The present study deals with the northern Solvidae and Stratiomyidae represented in the territories of Denmark and Fennoscandia, viz., Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Soviet part of eastern Fennoscandia. Both families apparently form a monophyletic group, generally called the superfamily Stratiomyioidea, which is characterized by a broad conformity in the larval morphology, presence of a compact prosternal bridge in the adults, absence of the costa on the posterior margin of the wings, and characteristically curved vein Cu1b connected with 1A before the wing-margin (Hennig, 1967).
In the area treated here, the Stratiomyioidea are represented by 19 genera containing 50 species. The male terminalia are used extensively as taxonomic characters for each species and for this reason deserve special attention. Mature larvae and puparia, as far as they were available, are reexamined and their chaetotaxy in particular is studied in great detail. This paper also includes recent changes in nomenclature, the main information on diagnostic characters and variability of adults and immature stages, distribution data and biological notes. Keys have been provided for all adults and known larvae at the generic and specific levels.
The distribution data discussed in the text and summarized in the appended tables are based on the examination and revision of extensive material deposited in the dipterological collections of Copenhagen, Bergen, Oslo, Lund, Stockholm, Göteborg and Helsinki as well as in some private collections. Most of the type specimens of the species described by J.C. Fabricius, C.F. Fallén, J.W. Zetterstedt, R.C. Stæger and R. Frey have been studied.