#2143 - Apotropina sp. - Frit Fy
A fair-sized genus of Chloropids found worldwide. The genus is not well studied - most species are known from single specimens. One paper says there's at least 80 valid species worldwide, and 22 in Australia.
Many Frit Fly larvae feed on grasses, edges, or bulrushes, and some are cereal pests, but others are found in rotting wood, dead plants, fungi, or preying on spider eggs, mantis ootheca, the nests of locusts, or root grubs. Two genera, Liohippelates in the Americas and Siphunculina in parts of Asia, are particularly annoying for the way the adults swarm eyes and nostrils, not least because they're known vehicles for some very serious infections. In Australia one genus, Batrachomyia, is an endoparasite of frogs.
Tumbarumba, NSW