aocat/clusiidae.html