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Family Thaumaleidae 



Thaumalea species. 



Small, bare, obscurely reddish yellow or brownish flies of peculiar 

 appearance. 



Head small, round; eyes holoptic in both sexes; ocelli absent; 

 proboscis short; palpi longer than the antenna?, composed of five seg- 

 ments, the first short, the second thickest; antenna^ situated near the 

 oral margin, comi)Osed of a scape, i)edicel and flagellum, the latter very 

 comi)act and arista-like, but composed of ten distinct segments, the l)asal 

 two rather large and globose. Thorax robust, strongly convex, without 

 transverse suture, somewhat depressed before the rather large, ol)tusely 

 triangular scutellum; metanotum arched. Abdomen narrower than the 

 thorax, cylindrical, composed of seven segments; male genitalia large, 

 the basal piece swollen, bladder-like; ovipositor with broad, rounded 

 lamcllas. Legs simple, comparatively short; coxt^ short; tibiae without 

 spurs; tarsi of moderate length, the anterior pair about as long as the 

 tibicT, the penultimate segment short; empodia vestigial; claws small. 

 Wings longer than the abdomen; auxiliary vein short, terminating in 

 the costa; second longitudinal vein curved; the third and fourth veins 

 simple; basal cell short; anal angle rounded. 



There are about three dozen described species belonging to this 

 family, most of them occurring in the Old World. The adults are found 

 along the edges of streams, particularly those with mossy banks, and are 

 not common in collections. They are small flies, under 6 mm. in length, 

 and the wings bend sharply near the base in death, folding downward 

 as in the Psychodidffi. 



The larvffi, which resemble those of the Chironomidae, are found in 

 small brooks and streams where the clear water flows very thinly over 

 the rocks, so that the back of the larva is always exposed above the 

 surface. They feed on detritus and diatomes. and move about in search 



