The Bibionomorpha are an infraorder of the suborder Nematocera. One of its constituent families, the Anisopodidae, is the presumed sister taxon to the entire suborder Brachycera. Several of the remaining families in the infraorder are former subfamilies of the Mycetophilidae, which has been recently subdivided. The family Axymyiidae has recently been removed from the Bibionomorpha to its own infraorder Axymyiomorpha.
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.
Cecidomyiidae is a family of flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small insects usually only 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) in length; many are less than 1 mm (0.039 in) long. They are characterised by hairy wings, unusual in the order Diptera, and have long antennae. Some Cecidomyiids are also known for the strange phenomenon of paedogenesis in which the larval stage reproduces without maturing first. In some species, the daughter larvae consume the mother, while in others, reproduction occurs later on in the egg or pupa.
The Nymphomyiidae are a family of tiny (2 mm) slender, delicate flies (Diptera). Larvae are found among aquatic mosses in small, rapid streams in northern regions of the world, including northeastern North America, Japan, the Himalayas, and eastern Russia. Around a dozen extant species are known, with two fossil species found in amber, extending back to the Mid Cretaceous. Under an alternative classification, they are considered the only living representatives of a separate, suborder called Archidiptera which includes several Triassic fossil members. The family has characteristics associated with the Nematocera as well as the Brachycera. The antennae are shortened as in the Brachycera and these flies are long, having a snout with vestigeal mouthparts, non-differentiated abdominal segments with large cerci. The wings are narrow and hair-fringed and have very weak venation. They are known to form cloud-like swarms in summer and the short-lived non-feeding adults have wings that fracture at the base shortly after mating.
Mycetophilidae is a family of small flies, forming the bulk of those species known as fungus gnats. About 3000 described species are placed in 150 genera, but the true number of species is undoubtedly much higher. They are generally found in the damp habitats favoured by their host fungi and sometimes form dense swarms.
Hybotidae, the typical dance flies, are a family of true flies. They belong to the superfamily Empidoidea and were formerly included in the Empididae as a subfamily.
Sciaroidea is a superfamily in the infraorder Bibionomorpha. There are about 16 families and more than 15,000 described species in Sciaroidea. Most of its constituent families are various gnats.
Bolitophila is the sole living genus in the Bolitophilidae, a family of Diptera in the superfamily Sciaroidea, with around 40 Palaearctic and about 20 Nearctic species, and three species from the Oriental region (Taiwan). They are small (6–9 mm).
The Ditomyiidae are a small family of flies (Diptera).They are found worldwide, most species are found in the Australasian and Neotropical realms. There are only two genera in Europe Ditomyia Winnertz, 1846 and Symmerus Walker, 1848 Ditomyia is found in Central Europe Symmerus in Northern Europe Symmerus is endemic to the Palaearctic.
Scatopsoidea is a superfamily of true flies that comprises the families Canthyloscelidae, Scatopsidae, and Valeseguyidae. There are about 400 known species worldwide but more may yet to be discovered, especially in the tropics.
Tachydromiinae is a subfamily of hybotid flies widespread in the world.
Allocotocera is a genus of flies in the family of Mycetophilidae. Two of the species are found in Europe.
Lygistorrhininae, commonly called long-beaked fungus gnats is a subfamily of flies in the Diptera family Keroplatidae.
Micromyinae is a subfamily of wood midges, insects in the family Cecidomyiidae. Its members were formerly included in subfamily Lestremiinae. There are at least 55 genera and more than 650 described species in Micromyinae. All species in this subfamily are mycophageous.
Aneura is a genus of flies in the family Mycetophilidae.
Probolaeus is a genus of long-beaked fungus gnats in the family Lygistorrhinidae.
Ditomyia is a genus of fungus gnats in the family Ditomyiidae.
Rangomaramidae is a family of flies in the infraorder Bibionomorpha. The family, members of which are known as long-winged fungus gnats, was erected in 2002 by Jaschhof and Didham to include five new species of flies in the genus Rangomarama from New Zealand. The family was then expanded to include several other genera from across the world which were formerly classified as Sciaroidea incertae sedis, but preliminary studies show that the broad family is non-monophyletic.
2015 in paleoentomology is a list of new fossil insect taxa that were described during the year 2016, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoentomology that were scheduled to occur during the year.
Burmese amber is fossil resin dating to the early Late Cretaceous Cenomanian age recovered from deposits in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar. It is known for being one of the most diverse Cretaceous age amber paleobiotas, containing rich arthropod fossils, along with uncommon vertebrate fossils and even rare marine inclusions. A mostly complete list of all taxa described up until 2018 can be found in Ross 2018; its supplement Ross 2019b covers most of 2019.
