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.
The Cupedidae are a small family of beetles, notable for the square pattern of "windows" on their elytra, which give the family their common name of reticulated beetles.
The Nematocera are a suborder of elongated flies with thin, segmented antennae and mostly aquatic larvae. This group is paraphyletic and contains all flies but species from suborder Brachycera, which includes more commonly known species such as the housefly or the common fruit fly. The equivalent clade to Nematocera is the whole Diptera, with Brachycera as a subclade. Families in Nematocera include mosquitoes, crane flies, gnats, black flies, and multiple families commonly known as midges. The Nematocera typically have fairly long, fine, finely-jointed antennae. In many species, such as most mosquitoes, the female antennae are more or less threadlike, but the males have spectacularly plumose antennae.
Tanyderidae, sometimes called primitive crane flies, are long, thin, delicate flies with spotted wings, superficially similar in appearance to some Tipulidae, Trichoceridae, and Ptychopteridae. Most species are restricted in distribution. They are found in many parts of the world, including North America, South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and various islands in the Pacific Ocean. Adults are usually found hanging from vegetation near streams. Larvae are found either in sandy stream margins or in wet, rotten wood. Fossil species are known.
Carl Robert Osten-Sacken or Carl-Robert Romanovich, Baron von der Osten-Sacken, Baron Osten Sacken was a Russian diplomat and entomologist. He served as the Russian consul general in New York City during the American Civil War, living in the United States from 1856 to 1877. He worked on the taxonomy of flies in general and particularly of the family Tipulidae.
The Ptychopteridae, phantom crane flies, are a small family of nematocerous Diptera. Superficially similar in appearance to other "tipuloid" families, they lack the ocelli of the Trichoceridae, the five-branched radial vein of the Tanyderidae, and the two anal veins that reach the wing margins of the Tipulidae. They are usually allied with the Tanyderidae based on similarities of the mesonotal suture, this group being called the Ptychopteromorpha.
Osmylidae are a small family of winged insects of the net-winged insect order Neuroptera. The osmylids, also called lance lacewings, stream lacewings or giant lacewings, are found all over the world except North and Central America. There are around 225 extant species.
Limoniidae is the largest of four crane fly families, with more than 10,700 species in more than 150 genera. Some studies have suggested it to be a paraphyletic group, with some limoniids being more closely related to Tipulidae and Cylindrotomidae than to other limoniids. Limoniid crane flies can usually be distinguished by the way the wings are held at rest. Limoniids usually hold/fold the wings along the back of the body, whereas other crane flies usually hold them out at right angles. Snow flies such as Chionea scita have no wings at all. Limoniids are also usually smaller than other crane flies, with some exceptions.
The Chioneinae are a subfamily of limoniid crane flies.
Nemestrinidae, or tangle-veined flies is a family of flies in the superfamily Nemestrinoidea, closely related to Acroceridae. The family is small but distributed worldwide, with about 300 species in 34 genera. Larvae are endoparasitoids of either grasshoppers (Trichopsideinae) or scarab beetles (Hirmoneurinae). Some are considered important in the control of grasshopper populations. Adults are often observed on flowers.
The Perissommatidae are a family of flies (Diptera) that was proposed in 1962 by Donald Colless based on the species Perissomma fusca from Australia. The family now includes five extant species within the single genus Perissomma, four from Australia and one from Chile. The Perissommatidae are unusual as they appear to have four compound eyes. They have a small slender body less than 2 mm in length. Their wings are large in comparison to their bodies and subsequently their flight is weak. Preferring high-altitude forest environments, adults only fly in the winter. The larvae live in decaying leaf litter in wet sclerophyll or cool rain forests. Some species are suspected to be associated with fungi. In the case of Perissomma macalpinei, numbers of adults have been observed congregating in clumps of foliage and rising in short, zigzag flights in the sunlight above the foliage for short periods before descending.
Ctenophora is a genus of true crane flies. The species are large, shiny black craneflies with large yellow, orange, or red markings to mimic wasps. Males have comb-like antennae. The larvae are saproxylic. The species are confined to old deciduous forests, orchards, and other habitats with continuity of the presence of dying and fallen trees. Ctenophora species are important bioindicators.
The Cylindrotomidae or long-bodied craneflies are a family of crane flies. More than 65 extant species in 9 genera occur worldwide. There are more than 20 extinct species.
Tipulinae is a subfamily of crane flies. It contains the typical crane flies from the genus Tipula.
Platystomatinae is a subfamily of flies (Diptera) in the family Platystomatidae that includes 80 genera, the largest subfamily with at last estimate, c. 900 species globally.
Agathon is a genus of net-winged midges in the family Blephariceridae. There are about 19 described species in Agathon.
Archisargidae is an extinct family of brachyceran flies known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It is part of the extinct superfamily Archisargoidea. Most members of the family are known from the Callovian-Oxfordian Daohugou biota of Inner Mongolia, China, and the equivalently aged Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan. The family has been found to be paraphyletic with respect to Eremochaetidae in a cladistic analysis.
Limoniinae is a subfamily of limoniid crane flies in the family Limoniidae. There are more than 30 genera and 3,700 described species in Limoniinae, found worldwide.
Loew H. 1862. Monographs of the Diptera of North America. Part 1. Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection 6(1): 1–221, fig. 1-3+1-12, 2 pls.
