The family Sciomyzidae belongs to the typical flies (Brachycera) of the order Diptera. They are commonly called marsh flies, and in some cases snail-killing flies due to the food of their larvae.
The Acalyptratae or Acalyptrata are a subsection of the Schizophora, which are a section of the order Diptera, the "true flies". In various contexts the Acalyptratae also are referred to informally as the acalyptrate muscoids, or acalyptrates, as opposed to the Calyptratae. All forms of the name refer to the lack of calypters in the members of this subsection of flies. An alternative name, Acalypterae is current, though in minority usage. It was first used by Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart in 1835 for a section of his tribe Muscides; he used it to refer to all acalyptrates plus scathophagids and phorids, but excluding Conopidae.
Carnoidea is a superfamily of Acalyptratae flies.
Canacidae, incorrectly Canaceidae, or beach flies, surf or surge flies, is a family of Diptera. As of 2010, 307 species in 27 genera. The family now includes Tethininae as a subfamily.
The Coelopidae or kelp flies are a family of Acalyptratae flies, they are sometimes also called seaweed flies, though both terms are used for a number of seashore Diptera. Fewer than 40 species occur worldwide. The family is found in temperate areas, with species occurring in the southern Afrotropical, Holarctic, and Australasian regions.
The Platystomatidae are a distinctive family of flies (Diptera) in the superfamily Tephritoidea.
Paracantha is a genus of fruit flies in the family Tephritidae.
The Tachiniscinae are a subfamily of the fruit fly family Tephritidae. They are treated by some authorities as a separate family, Tachiniscidae. An undetermined species of the genus Tachiniscidia has been reared from Saturniidae caterpillars in Nigeria.
The Pyrgotidae are an unusual family of flies (Diptera), one of only two families of Cyclorrhapha that lack ocelli. Most species are "picture-winged", as is typical among the Tephritoidea, but unlike other tephritoids, they are endoparasitoids; the females pursue scarab beetles in flight, laying an egg on the beetle's back under the elytra where the beetle cannot reach it. The egg hatches and the fly larva enters the body cavity of the beetle, feeding and eventually killing the host before pupating. In the United States, some species of Pyrgota and Sphecomyiella can be quite common in areas where their host beetles are abundant. Like their host beetles, these flies are primarily nocturnal, and are often attracted to artificial lights.
The Helosciomyzidae are a small family of flies found exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. With the exception of the South American genus Sciogriphoneura, helosciomyzids occur only in Australia and New Zealand.
The Helcomyzidae are a small family of flies in the Acalyptratae. The larvae feed on kelp and other organic matter washed up on shorelines. Species diversity is highest in New Zealand and south temperate South America. They are sometimes allied with the families Dryomyzidae or Coelopidae.
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.
Periscelididae is a family of flies.
The Cryptochetidae are a small family of tiny flies. Some twenty to thirty species are known. Generally they are metallic blue black, stoutly built, with the head broad and high and with clear wings. Like other species in the superfamily Lonchaeoidea, the Cryptochetidae have antennae with a cleft in the second segment. Unlike practically all Schizophora however, they lack an arista, or if they do have one, it is too small to distinguish with any confidence. The family name refers to this unusual distinction; "Cryptochetidae" literally means "those with hidden bristles". The adult flies also are unusual among insects in that they have only a single pair of abdominal spiracles — this is not a serious physiological challenge in such small insects.
Tethininae, formally the family Tethinidae is a paraphyletic group of tiny drab-coloured or grey Acalyptratae flies. There are over 115 species in 7 genera known from all zoogeographic regions. They are inconspicuous flies which are still poorly known in some remote, huge, tropical areas.
Tetanocerini is a tribe of flies in the family Sciomyzidae. There are more than 400 described species in the tribe.
Cryptochetum is a genus of scale parasite flies in the family Cryptochetidae. There are more than 30 described species in Cryptochetum.
Xenopterella is a genus of flies in the family Lauxaniidae. There are at least two described species in Xenopterella.
Sciomyzinae is a subfamily of flies in the family Sciomyzidae.
Fergusonina, the sole genus in the family of Fergusoninidae, are gall-forming flies. There are about 40 species in the genus, all of them producing galls on Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Corymbia, and Metrosideros species in Australia and New Zealand.
