Sepsidae
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Sepsidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Hexapoda Class: Insecta Subclass: Pterygota Infraclass: Neoptera Superorder: Endopterygota Order: Diptera Suborder: Brachycera Subsection: Acalyptratae Superfamily: Sciomyzoidea Family: Sepsidae
Genera
according to ITIS: Orygma Saltella Decachaetophora Enicita Enicomira Meroplius Nemopoda Sepsidimorpha Sepsis Themira

Sepsidae are a family of flies, commonly called the black scavenger flies or ensign flies. There are approximately 250 species worldwide. They are usually found around dung or decaying plant and animal material.They resemble ants having a "waist" and glossy black body [1]. Many Sepsidae have a curious wing-waving habit made more apparent by dark patches at the wing end.

Sepsis fulgens Meigen, 1826

Many species have a very wide distribution, reflecting the coprophagous habit of most Sepsidae. Some species have been spread over large territories in association with livestock. Adult flies are found mostly on animal and human excrement (less often on other rotting organic matter), where eggs are laid and larvae develop, and on nearby vegetation, carrion, fermenting tree sap, and shrubs and herbs.

Many Sepsidae apparently play an important biological role as decomposers of animal excrement. Some species may have a limited hygienic importance because of their association with human feces. Others are useful tools in forensic entomology.

Classification

This list may be incomplete.

• Subfamily Orygmatinae
  • Genus Orygma Meigen 1803
• Subfamily Sepsinae
  • Tribe Saltellini
    • Genus Saltella Robineau-Desvoidy 1830
  • Tribe Sepsini
    • Genus Archisepsis Silva 1993
    • Genus Decachaetophora
    • Genus Enicita
    • Genus Enicomira
    • Genus Meroplius Rondani 1874
    • Genus Nemopoda Robineau-Desvoidy 1830
    • Genus Ortalischema Frey 1925
    • Genus Sepsidimorpha
    • Genus Sepsis Fallén 1810
    • Genus Themira Robineau-Desvoidy 1830
    • Genus Zuskamira Pont 1987

Identification

• Duda, O. 1926 Monographie der Sepsiden (Dipt.). Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 39 (1925): 1-153 and 40 (1926) : 1-110.

This work is partly out of date but still the only review of world genera.

• Willi Hennig, 1949: 39a. Sepsidae. In Erwin Lindner : Die Fliegen der Palaearktischen Region, Bd. V: 1-91, Textfig. 1-81a-d, Taf. I-X, Stuttgart.The only comprehensive work on Palaearctic genera and species.
• Adrian C. Pont and Rudolf Meier The Sepsidae (Diptera) of Europe. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica Volume 37.

198 pages. ISBN 90-04-12477-2

• A.L. Ozerov Sepsid Flies (Diptera, Sepsidae) of Russia's Fauna. Studies on the fauna; Archives of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University: Zool. Mus. Moscow. Univ. Publ.Language: Russian, title, contents and a summary in English. 184 pages.

A very well illustrated guide to all 57 species from 11 genera of Sepsidae flies occurring in Russia, with keys to adults and pre-imaginal stages, and accounts concerning anatomy, phylogeny and distribution.

• Silva, V. C. . Revisao da familia Sepsidae na regiao Neotropical. Iii. Os generos Palaeosepsis Duda, 1926, Archisepsis Gen. N. e Microsepsis Gen. N., Chave para os Generos Neotropicais (Diptera, Schizophora).. Iheringia. Série Zoologia, v. 75, p. 117-170, 1993.

• Silva, V. C. . Revision of yhe family Sepsidae of the Neotropical region. ii. The genus Meropliosepsis Duda, 1926 (Diptera, Schizophora). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, v. 36, n. 3, p. 549-552, 1992.

World Catalogue

Ozerov, A.L. World catalogue of the family Sepsidae (Insecta: Diptera), Zoologicheskie issledovania (Zoological Studies), No. 8 (ISSN 1025-532X)

Species lists

• West Palaearctic including Russia
• Nearctic
• Australasian/Oceanian
• Japan

External links

• Black Scavenger Fly - diagnostic photographs
• Family description and images
• European (including Russia and Turkey) List
• Images of Sepsidae on Diptera.info