247 articles
Mythicomyiidae
Mythicomyiidae, the micro bee flies (Melander, 1902), is a family of 1–3 mm asiloid flies related to bee flies: 474 species in 39 genera, predatory larvae, flower-visiting adults, and a Cretaceous-to-recent fossil record.
Nematocera
Nematocera (long-horned flies, lower Diptera) is the traditional fly group with elongate multi-segmented antennae, including mosquitoes, gnats, crane flies, and black flies; it is paraphyletic with respect to Brachycera and spans 36 extant families.
Nemestrinidae
Nemestrinidae, tangle-veined flies, is a brachyceran fly family of about 300 species in over 20 genera; adults pollinate tubular flowers, larvae parasitize grasshoppers or scarabaeid beetles, and fossils date to the Jurassic.
Nephrotoma
Nephrotoma (tiger crane flies), genus of Tipulidae crane flies erected by Meigen in 1803; about 485 yellow, dark-striped species on all continents except Antarctica; root-feeding soil larvae.
New world screwworm
Cochliomyia hominivorax, the New World screwworm or gusano barrenador, is an American blow fly whose larvae eat the living flesh of warm-blooded animals; eradicated from the US in 1966 by sterile insect technique, it returned to Texas in June 2026.
Nyssorhynchus
Nyssorhynchus is a subgenus of Anopheles mosquitoes with about 40 Neotropical species, including An. darlingi, the principal malaria vector in the Amazon basin; many are hard to tell apart and form cryptic species complexes.
Obsolete Diptera names
Obsolete Diptera names are family- and genus-group names of flies no longer valid through ICZN suppression, synonymy, or homonymy; about 80,000–85,000 of some 250,000 names are invalid.
Ochlerotatus
Ochlerotatus, mosquito taxon of tribe Aedini described by Lynch Arribálzaga in 1891, type species Oc. scapularis; disputed genus or subgenus of Aedes, about 276 species, includes La Crosse virus vector Ae. triseriatus.
Old world screwworm
Old world screwworm, wound myiasis caused by Chrysomya bezziana larvae, an obligate mammal parasite of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East; distinct from the American Cochliomyia hominivorax, controlled by insecticides and sterile insect technique.
Orseolia oryzae
Orseolia oryzae, the Asian rice gall midge (Cecidomyiidae), a fly whose larvae induce silver-shoot galls in rice across tropical Asia; major pest with several Indian biotypes, Gm resistance genes, and Platygaster parasitoids.
Orthopodomyia
Orthopodomyia (Theobald, 1904), sole genus of tribe Orthopodomyiini, is a genus of 36 ornate tree hole mosquito species of the Neotropics and Orient, harmless to humans, diagnosed by elongated foreleg tarsomere 1.
Paratransgenesis
Paratransgenesis: genetically engineered insect symbionts (bacteria, fungi, viruses) expressing anti-pathogen effectors inside disease vectors. Began 1990s with Rhodococcus rhodnii in Rhodnius prolixus; now targets Plasmodium in mosquitoes; still laboratory proof-of-concept.
Pediciidae
Pediciidae, the hairy-eyed crane flies, is a basal family of Tipuloidea (Diptera) with subfamilies Pediciinae and Ulinae; Pediciinae larvae are aquatic predators, Ulinae larvae terrestrial fungivores.
Phoridae
Phoridae, the scuttle, humpbacked, or coffin flies, are tiny 0.4–6 mm cyclorrhaphan Diptera with reduced wing venation, over 4,400 described species, and diverse lifestyles including ant parasitoidism, kleptoparasitism, and forensic relevance.
Pipunculidae
Pipunculidae, the big-headed flies (アタマバエ), a family of small dipteran flies with hemispheric heads of huge compound eyes; larvae are internal parasitoids of leafhoppers and planthoppers, sister group to Schizophora.
Platystomatidae
Platystomatidae, the signal flies or picture-winged flies, is a tephritoid fly family of about 1,200 species in 120 genera, worldwide but richest in Australasia, with four subfamilies and debated monophyly.
Prallethrin
Prallethrin (CAS 23031-36-9) is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide, structurally closest to natural pyrethrin I, used in mosquito coils, vaporizers, and aerosols for quick knockdown of household insects; EPA PC Code 128722, IRAC Group 3A.
Protodiptera
Protodiptera (Paratrichoptera) is an extinct Upper Permian insect group once proposed as the stem group of true flies (Diptera). Its type species Permotipula patricia from New South Wales was later excluded from Diptera because of hind wings, leaving its placement controversial.
Psorophora
Psorophora (Gang Mosquito) is a New World mosquito genus in tribe Aedini with 49 species in three subgenera, type species Ps. ciliata, floodwater breeding, painful bites, and Ps. columbiae as heartworm vector.
Psychodidae
Psychodidae, the moth flies, drain flies, and sand flies, is a cosmopolitan Diptera family of over 3,000 species in six subfamilies; its Phlebotominae sand flies vector Leishmania.
Pyrethroid
A pyrethroid is a synthetic insecticide modeled on the pyrethrins of chrysanthemum flowers, acting on insect nerves and widely used in agriculture and mosquito control.
Rat-tailed maggot
Rat-tailed maggot, larva of the drone fly Eristalis tenax (Syrphidae), an aquatic hover fly larva with a long telescoping breathing siphon, living in organic-rich stagnant water, cosmopolitan, and a rare cause of accidental intestinal myiasis.
Regional Diptera faunas: checklists and multi-region compendia
Regional Diptera fauna lists are published inventories of the fly species recorded from a defined country or region, compiled from literature, museum specimens, and field surveys.
Regional diversity of asilomorph flies
The regional diversity of asilomorph flies surveys species counts of robber flies, bee flies, and stiletto flies across regions, drawn from national and continental checklists.
Rhagionidae
Rhagionidae (snipe flies) are predaceous brachyceran flies of Tabanomorpha with tapering abdomen and round head; four subfamilies, at least 15 extant genera, and a fossil record back to the Triassic.
Sabethes
Sabethes, the canopy mosquitoes, is a genus of 42 colorful forest mosquito species in Central and South America, several of which transmit yellow fever and other arboviruses.
Sandfly
Sandfly (phlebotomine sand fly, Phlebotominae): small blood-feeding Psychodidae fly; females are the only proven vectors of Leishmania, plus Bartonella bacilliformis and sandfly fever viruses; over 800 species worldwide.
Scatopsidae
Scatopsidae, the minute black scavenger flies or dung midges, is a family of small dark nematocerous Diptera (0.5–4.0 mm) in Scatopsoidea, Bibionomorpha, with about 380 species whose larvae live in decaying organic matter.
Scenopinidae
Scenopinidae, the window flies, is a cosmopolitan asiloid fly family of over 420 predatory species in 25 genera, sister to Therevidae in the therevoid clade; larvae prey on household pests, adults rest on windows.
Sciaridae
Sciaridae, the dark-winged fungus gnats or root gnats, are a large Diptera family of Sciaroidea with 2,000+ species; larvae live in soil litter on roots, and pests like Bradysia infest greenhouses.