Nephrocerus

Introduction

There are 18 valid, extant species of Nephrocerus (plus one extinct species). These large, attractive, rarely collected flies are very different in appearance from all other pipunculids, and speculation has always revolved around what their potential hosts might be. A recent discovery by Koenig and Young (2005) has finally answered this question. They discovered parasitic larvae in crane fly (Tipulidae) adults and successfully reared Nephrocerus atrapilus from these hosts. Diptera larvae discovered in crane fly adults are likely to be Nephrocerus and should be reared. It is likely that all Nephrocerus species use large species in this family for their hosts.

Characteristics

These are very distinctive yellow and black flies. The hind margin of the eye is deeply excised medially, the wing has no pterostigma, and the flagellum is kidney shaped. In general appearance they resemble syrphids more than other pipunculids. Check for a spurious vein (present in all similar looking syrphids) if in doubt about family placement.

There are only two regional keys available to identify specimens in this genus: Grootaert & De Meyer (1986) treat the western European species and Skevington (2005) covers the New World species. With the recent description of species from different parts of the Palaearctic, a revision of the species in this region is badly needed.

References

Churkin, S. V. 1991. New fly species of the genus Nephrocerus (Diptera, Pipunculidae) from the Soviet Far East. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 70: 151-154.

Grootaert, P. and M. De Meyer. 1984. A Nephrocerus species new to science from Belgium (Diptera, Pipunculidae). Annales de la Societe Royale Zoologique de Belgique 114: 323.

Grootaert, P. and M. De Meyer. 1986. On the taxonomy and ecology of Nephrocerus Zetterstedt (Diptera, Pipunculidae) with a redescription of N. lapponicus and a key to the European species. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Entomologie 56: 85-91.

Johnson, C. W. 1903. Two new species of the family Pipunculidae. Entomological News 14: 107-108.

Johnson, C. W. 1915. A new species of the genus Nephrocerus. The Canadian Entomologist 47: 54-56.

Koenig, D. P. and C. W. Young. 2005. First observation of parasitic relations between big-headed flies of the genus Nephrocerus (Diptera: Pipunculidae) and crane flies of the genus Tipula (Diptera: Tupulidae: Tipulinae), with larval and puparial descriptions of Nephrocerus atrapilus Skevington. in prep.

Kozánek, M. 1981. Rod Nephrocerus Zetterstedt (Diptera, Pipunculidae) v Ceskoslovensku. [Genus Nephrocerus Zetterstedt (Diptera, Pipunculidae) in Czechoslovakia]. Biológia (Bratislava) 36: 395-396.

Kozánek, M. and Y. J. Kwon. 1992. Classification of the family Pipunculidae from Korea (Diptera) Part 3. A new species of the genus Nephrocerus Zetterstedt from North Korea. The Korean Journal of Applied Entomology 31: 7-9.

Kuznetzov, S. Y. 1990. New Palaearctic species of Pipunculidae (Diptera). Dipterological Research 1: 22-50.

Morakote, R. 1988. Four new species of Nephrocerus Zetterstedt (Diptera : Pipunculidae) from Japan. Esakia 26: 79-90.

Skevington, J. H. 2005. Revision of Nearctic Nephrocerus Zetterstedt (Diptera: Pipunculidae). Zootaxa 977: 1-36.

Xu, Y. and C.-K. Yang. 1997. A new species of Pipunculidae (Diptera) from southern Gansu, China. Entomotaxonomia 19: 32-34.

Information on the Internet

• Revision of Nearctic Nephrocerus (click to download pdf)