Overview
The three Australian species of Tanypezidae belong in the genus
Strongylophthalmyia
Heller.
Adults are found mainly in wet forests. Larvae have been found in bark of dead trees in some countries.
Strongylophthalmyia
species (subfamily Strongylophthalmyiinae, formerly included in the family Psilidae and sometimes given family status of its own) live in most regions, with largest representation in the Oriental Region. In Australia they are found in the wet forests of Queensland and New South Wales, but the species are not yet determined.
Description
The main diagnostic features include:
Postocellar bristles divergent; face medially desclerotised; prosternum with broad precoxal bridges; anepisternal bristle present; transverse section of wing vein CuA2 strongly recurved. In the commonest Australian species, the female has a long, bare arista, but the male has the arista reduced and replaced by a long, brush-like outgrowth of the first flagellomere. The prelabrum of the female is much enlarged.