247 articles
1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic
1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic: first major U.S. yellow fever outbreak, striking the capital in August 1793, killing about 5,000 of roughly 40,000-50,000 residents, driving 20,000 and the federal government to flee, ended by October frost.
Adenotrophic viviparity
Adenotrophic viviparity is gland-fed live birth in flies such as tsetse (Glossina) and other Hippoboscoidea: a single intrauterine larva is nourished by milk gland secretions, about 50% lipid and 50% protein, until parturition.
Aedes
Aedes is a mosquito genus (Meigen, 1818) whose species Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus transmit dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever; container-breeding, daytime-biting invasive vectors with eggs that survive drying up to 8 months.
Aedes aegypti
Aedes aegypti, commonly called the yellow fever mosquito, is a mosquito native to sub-Saharan Africa that is the major vector of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika across the tropics.
Aedes albopictus
Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, is an invasive container-breeding mosquito from Asia, vector of dengue and chikungunya, spread worldwide via used-tire trade, established across southern Europe and the Americas.
Afrotropical Diptera fauna
The Afrotropical Diptera fauna is the set of fly species of sub-Saharan Africa, southern Arabia, and associated islands, with about 19,590 known species in 108 families.
Ampelomyia viticola
Ampelomyia viticola, the grape tube gallmaker (formerly Cecidomyia viticola, Schizomyia viticola), is a North American gall midge forming tube-like leaf galls on Vitis grapes; moved to the genus Ampelomyia by Elsayed and Tokuda in 2019.
Anastrepha fraterculus
Anastrepha fraterculus, the South American fruit fly (Wiedemann, 1830), is a tephritid pest complex of eight cryptic morphotypes ranging from southern Texas to Argentina, attacking over 160 crop species and managed with toxic baits, mass trapping, SIT, and parasitoids.
Anastrepha ludens
Anastrepha ludens, the Mexican fruit fly (mexfly), a tephritid fruit fly pest of citrus and mango from Mexico to Panama; quarantined in Texas and California, controlled by sterile insect releases.
Anastrepha obliqua
Anastrepha obliqua, the West Indian fruit fly (West Indian fruit fly, Antillean fruit fly), is a tephritid fruit fly from Mexico and the West Indies to northern Argentina, a major mango and Spondias pest, EPPO A1 quarantine pest, distinguished by aculeus serrations on over two-thirds of the tip.
Anastrepha suspensa
Anastrepha suspensa (Caribbean fruit fly) is a West Indies tephritid fruit fly whose larvae develop inside tropical and subtropical fruits. It is an economic and quarantine pest in central America, the Caribbean, and Florida.
Anopheles
Anopheles, the malaria mosquito genus established by Meigen in 1818, holds about 460 described species in seven subgenera; only around 60 transmit human malaria, recognized by 45-degree resting posture and siphon-less larvae.
Anthomyiidae
Anthomyiidae (root-maggot flies), calyptrate Diptera family of about 2,000 species in ~40 genera, mostly Holarctic; larvae mine roots, leaves, fungi, or dung; 2026 phylogenomics subsumes Scathophagidae within it.
Antocha
Antocha Osten Sacken, 1860 is a genus of about 161 limoniid crane fly species in three subgenera (Antocha, Orimargula, Proantocha), with aquatic, case-building larvae in fast streams; type species Antocha saxicola.
Apioceridae
Apioceridae, the flower-loving flies, is a family of asiloid Diptera with about 140 species in the single genus Apiocera, sister to Mydidae and, with it, sister to Asilidae; four subgenera occur in Australia, North America, South Africa, and South America.
Apple maggot
Apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella), railroad worm, a tephritid fruit fly native to eastern North America. Larvae tunnel apples; its mid-1800s hawthorn-to-apple host shift is a leading model of sympatric speciation.
Apystomyiidae
Apystomyiidae (Nagatomi & Liu 1994) is a small fly family whose sole living species, Apystomyia elinguis Melander 1950, occurs in California; extinct genera Apystomimus and Hilarimorphites come from Cretaceous amber, and its phylogenetic placement has shifted among Bombyliidae, Hilarimorphidae, Scenopinidae, and sister to Cyclorrhapha.
Archisargidae
Archisargidae (Rohdendorf) is an extinct Jurassic family of brachyceran flies in Archisargoidea, known from Central and East Asia (Karabastau, Daohugou) and one Australian species, Calosargus talbragarensis.
Archisargoidea
Archisargoidea is an extinct superfamily of primitive lower Brachycera flies (Diptera) of the Middle Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous, with families Archisargidae, Eremochaetidae, Kovalevisargidae, and Orientisargidae, known from Kazakhstan and China and probably parasitoid.
Archizelmiridae
Archizelmiridae is an extinct family of sciaroid flies (Diptera) from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, established by Rohdendorf in 1962 for Archizelmira kazachstanica; six species in four genera, including Burmazelmira with the only aristate antennae outside Brachycera.
Armigeres
Armigeres (cord mosquitoes), genus of aedine mosquitoes with 58 species in subgenera Armigeres and Leicesteria; Oriental to Australasian distribution; type species Ar. obturbans; some species suspected filariasis vectors.
Asilidae
Asilidae, the robber flies or assassin flies, are a large worldwide family of predatory Diptera (about 7,003 species) that ambush flying insects, inject paralyzing venom, and suck out liquefied prey contents.
Athericidae
Athericidae, the water snipe flies or ibis flies, is a small family of flies whose aquatic larvae are predators of clean running waters, separated from the snipe flies in 1973.
Bactrocera dorsalis
Bactrocera dorsalis, the oriental fruit fly (formerly B. invadens), is a highly polyphagous tephritid fruit fly pest of ~450 hosts, native to tropical Asia, invasive in Africa, and an EPPO A1 quarantine pest.
Bactrocera tryoni
Bactrocera tryoni (Queensland fruit fly, Qfly, DACUTR) is a polyphagous tephritid fruit fly, the major horticultural pest of eastern Australia and Pacific islands, an EPPO A1 and EU quarantine pest with over 250 hosts.
Bactrocera zonata
Bactrocera zonata, the peach fruit fly or guava fruit fly (DACUZO), is a polyphagous tephritid fruit fly from South and Southeast Asia attacking guava, mango and peach; an EPPO A2 and EU quarantine pest now transient in France, Italy and Greece.
Bibionidae
Bibionidae, the march flies, lovebugs, or harlequin flies, is a worldwide family of about 700 fly species in eight extant genera within Bibionomorpha, sister to Pachyneuridae, with detritus-feeding larvae and swarm-forming adults.
Biological control of mosquitoes
Biological control of mosquitoes is the suppression of mosquito larvae and pupae using natural enemies such as larvivorous fish and predatory copepods, or bacterial larvicides like Bti.
Black fly
Black fly (Simuliidae; buffalo gnat): small biting fly whose larvae live in fast-flowing streams; females are pool feeders and vectors of Onchocerca volvulus, cause of river blindness; 2,439 valid species listed in 2026.
Bombyliidae
Bombyliidae, the bee flies, are a large cosmopolitan family of bee-mimicking Diptera with over 5,000 species; adults pollinate flowers while larvae are ecto- and endoparasitoids of seven insect orders plus spiders.