Curtonotidae

Curtonotidae
Curtonota gibbum (figures 9, 10) in Macquart, 1838 Insectes diptères exotiques nouveaux ou peu connus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Superfamily:	Ephydroidea
Family:	Curtonotidae
Genera
See text

See text

The Curtotonidae or quasimodo flies are a small family of small grey to dark brown humpbacked flies (Diptera) with a worldwide distribution, but with very few species in the Nearctic, Australasian/Oceanian, and Palaearctic regions. Most members of the family are found in tropical to subtropical latitudes in Africa and the Neotropics. Many remain undescribed in collections, since little work on the family has been done since the 1930s.

For terms see Morphology of Diptera

Medium-sized flies.The postvertical bristles on head are well developed and cruciate and there are three orbital bristles on head on each side of frons. Arista with long plumosity. Costa with two interruptions one more distal to the humeral crossvein and one before subcosta. Subcosta developed throughout its length up to costa.The posterior basal wing cell and discoidal wing cell are fused. The costa bears spinules.

The family has at various times been placed in the Drosophilidae, Diastatidae, and Ephydridae. In 1934 Duda proposed the family name Curtonotidae and nowadays family rank is now widely accepted.

Greathead (1958) records the immature stages as scavengers within egg pods of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria . Cuthbertson (1936) reared an Afrotropical species, Cyrtona albomacula Curran, from human faeces in Zimbabwe. Others have been found in the burrows of warthogs and ant bears.

Only one fossil species of Curtonotidae is known, Curtonotum gigas Théobald, from Oligocene deposits in France.

...
Wikipedia