| Megaselia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Megaselia sp. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Phoridae |
| Subfamily: | Metopininae |
| Genus: | Megaselia Rondani, 1856 [1] |
| Type species | |
| Megaselia crassineura | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The Phoridae are a family of small, hump-backed flies resembling fruit flies. Phorid flies can often be identified by their escape habit of running rapidly across a surface rather than taking to the wing. This behaviour is a source of one of their alternate names, scuttle fly. Another vernacular name, coffin fly, refers to Conicera tibialis. About 4,000 species are known in 230 genera. The most well-known species is cosmopolitan Megaselia scalaris. At 0.4 mm in length, the world's smallest fly is the phorid Euryplatea nanaknihali.
Display behaviour is a set of ritualized behaviours that enable an animal to communicate to other animals about specific stimuli. Such ritualized behaviours can be visual, but many animals depend on a mixture of visual, audio, tactical and chemical signals. Evolution has tailored these stereotyped behaviours to allow animals to communicate both conspecifically and interspecifically which allows for a broader connection in different niches in an ecosystem. It is connected to sexual selection and survival of the species in various ways. Typically, display behaviour is used for courtship between two animals and to signal to the female that a viable male is ready to mate. In other instances, species may make territorial displays, in order to preserve a foraging or hunting territory for its family or group. A third form is exhibited by tournament species in which males will fight in order to gain the 'right' to breed. Animals from a broad range of evolutionary hierarchies avail of display behaviours - from invertebrates such as the simple jumping spider to the more complex vertebrates like the harbour seal.
The Metopininae are a subfamily of flies in the family Phoridae.
Phorinae is a subfamily of flies in the family Phoridae. There are at least 90 described species in Phorinae.
Anevrina is a genus of phorid flies circumscribed by the Italian naturalist Paolo Lioy in 1864.
Megaselia globipyga is a species of scuttle flies.
Megaselia rufipes, the coffin fly, is a species of scuttle flies.
Megaselia aurea is a species of scuttle flies.
Megaselia nigra is a species of scuttle fly in the family Phoridae. Megaselia species are common pests of mushroom cultivation, attracted by the aroma of developing fungal mycelium. The larvae feed on the developing mycelium of the mushroom, ultimately damaging both the mycelium and gill tissues.
The mushroom phorid fly(Megaselia halterata) is a species of scuttle fly or hump-backed flies in the family Phoridae. "The mushroom phorid" is also used to refer to M. halterata. Megaselia halterata is a common pest of mushroom cultivation, attracted by the aroma of developing fungal mycelium. The larvae damage both the mushroom mycelium and gill tissues. Megaslia halterata can be found worldwide.
Howardula is a genus of nematode that infests the larvae of mushroom-feeding flies, beetles, and other insects. Various Howardula species and strains infest mushroom-feeding Drosophila, including Howardula aoronymphium and Howardula neocosmis. Howardula husseyi can infest the mushroom phorid Megaselia halterata.
The Metopininae is a tribe of flies in the family Phoridae.
Metopina is a genus of flies in the family Phoridae.
Microselia is a genus of flies in the family Phoridae.
Rhyncophoromyia is a genus of flies in the family Phoridae.
Styletta is a genus of flies in the family Phoridae.
Aenigmatias is a genus of flies in the family Phoridae.
Myriophora is a genus of flies in the family Phoridae.
Media related to Megaselia at Wikimedia Commons
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