Acrocerinae Explained

Acrocerinae is a subfamily of small-headed flies in the family Acroceridae. Their larvae are endoparasites of araneomorph spiders, with the exception of Carvalhoa appendiculata which can develop as ectoparasitoids on their host spiders.^[1] Traditionally, the subfamily included the genera now placed in Cyrtinae and Ogcodinae, but the subfamily in this sense was found to be polyphyletic and was split up in 2019.^{[1] [2]}

Systematics

The subfamily includes two extant genera and one extinct:^[1]

• Acrocera Meigen, 1803
• Carvalhoa Koçak & Kemal, 2013^[3]
• †Schlingeromyia Grimaldi & Hauser in Grimaldi, Arillo, Cumming & Hauser, 2011^[4]

The extinct fly genus †Burmacyrtus Grimaldi & Hauser in Grimaldi, Arillo, Cumming & Hauser, 2011^[4] was originally placed in this subfamily as well, but according to Gillung & Winterton (2017) it is not considered an acrocerid.^[5]

Further reading

• Schlinger . Evert I. . Gillung . Jessica P. . Borkent . Christopher J. . 2013 . New spider flies from the Neotropical Region (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a key to New World genera . ZooKeys . 270 . 59–93 . 10.3897/zookeys.270.4476 . 23730188 . 3668421. free . 2013ZooK..270...59S .
• Shaun L.. Winterton. Jéssica P.. Gillung. 2012. A new species of spider fly in the genus Sabroskya Schlinger from Malawi, with a key to Acrocerinae world genera (Diptera, Acroceridae). ZooKeys. 171. 1–15. 10.3897/zookeys.171.2137. 3288680. 22423193. free. 2012ZooK..171....1W .

Notes and References

1. Gillung. Jessica P.. Winterton. Shawn L.. 2019. Evolution of fossil and living spider flies based on morphological and molecular data (Diptera, Acroceridae). Systematic Entomology. 44. 4. 820–841. 10.1111/syen.12358. free. 2019SysEn..44..820G .
2. Book: Stubbs . A. . Drake . M. . British Soldierflies and their Allies . 2014 . British Entomological and Natural History Society . Wokingham . 9781899935079 . 528 . 2.
3. Koçak. A. Ö.. Kemal. M.. 2013. A nomenclatural note in the family Acroceridae (Diptera). Centre for Entomological Studies Ankara Miscellaneous Papers. 159. 3–4.
4. Grimaldi. DA. Arillo. A. Cumming. JM. Hauser. M. Brachyceran Diptera (Insecta) in Cretaceous ambers, Part IV, Significant New Orthorrhaphous Taxa. ZooKeys. 2011. 148. 293–332. 10.3897/zookeys.148.1809. 22287902. 3264415. free. 2011ZooK..148..293G .
5. Jessica P.. Gillung. Shaun L.. Winterton. 2017. A review of fossil spider flies (Diptera: Acroceridae) with descriptions of new genera and species from Baltic Amber. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 16. 4. 325–350. 10.1080/14772019.2017.1289566. 90493326.