Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Psychodidae larvae

Posted by Gunnar M Kvifte on 07-09-2013 15:08
#7

Vaillant (1971-1983) is probably the best thing you can identify genera with, except that he messes up the nomenclature. His Telmatoscopus is really Clogmia, his Panimerus (Krekiella) is Telmatoscopus, his Satchelliella is really Pneumia and his Duckhousiella is Paramormia...
I personally don't work much with larvae, but my impression is that Psychodid larvae are better known than most Diptera families, and that they are more variable in their taxonomic characters than for instance Chironomids. They can still be difficult, of course, but it is nowhere near the chaos in Mycetophilids, Ceratopogonids or even most Brachycera... Some species are even easier to identify as larvae than as adults!
Pupae are, on the other hand, very difficult; there are no keys at all, only a paper by Satchell on the respiratory horns of Psychoda.