| Perissommatidae Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Perissomma mcalpinei | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Suborder: | Nematocera |
| Infraorder: | Perissommatomorpha |
| Family: | Perissommatidae Colless, 1962[1] |
| Genera | |
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The Perissommatidae are a family of flies (Diptera) that was proposed in 1962 by Donald Colless based on the species Perissomma fusca from Australia. The family now includes five extant species within the single genus Perissomma, four from Australia and one from Chile. The Perissommatidae are unusual as they appear to have four compound eyes. They have a small slender body less than 2 mm in length. Their wings are large in comparison to their bodies and subsequently their flight is weak. Preferring high-altitude forest environments, adults only fly in the winter. The larvae live in decaying leaf litter in wet sclerophyll or cool rain forests. Some species are suspected to be associated with fungi. In the case of Perissomma macalpinei, numbers of adults have been observed congregating in clumps of foliage and rising in short, zigzag flights in the sunlight above the foliage for short periods before descending.[3][4]
Fossils of the family are known from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of Eastern and Northern Asia.[5]
- ^ Colless, DH (1962). "A new Australian genus and family of Diptera (Nematocera: Perissommatidae)". Australian Journal of Zoology. 10 (3): 519. doi:10.1071/ZO9620519.
- ^ Lukashevich, Elena D.; Huang, Di-Ying; Lin, Qi-Bin (2006). "Rare families of lower Diptera (Hennigmatidae, Blephariceridae, Perissommatidae) from the Jurassic of China" (PDF). Studia dipterologica. 13: 127–143.
- ^ McAlpine, David K. (1987). "Note on aerial swarming of 'Perissomma' (Diptera: Perissommatidae)". Australian Entomologist. 14 (1–2): 29–30.
- ^ Colless, DH (1969). "The genus Perissomma (Diptera : Perissommatidae) with new species from Australia and Chile". Australian Journal of Zoology. 17 (4): 719. doi:10.1071/ZO9690719.
- ^ Lukashevich, Elena D.; Blagoderov, Vladimir A. (2020). ". Review of Mesozoic Perissommatidae (Insecta: Diptera)". Zootaxa. 4718 (4): 481–496. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4718.4.3. PMID 32230004.