Taxa overview
The Apioceridae comprises the single genus Apiocera Westwood, 1835 with 4 subgenera and 138 species from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, & the USA.
The Mydidae comprises 66 genera in 11 subfamily taxa and 473 species world-wide, which are primarily found in desert or semi-desert environments although quite a few species do also occur in rain-forests.
The Afrotropical Region is with 205 species the most speciose region and particularly rich is southern Africa (183 species occur in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, & Zimbabwe). Australia has 43 species while the Nearctic Region harbours 92 species. The Neotropical Region, which shares a few species with North America, is inhabited by 81 Mydidae species. The Palaearctic Region hosts 51 species (a few being shared with the Afrotropical Region) and very few, namely only 13 species, are known from the Oriental Region. Two species are currently assigned as incertae sedis including the oldest fossil Cretomydas santanensis Willkommen & Grimaldi, 2007 described from the Santana Formation of north-eastern Brazil.
| Taxon | Genera | Species | Subspecies | Afr | Aus | Nea | Neo | Ori | Pal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apioceridae: Apiocera (Anypenus) | – | 4 | – | – | – | – | X | – | – |
| Apioceridae: Apiocera (Apiocera) | – | 67 | 1 | – | X | – | – | – | – |
| Apioceridae: Apiocera (Pyrocera) | – | 64 | 5 | – | – | X | X | – | – |
| Apioceridae: Apiocera (Ripidosyrma) | – | 3 | – | X | – | – | – | – | – |
| sum of Apioceridae taxa | 1 | 138 | 6 | 3 | 67 | 62* | 7* | – | – |
| ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– | ––– | ––– | ––– | ––– | ––– | ––– | ––– | ––– | ––– |
| Mydidae: Anomalomydinae | 1 | 2 | – | – | X | – | – | – | – |
| Mydidae: Apiophorinae | 5 | 29 | – | – | X | – | X | – | – |
| Mydidae: Cacatuopyginae | 2 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | X | – |
| Mydidae: Diochlistinae | 2 | 20 | – | – | X | – | X | – | – |
| Mydidae: Ectyphinae | 4 | 10 | – | X | – | X | – | – | – |
| Mydidae: Leptomydinae | 6 | 54 | – | X | – | X | X | X | X |
| Mydidae: Megascelinae | 3 | 14 | – | X | X | – | X | – | – |
| Mydidae: Mydinae | 12 | 84 | – | – | – | X | X | – | – |
| Mydidae: Rhaphiomidinae | 1 | 23 | 5 | – | – | X | – | – | – |
| Mydidae: Rhopaliinae | 4 | 22 | – | X | – | – | X | – | X |
| Mydidae: Syllegomydinae | 25 | 207 | 1 | X | – | – | – | – | X |
| Mydidae: unplaced species | 1 | 2 | – | – | X | &‐ | X | – | – |
| sum of Mydidae taxa | 66 | 473 | 6 | 205* | 43 | 92* | 81* | 13 | 51* |
Afr = Afrotropical; Aus = Australasian/Oceanian; Nea = Nearctic; Neo = Neotropical; Ori = Oriental; Pal = Palaearctic zoogeographical Region.
* = some species are distributed in 2 different zoogeographical regions.
