Asiloidea

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Asiloidea
Pegesimallus sp robberfly.jpg
Robber fly (Asilidae) with beetle prey
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Infraorder: Asilomorpha
Superfamily: Asiloidea
Families

10

The Asiloidea comprise a very large superfamily insects in the order Diptera, the true flies. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring worldwide. It includes the family Bombyliidae, the bee flies, which are parasitoids, and the Asilidae, the robber flies, which are predators of other insects.

Contents

Description

Adult Asiloidea are large and showy flies in terms of general appearance. [1] They can be recognised by the following features: antenna with no more than 4 flagellomeres, leg empodium usually setiform or absent; wing with cell cup elongate and vein CuA2 ending freely on the wing margin or meeting with vein A1 at or near the wing margin. In families Mydidae, Apioceridae, and Asilidae, the head is at least slightly concave between the eyes and the ocelli, and both sexes are dichoptic (with a clear separation between the eyes). In Therevidae, Apsilocephalidae, and Scenopinidae, the males are usually holoptic (eyes meet at top of head). [2]

Known larvae of this superfamily have posterior spiracles arising dorsally from the penultimate abdominal segment, making this feature a synapomorphy. However, larvae of most asiloids are unknown and this feature appears in other superfamilies as well. [1] [3] Another feature possessed by most asiloids (except Bombyliidae and Hilarimorphidae) is the larval cranium being modified into a hinged metacephalic rod. [3]

Ecology

Adults usually visit flowers to feed, while larvae usually live in a substrate and are predatory. There are exceptions to this rule, such as Bombyliidae (larvae are parasitoids of other insects) and Asilidae (adults are predatory). The greatest diversity of asiloids is in arid, sandy habitats. [1]

Distribution

The superfamily as a whole as a cosmopolitan distribution, as do some of its constituent families, such as Scenopinidae and Therevidae. Other families have more restricted distributions. For example, the only species of Evocoidae occurs in Chile. [4]

Phylogeny

The ancestral lifestyle for asiloid larvae is believed to be parasitoidism, with this being replaced by predation in all families except Bombyliidae. [3]

It is not entirely clear that this superfamily is monophyletic. It is closely related to the Empidoidea and the Cyclorrhapha. [1]

Within the superfamily, the "therevoid clade" (Apsilocephalidae, Evocoidae, Scenopinidae and Therevidae) forms a monophyletic group, with Evocoidae being the sister group to Apsilocephalidae and Therevidae sister to Scenopinidae. This clade diverged from other Asiloidea at the end of the Jurassic period (c. 150 million years ago), and its two pairs of families diverged from each other at the beginning of the Cretaceous (144 million years ago). [4]

A robber fly illustrating typical Asiloidea head features Robber fly head.jpg
A robber fly illustrating typical Asiloidea head features

Families

The Protapioceridae, a family of extinct flies that were native to China, are also classified in the Asiloidea. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombyliidae</span> Family of flies

The Bombyliidae are a family of flies, commonly known as bee flies. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, some being important pollinators. Larvae are mostly parasitoids of other insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asilidae</span> Family of flies

The Asilidae are the robber fly family, also called assassin flies. They are powerfully built, bristly flies with a short, stout proboscis enclosing the sharp, sucking hypopharynx. The name "robber flies" reflects their expert predatory habits; they feed mainly or exclusively on other insects and, as a rule, they wait in ambush and catch their prey in flight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Therevidae</span> Family of flies

The Therevidae are a family of flies of the superfamily Asiloidea commonly known as stiletto flies. The family contains about 1,600 described species worldwide, most diverse in arid and semiarid regions with sandy soils. The larvae are predators of insect larvae in soil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scenopinidae</span> Family of flies

The Scenopinidae or window flies are a small family of flies (Diptera), distributed worldwide. In buildings, they are often taken at windows, hence the common name window flies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apsilocephalidae</span> Family of flies

Apsilocephalidae is a family of flies in the superfamily Asiloidea. It was historically treated as a subfamily within Therevidae, but placed in a separate family in 1991, and subsequently recognized as more distantly related. The family contains three extant genera and at least five extinct genera described from the fossil record.

Apystomyia is a genus of flies in the family Apystomyiidae. The genus contains the single living Apystomyiidae species, Apystomyia elinguis, which is primarily found in California. Details of its life history are largely unknown. The extinct genus Hilarimorphites is known from the Cretaceous Burmese and New Jersey ambers. Formerly placed in the Asiloidea, molecular phylogenetic studies in 2010 placed the genus unambiguously as a sister of the Cyclorrhapha within the clade Eremoneura.

Diptera is an order of winged insects commonly known as flies. Diptera, which are one of the most successful groups of organisms on Earth, are very diverse biologically. None are truly marine but they occupy virtually every terrestrial niche. Many have co-evolved in association with plants and animals. The Diptera are a very significant group in the decomposition and degeneration of plant and animal matter, are instrumental in the breakdown and release of nutrients back into the soil, and whose larvae supplement the diet of higher agrarian organisms. They are also an important component in food chains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apystomyiidae</span> Family of flies

Apystomyiidae is a small family of flies containing the living genus Apystomyia and the extinct genera Apystomimus and Hilarimorphites. The single living Apystomyiidae species, Apystomyia elinguis, is native to California. Species of Hilarimorphites have been described from Mid to late Cretaceous Burmese and New Jersey ambers, while the single Apystomimus species is from the Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan.

Cerotainiops abdominalis is a species of robber flies in the family Asilidae.

Laphria huron is a species of robber flies in the family Asilidae.

<i>Laphria grossa</i> Species of fly

Laphria grossa is a species of robber flies in the family Asilidae.

<i>Cyrtopogon</i> (fly) Genus of flies

Cyrtopogon is a genus of robber flies in the family Asilidae. There are at least 120 described species in Cyrtopogon.

<i>Mallophora fautrix</i> Species of fly

Mallophora fautrix is a species of robber flies in the family Asilidae.

Craspedia is a genus of robber flies in the family Asilidae.

Erythropogon is a genus of robber flies in the family Asilidae. There is at least one described species in Erythropogon, E. ichneumoniformis.

Hodites is a genus of robber flies in the family Asilidae. There is at least one described species in Hodites, H. punctissima.

Lophonotus is a genus of robber flies in the family Asilidae.

Odus is a genus of robber flies in the family Asilidae. There is at least one described species in Odus, O. fragilis.

Eremoneura is a clade of flies within the Brachycera that includes the Empidoidea and the Cyclorrhapha and is a sister of the Asilomorpha. They are thought to have evolved around the Mesozoic. The group includes fossils described in the genus Chimeromyia from 125 million year old amber which show both empidoid and cyclorrhaphan characters. The monotypic family Apystomyiidae has also been placed within the Eremoneura as a sister of the Cyclorrhapha.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Trautwein, Michelle D.; Wiegmann, Brian M.; Yeates, David K. (2010). "A multigene phylogeny of the fly superfamily Asiloidea (Insecta): Taxon sampling and additional genes reveal the sister-group to all higher flies (Cyclorrhapha)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 56 (3): 918–930. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.04.017. PMID   20399874.
  2. ↑ "Superfamily Asiloidea". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
  3. 1 2 3 Yeates, D. K. (January 1994). "The cladistics and classification of the Bombyliidae (Diptera: Asiloidea)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 219: 1–191.
  4. 1 2 Winterton, Shaun L.; Ware, Jessica L. (2015). "Phylogeny, divergence times and biogeography of window flies (Scenopinidae) and the therevoid clade (Diptera: Asiloidea): Therevoid clade phylogeny". Systematic Entomology. 40 (3): 491–519. doi:10.1111/syen.12117. S2CID   82063488.
  5. ↑ Zhang, K.; et al. (2007). "Notes on the extinct family Protapioceridae, with description of a new species from China (Insecta: Diptera: Asiloidea)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1530: 27–32. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1530.1.3.

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