Australasian/Oceanian Diptera Catalog -- Web Version

Blepharicerids, or net winged midges, are slender, long-legged midges with elongate, multisegmented antennae lacking conspicuous pilosity. They can be easily recognized by the numerous delicate cracks and folds that form a network in the wing membrane. Size varies from small to moderate (wing lengths of the Australasian species vary from ca. 4.0 to 12.5 mm; fully grown larvae are ca. 3.5 to 13.0 mm long). Adults are usually found close to clean, swift streams where they rest hanging under foliage, bridges, etc.

Larvae and pupae live in strong currents on smooth hard substrata in streams. Larvae have a striking appearance; their bodies appear to consist of only 6 or 7 segments, separated by deep constrictions, each segment bearing a midventral sucker. Pupae are oval, with the flat, soft, ventral face cemented to rocks.

Larvae are scrapers, grazing on microscopic growths. Male adults generally do not feed and have reduced mouthparts (except in some groups consuming flower secretions, e.g., Apistomyiini). Females often have well-developed mouthparts and many have been observed feeding on smaller insects, which are caught with specialized hind tarsi. Life cycles vary from semivoltine to plurivoltine, but most net winged midges are univoltine.

Blepharicerids are known from all continents and many continental islands but are generally absent from oceanic islands. The Australasian Region, with both subfamilies (Edwardsininae and Blepharicerinae), 2 of 4 tribes, 10 genera, and 41 species, harbors a fair proportion of the almost 300 species and ca. 30 genera recognized worldwide. At present within the Australasian/Oceanian Regions the family is known only from New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and eastern Australia, including Tasmania.

Species of the Australian Edwardsina are monophyletic, with their closest relatives in South America. The sister group of Apistomyiini is the Neo-Afrotropical Paltostomatini. The Apistomyiini in New Zealand and New Caledonia seem to be relictual resulting from a former migratory route from South America Antarctica to New Zealand, and via the inner Melanesian Archipelago to the Oriental Region where the group developed highly derived modern forms.

Some of the Apistomyiini have secondarily invaded Australia from the tropical north but have not reached Tasmania. An incompletely known enigmatic species from Mossman Gorge, north Queensland, may be an exception. Another incompletely known, unnamed member of the family from New Caledonia has tentatively been assigned (Stuckenberg 1970) to the tribe Paltostomatini (the only record for this tribe in the region). This species, however, may prove to belong to the Apistomyiini.
Refs.: Alexander (1958, cat.), Zwick (1977, ,1998, 2006, rev., keys, biol.).

Subfamily EDWARDSININAE
Tribe EDWARDSININI

Genus EDWARDSINA Alexander

EDWARDSINA Alexander, 1920c: 2. Type species: Edwardsina chilensis Alexander, 1920, orig. des.

Subfamily BLEPHARICERINAE
Tribe APISTOMYIINI

Genus APISTOMYIA Bigot

APISTOMYIA Bigot, 1862: 109. Type species: Apistomyia elegans Bigot, 1862, mon.
collini Bezzi, 1913c: 68. Australia (Qld).
tonnoiri Tillyard, 1922a: 169. Australia (NSW); Australia (ACT, Qld, Vic).

Last revised 4 August 2006