Tethininae

Key takeaways

Tethininae belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tethininae to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tethininae from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tethininae, formally the family Tethinidae is a paraphyletic group of tiny drab-coloured or grey Acalyptratae flies. There are over 115 species in 7 genera known from all zoogeographic regions. They are inconspicuous flies which are still poorly known in some remote, huge, tropical areas (e.g. South America).

Natural history Tethininae are found in maritime, often littoral habitats. The adults are sometimes abundant in rotting seaweed. A few species occur inland, in association with alkaline habitats in arid zones. Except for the subantarctic genera Apetaenus and Listriomastax, little is known about the immature stages of the family, although presumably most are associated with rotting seaweed. Workers in dipterology which are unfamiliar with tethinids often associate these flies with the presence of seashores, particularly sandy beaches and coastal lagoons. This is true for most strictly thalassophilous species, which occur on dunes, sandy soil and wrack heaps stranded on the beach. However, many entomologists often ignore or simply overlook the fact that populations of certain species also inhabit biotopes situated far off from sea littorals, sometimes several hundreds of kilometres inland, and are almost always closely dependent on the proximity of continental saline environments. It is well known that most species, if not all, belonging to the subfamily Pelomyiinae are not thalassophilous flies, but are almost exclusively found inland, associated with meadows, mountain passes, forests, areas and waters polluted by rotting waste, industrial emissions or debris of slaughterhouses and poultry farms (sites of salt accumulation and enrichment), as well as desert oases. However, this is not infrequent in various species of the genus Tethina, too.

Genera Afrotethina Munari, 1986 Dasyrhicnoessa Hendel, 1934 Plesiotethina Munari, 2000 Pseudorhicnoessa Malloch, 1914 Sigaloethina Munari, 2004 Tethina Haliday in Curtis, 1937 Thitena Munari, 2004

Subfamily Description See [1]

References

Identification (Literature) Czerny, L. 1928: 55. Tethinidae. In Lindner, E. Die Fliegen der Paläarktischen Region, Bd. VI/1: 1-8, Textfig. 1-7, Stuttgart. Collin, J.E., 1966. A revision of the Palaearctic species of Tethina and Rhicnoessa. Bolletino del Museo civico di Storia naturale di Venezia 16 (1963): 19-32. Foster, G.A. & Mathis, W.N., 2003. A revision of the genera Pelomyia Williston and Masoniella Vockeroth (Diptera: Tethinidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 619:63 pp. Foster, G. A. & Mathis, W. N., 1998. A revision of the family Tethinidae (Diptera) from the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Bermuda. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 100(4): 601-632. Foster, G. A., and Mathis, W. N., 2000. Notes on Neotropical species of Tethina Haliday (Diptera: Tethinidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 102(3): 542-548. Foster, G. A. & Mathis, W. N., 2008. A Review of the Genus Tethina Haliday from Western North America. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 110(2): 300-330. Hendel, F. 1916. Beitrage zur Systematik der Acalyptraten Musciden (Dipt.). Ent. Mitt. 5: 294-299. Mathis, W.N. and Munari, L., 1996. World Catalog of the Family Tethinidae (Diptera). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 584: IV + 27 pp. Mathis, W. N. & Foster, G. A., 2007. Canacidae (Diptera) From the Delmarva States. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 120(4): 387-428. McAlpine, D.K., 2007. The Surge Flies (Diptera: Canacidae: Zaleinae) of Australasia and notes on Tethinid-Canacid morphology and relationships. "Records of the Australian Museum" 59: 27-64" Melander, A.L., 1952. The North American species of Tethinidae (Diptera). J. N.Y. Entomol. Soc. 59: 187-212. Munari, L. & Mathis, W.N., 2010. World Catalog of the Family Canacidae (including Tethinidae) (Diptera), with keys to the supraspecific taxa. "Zootaxa" 2471: 1-84. ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition), ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition). Przemysław Trojan, 1962 Odiniidae, Clusiidae, Anthomyzidae, Opomyzidae, Tethinidae in (series) Klucze do oznaczania owadów Polski, 28,54/58; Muchowki = Diptera, 54/58 Publisher Warszawa : Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (in Polish)

Species Lists West Palaearctic including Russia Note: The species described for the western Palaeartic Region (in particular for Europe and the Mediterranean river basin) need taxonomic review. Nearctic Archived 2006-11-16 at the Wayback Machine Australasian/Oceanian. Japan UK

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tethininae

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tethininae claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tethininae before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tethininae ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tethininae

In research: Tethininae appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tethininae in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tethininae is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Brachycera subfamilies, Canacidae, Taxa named by Friedrich Georg Hendel, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tethininae outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Tethininae in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tethininae means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tethininae out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tethininae in simple terms?

Tethininae, formally the family Tethinidae is a paraphyletic group of tiny drab-coloured or grey Acalyptratae flies. There are over 115 species in 7 genera known from all zoogeographic regions.

Why does Tethininae matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tethininae?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tethininae.