TheSepsidae are afamily offlies, commonly called theblack scavenger flies orensign flies. Over 300 species are described worldwide.[1] They are usually found around dung or decaying plant and animal material. Many speciesresemble ants, having a "waist" and glossy black body. Many Sepsidae have a curious wing-waving habit made more apparent by dark patches at the wing end.
Many species have a very wide distribution, reflecting thecoprophagous habit of most Sepsidae. Some species have been spread over large territories in association with livestock. Adult flies are found mostly on mammalexcrement, including that of humans (less often on other rotting organic matter), where eggs are laid andlarvae develop, and on nearby vegetation, carrion, fermenting tree sap, and shrubs and herbs.
Many Sepsidae apparently play an important biological role as decomposers of mammal and other animal excrement. Some species may have a limited hygienic importance because of their association with human feces. Others are useful tools inforensic entomology.
For terms, seeMorphology of Diptera. Sepsids are slender flies that resemble minute, winged ants. They are usually black in color, sometimes lustrous, and sometimes with silvery hairs on the thorax. The head is rounded. Sepsids have one or more bristles at the posteroventral margin of the posterior spiracle of the thorax, a character that distinguishes the family from otheracalyptrates. The postvertical bristles are divergent or sometimes absent. Up to three pairs of frontal bristles are seen. They have ocelli with ocellar bristles. Vibrissae and palpi are poorly developed. The front legs of the male often have extrusions, spurs, teeth, or other ornamentation. The tibia has a dorsal preapical bristle in most genera. The abdomen is usually constricted in the basal part.
The larva is slender, tapering at the front end, and smooth except for ventral creeping welts. The larva is amphipneustic: it has two pairs of spiracles, one toward the head and one at the tail. The bulbous posterior end with its pair of spiracles distinguishes it from the larvae of other acalyptrates.
^abcdefOzerov, A.L. (1996). "To the fauna and taxonomy of African Sepsidae (Diptera)".Russian Entomological Journal. 4[1995]:127–144.
^abOzerov, A.L. (2004). "New genera and species of Sepsidae (Diptera)".Russian Entomological Journal.12 (4):399–420.
^abSilva, V. C. (1993). "Revisao da familia Sepsidae na regiao Neotropical. Iii. Os generosPalaeosepsis Duda, 1926,Archisepsis Gen. N. eMicrosepsis Gen. N., Chave para os Generos Neotropicais (Diptera, Schizophora)".Iheringia, Série Zoologia.75:117–170.
^abMalloch, J.R. (1925). "Notes on Australian Diptera. No. vii".Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.50:311–340.
^Ozerov, A.L. (1990). "New data on the fauna and taxonomy of the African Dipterans of the family Sepsidae (Diptera)".Vest. Zool. (in Russian).1990 (2):15–20.
^Ozerov, A.L. (1992). "New genus and three new species of sepsid flies (Diptera, Sepsidae) from Vietnam".Zoologicheskii Zhurnal (in Russian).71:147–150.
^abcRobineau-Desvoidy, André Jean Baptiste (1830)."Essai sur les myodaires".Mémoires presentés à l'Institut des Sciences, Lettres et Arts, par divers savants et lus dans ses assemblées: Sciences, Mathématiques et Physique.2 (2):1–813. Retrieved15 July 2018.
^Frey, R. (1925). "Zur Systematik der Diptera Haplostomata. II. Fam. Sepsidae".Notulae Ent.5:69–76.
^Meigen, J.W. (1830).Systematische Beschreibung der bekannten europäische n zweiflugeligen Insekten. Hamm: Sechster Theil. Schulz. pp. xi + 401 +[3] pp.
^abOzerov, A.L. (1992). "New data on the neotropical sepsids (Diptera Sepsidae)".Russian Entomological Journal.1 (1):81–86.
Duda, O. 1926 Monographie der Sepsiden (Dipt.).Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 39 (1925): 1-153 and 40 (1926) : 1-110.This work is partly out of date but still the only review of worldgenera.
Willi Hennig, 1949: 39a.Sepsidae. InErwin Lindner :Die Fliegen der Paläarktischen Region, Bd. V: 1-91, Textfig. 1-81a-d, Taf. I-X, Stuttgart. The only comprehensive work onPalaearcticgenera andspecies.
A.L. OzerovSepsid Flies (Diptera, Sepsidae) of Russia's Fauna. Studies on the fauna; Archives of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University: Zool. Mus. Moscow. Univ. Publ.Language: Russian, title, contents and a summary in English. 184 pages.A very well illustrated guide to all 57 species from 11 genera of Sepsidae flies occurring in Russia, with keys to adults and pre-imaginal stages, and accounts concerning anatomy, phylogeny and distribution.
Silva, V. C. . Revision of the family Sepsidae of the Neotropical region. ii. The genusMeropliosepsis Duda, 1926 (Diptera, Schizophora). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, v. 36, n. 3, p. 549-552, 1992.
K. G. V. Smith, 1989 An introduction to the immature stages of British Flies. Diptera Larvae, with notes on eggs, puparia and pupae.Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects Vol 10 Part 14.pdf download manual (two parts Main text and figures index)
Lives in [Rocky Mountains] of Colorado, in the United States.
