Opetia nigra Meigen, 1830

Tkoc, Michal & Rohacek, Jindrich, 2014, Diversity, distribution and biology of Romanian flat-footed flies (Diptera, Opetiidae and Platypezidae) with taxonomic notes on Callomyiasaibhira Chandler, ZooKeys 459, pp. 95-118 : 97

Taxon classification Animalia Diptera Opetiidae

Opetia nigra Meigen, 1830 Figure 1

Published records.

Orlát [Orlat, Sibiu, Transilvania] ( Thalhammer 1899); Mehádia [Mehadia, Caraș-Severin, Banat] ( Szilády 1941).

Material examined.

1 ♂, 1. vi. 2008, Banat, Sfânta Elena, 4km NE, Kulhavá skála, Vranovec cave (Figure 17), 300 m a.s.l., 44°42'12"N, 21°43'52"E, sweeping vegetation along brook, JR leg.

Distribution.

Palaearctic species. Recorded in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Russia (ER).

Biology.

The adults run on broad leaves in wooded biotopes, where they sometimes form swarms. Its larvae are unknown. The adults were reared from very rotten beech wood and leaf litter ( Speight et al. 1990, Chandler 2001) but the exact development substrate of the larvae remains unknown and thus these records need confirmation. The males can sometimes be caught by light trap ( Chandler 2001), while the females can be collected by pitfall traps ( Vaňhara 1986). The adults (mostly males) can be collected by sweeping undergrowth of various forests, sweeping on Atropa belladonna leaves proved to be particularly productive (pers. obs.). The species is bivoltine, adult flight period in central Europe is V–VI and VIII–X.