Musca Linnaeus, 1758

Nihei, Silvio Shigueo & Carvalho, Claudio José Barros De, 2009, The Muscini flies of the world (Diptera, Muscidae): identification key and generic diagnoses, Zootaxa 1976, pp. 1-24 : 16-17

Musca Linnaeus, 1758

Musca Linnaeus, 1758: 589 . Type species: Musca domestica Linnaeus, 1758 .

Diagnosis. Colouration pale black with dense silver pruinosity; wing without maculae. Female without proclinate fronto-orbital seta; parafrons setulose on its entire length; interfrontal seta absent. Posthumeral usually present; postsutural intra-alars usually 1; intrapostalar present. Prosternum setulose. Proepisternum bare (but setulose in M. domestica ). Katepisternals usually 1+2. Anepimeron with the uppermost setulae strongly developed (bristle-like). Suprasquamal ridge setulose or bare. Wing with the basal portion of stem-vein setulose dorsally or bare; M bent forward towards R4+5. Lower calypter enlarged posteriorly, extending under base of scutellum. Subcostal sclerite bare. Calcar absent. First abdominal sternite bare or setulose only on lateral margins.

Comments. Large in number of species, this genus has proven to be monophyletic (Nihei & de Carvalho 2007a), although the subgeneric classification has not been supported. Musca includes the best known species of Muscidae , although this popularity is mainly due to their damaging ‘skills’, as Musca domestica Linnaeus , Musca autumnalis De Geer and Musca vetustissima Walker ( Pont 1973) . On the other hand, several species also have been reported as anthophilous or pollinators (e.g., Pont 1993, Proctor et al. 1996). This is the only genus of Muscini occurring west of the Andes (record for M. domestica , spread by man).

Distribution (67 species). Afrotropical, Andean, Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic.

References. Afrotropical species: Patton (1936), Emden (1939), Peris (1967), Zielke (1971), Couri et al. (2006); Australasian: Pont (1973); Andean, Nearctic and Neotropical: de Carvalho and Couri (2002); Oriental: Awati (1917), Patton (1937), Emden (1965), Xue and Chao (1998), Shinonaga and Thinh (1999); Palaearctic: Patton (1933), Hennig (1964a, 1964b), Peris and Llorente (1963), Zimin and Elberg (1988), Pont (1991), Xue and Chao (1998), Gregor et al. (2002), Shinonaga (2003).