Black Fungus Gnats (Diptera: Sciaridae) collected at cantharidin

The toxic compound cantharidin is attractive to insects from various
taxa. There was some evidence to suggest that fungus gnats (Diptera:
Sciaridae) may also be attracted by cantharidin. Little is known
about the mechanism of the attraction with regard to sciarids or
about the species involved. In 1992–1999 we caught sciarids on baits
containing cantharidin or structurally related compounds in Germany
and the Mediterranean region. 652 specimens from 13 genera were collected
at cantharidin baits, among them some rare and formerly unknown species.