Body size distributions of Eastern European Diptera

Weight distributions of Eastern European Diptera (estimated from 7966 species body length data compiled from Stackelberg and Nartshuk 1969, 1970) differ from respective distributions of Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. Nematoceran size distributions were predominantly right skewed while the Brachycera tended to have symmetric and left skewed distributions. Skeweness of size distributions was for Nematocera positively and for Brachycera negatively correlated with genus mean body weight. Genera of smaller mean body weight were significantly species richer than larger sized genera. Our findings are consistent with an evolutionary model that assumes body size dependent speciation and extinction rates.