A new family of Muscoid Diptera from Australasia, with sixteen new species in four new genera (Diptera : Axiniidae)

Abstract

The Axiniidae (axeflies) are a small family, apparently related most closely to the Tachinidae, comprising four new genera: Axinia, with 12 species in 2 subgenera distributed in Australia (11 species) and New Guinea (1 species); Barrinea, with 1 species in Australia; and Ismaya and Chirops, with 1 species each in New Guinea. For such a small group, they occupy a remarkable range of habitats, from arid semi-desert to subalpine sclerophyll forest to tropical rainforest, and from the south coast of Tasmania almost to the tip of Cape York Peninsula. Only adults are known, practically all taken at light or in Malaise traps, but female morphology suggests that larvae are parasitic, perhaps in arthropods or molluscs.