Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- di- "two", and πτερόν pteron "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced mechanosensory organs known as halteres, which act as high-speed sensors of rotational movement and allow dipterans to perform advanced aerobatics. Diptera is a large order containing more than 150,000 species including horse-flies, crane flies, hoverflies, mosquitoes and others.
A crane fly is any member of the dipteran superfamily Tipuloidea, which contains the living families Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, as well as several extinct families. "Winter crane flies", members of the family Trichoceridae, are sufficiently different from the typical crane flies of Tipuloidea to be excluded from the superfamily Tipuloidea, and are placed as their sister group within Tipulomorpha.
Aquatic insects or water insects live some portion of their life cycle in the water. They feed in the same ways as other insects. Some diving insects, such as predatory diving beetles, can hunt for food underwater where land-living insects cannot compete.
Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species.
Mecoptera is an order of insects in the superorder Holometabola with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals raised over the body that look similar to the stingers of scorpions, and long beaklike rostra. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are another prominent family and are known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered to them by the males. A smaller group is the snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae, adults of which are sometimes seen walking on snowfields. In contrast, the majority of species in the order inhabit moist environments in tropical locations.
Dobsonflies are a subfamily of insects, Corydalinae, part of the Megalopteran family Corydalidae. The larvae are aquatic, living in streams, and the adults are often found along streams as well. The nine genera of dobsonflies are distributed in the Americas, Asia, and South Africa.
The eastern dobsonfly, Corydalus cornutus, is a large insect in the Corydalidae family. These are known as hellgrammites and are among the top invertebrate predators in the streams in which they live, and are used by anglers as bait.
Fishflies are members of the subfamily Chauliodinae, belonging to the megalopteran family Corydalidae. They are most easily distinguished from their closest relatives, dobsonflies, by the jaws (mandibles) and antennae. In contrast to the large jaws of dobsonflies, fishfly mandibles are not particularly noticeable or distinctive, and the males have feathery antennae similar to many large moths. Chauliodes pectinicornis, the "summer fishfly", is a well-known species in North America.
The family Corydalidae contains the megalopterous insects known as dobsonflies and fishflies. Making up about three dozen genera, they occur primarily throughout North America, both temperate and tropical, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Asia.
Sialis lutaria, common name alderfly, is a species of alderfly belonging to the order Megaloptera family Sialidae.
Alderflies are megalopteran insects of the family Sialidae. They are closely related to the dobsonflies and fishflies as well as to the prehistoric Euchauliodidae. All living alderflies – about 66 species all together – are part of the subfamily Sialinae, which contains nine extant genera.
Nevromus is a genus in the dobsonfly or Corydalidae family of Megalopteran insects. They are found in Asia and are among the few Asian Corydalines that are found on islands including Borneo, Java and Sumatra.
Nevromus austroindicus is a species of dobsonfly found in the Western Ghats of India. It is one of two species of the family Corydalidae found in southern India, the other being Neurhermes maculifera. It was formally described in 2012 on the basis of specimens from the Karnataka Western Ghats of Kottigehara with some specimens also obtained from near Sampaje. They are closely related to species found in mainland China.
Nigronia serricornis has many common names including hellgrammites or fishflies or saw-combed fishflies. The genus Nigronia has one other North American member N. fasciatus and South American which lives in much of the same territory and is quite similar in all regards. They are holometabolous insects with an aquatic larval stage. N. serricornis is a common inhabitant of woodland streams in North America and they are often the largest insect predator found in 2nd and 3rd order streams. The larvae are a sit-and -wait ambush predators that feed on a large variety of invertebrates. Studies have shown that N. serricornis has a varying diet throughout the seasons.
Archichauliodes diversus is an insect in the subfamily Chauliodinae - the fishflies, though it is often referred to as the New Zealand dobsonfly, despite not being a true dobsonfly. In its larval form it is commonly known by the name toe-biter, and its Māori name is puene. The species is native to New Zealand. Although there are many other species of fishfly in other parts of the world, Archichauliodes diversus is the only species of fishfly in New Zealand.
Acanthacorydalis fruhstorferi is a species of dobsonfly native to Vietnam and China. It holds the title of largest aquatic insect by wingspan according to the Guinness Book of World Records at 21.6 cm. The title formerly belonged to the Brazilian damselfly Microstigma rotundatum.
Neoneuromus is a genus of dobsonfly endemic to the Indomalayan realm with 13 species. The larvae breed in montane streams. Adults are large with a forewing of 43 to 68 mm length and the body is yellow to red or brown with black marks on the head and pronotum. The wings are marked in dark patterning in the membrane and along the veins. They are closely related to Nevromus from which they are separated by the attenuation of the ninth sternum with an incised tip.
Protohermes is a genus of dobsonflies in the family Corydalidae. Protohermes is the most speciose and widely distributed genus within Megaloptera, but up to 85% of species are restricted to small endemic areas in Asia. This endemism may be a result of an association with high elevation and high slope streams in Northern Vietnam and China.
Parachauliodes is a genus of fishfly in the family Corydalidae. They are present throughout Eastern Asia, likely originating on the Korean peninsula before dispersing to the Japanese archipelago 15 mya.
Neurhermes is a genus of dobsonflies in the family Corydalidae.
