Zaleinae D. McAlpine, 1985

McAlpine, D. K., 2007, The Surge Flies (Diptera: Canacidae: Zaleinae) of Australasia and Notes on Tethinid-Canacid Morphology and Relationships, Records of the Australian Museum 59 (1), pp. 27-64 : 42

Subfamily Zaleinae D. McAlpine, 1985

syn. Zalinae D. McAlpine, 1982

Included genera. Zalea D. McAlpine ; Suffomyia Freidberg.

Autapomorphies: postvertical bristles more or less divergent; prothoracic presternum broadened; fore basitarsus with some bifurcate ventral setulae; anal crossvein (CuA 2 + A 1) obsolete.

Shared apomorphies: claws differentiated into slender basal shaft and broadened distal falx (shared with Dasyrhicnoessa , condition reversed in Suffomyia ismayi ); in compound protandrial sclerite, area of tergite 6 markedly greater than area of sternite 8 (shared with Canacinae ). Possible apomorphy (relative to groundplan of Chloropoidea ): eye with well-developed ommatrichia, c. as numerous as ommatidia (shared with some Tethininae ).

Distribution. Australasia—tropical to cool temperate; Middle East.