Overview
The Empidoidea are a large superfamily of true flies, the sister taxon to the Muscomorpha (= "Cyclorrhapha"). These two groups are sometimes united in the unranked taxon Eremoneura. There are some 10,000 known species in the Empidoidea[1].
The majority of these insects are predatory, often with large compound eyes (sometimes covering almost the entire surface of the head), and tend to be associated with moist, temperate habitats. Many have a well-developed anal lobe in the wings, and/or a small but distinct anal cell.
Systematics
The most familiar families in the group are the Empididae and Dolichopodidae, both of which occur worldwide and contain thousands of species. The smaller families were formerly included in the Empididae,but have since been accorded family status[2]. The Brachystomatinae and Microphoridae are sometimes elevated to full-blown families too, but this would apparently make the Empididae and Dolichopodidae paraphyletic and thus they are retained as subfamilies here.
It seems that the present systematic treatment essentially reflects phylogeny rather well; there are some of the more basal taxa in each lineage which are of more uncertain position in cladistic analyses, but at least as an interim solution, the four-family approach seems most warranted. Arranged in phylogenetic sequence, the families are:[1]
- Atelestidae
- Hybotidae – dance flies
- Dolichopodidae – long-legged flies (including Microphoridae)
- Empididae – dagger flies and balloon flies (including Brachystomatinae)
Photos
Taxonomy
The Superfamily Empidoidea is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Family (5): Atelestidae · Dolichopodidae · Empididae · Hybotidae · Microphoridae
Families
Atelestidae
Dolichopodidae
Dolichopodidae, the long-legged flies, make up a large family of with more than 7,000 described species in about 230 genera distributed worldwide. The genus Dolichopus is the most speciose, with some 600 species. They are generally fairly small, metallic flies with large, prominent eyes but otherwise they show considerable variation: most have long legs but some do not. The males often have enlarged genitalia which can be useful for species recognition. The adults are predatory on other small animals. [more]
Empididae
Empididae is a family of with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide, but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empidoidea, and exhibit a wide range of forms but are generally small to medium sized, non-metallic and rather bristly. [more]
Hybotidae
Hybotidae, the typical dance flies are a of true flies. They belong to the superfamily Empidoidea and were formerly included in the Empididae as a subfamily. [more]
Microphoridae
More info about the Family Microphoridae may be found here.
References
- Moulton, J.K. & Wiegmann, B.M. (2007): The phylogenetic relationships of flies in the superfamily Empidoidea (Insecta: Diptera). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 43(3): 701-713. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.02.029 (HTML abstract)
- Sinclair, B.J. & Cumming, J.M. (2006): The morphology, higher-level phylogeny and classification of the Empidoidea (Diptera). Zootaxa 1180: 1-172. PDF fulltext
Footnotes
Sources
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