Diagnosis. Small to large (3.0-20.0 mm), slender to stout flies, either with a brownish body or mimicking wasps with a black and yellow pattern. Head with long, chitinised rostrum, which is bend once or twice, only Leopoldius with short, soft rostrum. Wing membrane hyaline in most species but with dark markings in some; venation resembling that of Syrphidae very much but venia spuria absent. Legs strong. Female abdomen with fifth sternite developed into theca, a pointed or flattened structure with rows of small setae used to fix the abdomen of the host during oviposition. Larvae are oval-shaped. The third stage extends the head into a long 'snout'.
Biology. Conopidae are parasitoids of bees and bumble bees (Apioidea). Eggs are deposited in the abdomen of the host in flight. Female Conopidae hold the body of the host with the theca and puncture the membrane between the tergites to deposit a single egg. The larvae pupates when the host dies. The pupa hibernates. Adults are flower visitors.
General references. De Bree et al. (2014b [Leopoldius]), Chvála (1961 [Conopinae], 1965 [Myopinae, Dalmaniinae]), Chvála & Smith (1988 [catalogue]), Kröber (1925 [general, keys], 1930 [keys]), Mei & Stuke (2008 [Zodion]), J.T. Smit (2013b [key]), Smith & Peterson (1987 [general, key to genera]), Stuke & Clements (2008 [Myopa]), Van Veen (1984 [keys]).
References to the local fauna. Van Aartsen (1997), De Bree (2012), De Bree & J.T. Smit (2012), De Bree et al. (2014b), Cock (1954a), Geurts (1953), Van der Goot (1982a), Meuffels (1967), Petit (1985), J.T. Smit (2013b), Stuke & Van Eck (2009), Stuke & Clements (2008), Stuke et al. (2010), Theowald (1952c, 1952d, 1953), Van Veen (1984).
Remarks. Original data by Van Veen, corrections and updates (publication years marked in red) by Beuk.
How to quote this page: Veen, M.P. van, & P.L.Th. Beuk, 2016. Family Conopidae. In: Beuk, P.L.Th. (Ed.): Checklist of the Diptera of the Netherlands, https://diptera-info.nl/news.php?fam=Conopidae (date accessed: 09/05/2025).
N; added as sundewalli by Theowald (1953: 67) and Geurts (1953: 98)
Note 5
= sundewalli (Zetterstedt, 1844)
jakutica Zimina, 1974
N; first (?) recorded by J.T. Smit (2013b)
Zodion Latreille, 1796
cinereum (Fabricius, 1794)
= notatum (Meigen, 1804)
N
Note 8
kroeberi Szilady, 1926
N; added by De Bree & J.T. Smit (2012: 55)
Deleted species
Conops Linnaeus, 1758
vitellinus Loew, 1847
Note 9
Notes
Note 1
Earlier recorded material under this name by Theowald (1952c: 58) turned out to belong to .
Note 2
Again added as brevirostris by Theowald (1952d: 131).
Note 3
Misidentification pointed out by Stuke & Clements (2008).
Note 4
Synonymy pointed out by Stuke & Clements (2005: 7).
Note 5
Again added by Cock (1954a: 32).
Note 6
Synonymy pointed out by Stuke (2006: 271)
Note 7
Again added as distincta by Petit (1985: 20). Synonymy of melanopa with distincta established by Stuke (2016).
Note 8
Synonymy pointed out by Mei & Stuke (2008).
Note 9
This species was recorded from the Netherlands by Chvála & Smith (1988: 251) but no Dutch material of this Mediterranean species is known to the author.
The latest revisions at different levels
The family introduction was last edited on 12-12-2014 11:52
Leopoldius calceatus was the last (sub)species to be edited on 15-12-2016 19:27
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