Interactive key for males of Fannia (Diptera: Muscomorpha: Fanniidae) from southeastern Brazil

Fanniidae (Diptera: Muscomorpha) can be  of  public health importance, because several species are associated with decomposing organic matter and may also act as mechanical vectors of human and animal pathogens. Some species may also have forensic importance, because they are found asociated with decomposing animal carcasses. In addition, These flies have been reported causing urogenital and intestinal myiasis in humans and domestic animals, and some adult species have been found carrying eggs of Dermatobia hominis (Diptera: Oestridae), which is responsible for causing furuncular myiasis in humans and domestic animals. In South America, D. hominis causes an important economic  impact on livestock. The objective of this study was to elaborate an interactive key for males of 22 species of Fannia, including characters that allow the differentiation between this genus and the genus Euryomma (Diptera: Fanniidae). Part of the  material for this study was collected in the field and part was borrowed from the Museum of Zoology, University of São Paulo (MZUSP) and  the National Museum, State of Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ). Photographs of the characters used in the construction of an interactive key, were taken with a Zeiss Axiocam MRc5^TM digital camera attached to a Zeiss Discovery 12^TM stereomicroscope. The photographs were processed and stacked using the Zeiss ZEN^TM software. Thirty characters and 86 character states were used to elaborate the key, with aid of the LUCID™ software. Fannia carvalhoi Couri 2005 and Fannia bahiensis Albuquerque 1954 were recorded for the first time in Southeastern Brazil. The key is already available at http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/fanniidae_brazil/. Interactive keys may represent an important alternative to allow a more accurate identification of these flies, mainly by non-specialists, since there are few dichotomic keys available in the literature and little is known about the taxonomy of this family in the Neotropical Region.