Canacinae Jones, 1906

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 : 43

Subfamily Canacinae Jones, 1906

Included genera: these were catalogued by Mathis (1992) under subfamilies Canacinae and Nocticanacinae (i.e. Canacidae s.str.). Australian genera were keyed by Mathis (1996).

Autapomorphies: postvertical bristle absent; face prominent, extensively visible in profile; prementum of proboscis very broad, deeply cleft distomedially; cercus of female basally thickened and fused with epiproct, distally with one or two thickened bristles.

Shared apomorphies: fronto-orbital bristles strongly curved outwards (shared with Tethininae ); subcranial cavity and anteclypeus enlarged (shared with Apetaeninae ); abdominal tergites one and two with intervening membranous strip in mid-dorsal region weakly developed or absent (consistently absent in Apetaeninae ); compound dorsal sclerite of protandrium with tergite 6 markedly larger in area than sternite 8 (shared with Zaleinae ).

Distribution: mainly tropical and warm temperate coasts of world; few cool temperate records, e.g., British Isles; few species found inland.