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Nemestrinoidea Genera
Nemestrinoidea is a small, monophyletic superfamily of flies, whose relationship to the other Brachycera is uncertain; they are sometimes grouped with the Tabanomorpha rather than the Asilomorpha. They are presently considered to be the sister taxon to the Asiloidea. The group contains two very small extant families, the Acroceridae and Nemestrinidae, both of which occur worldwide but contain only small numbers of rare species. One extinct family, Rhagionemestriidae, is also included in Nemestrinoidea. These insects are parasitoids, with Acroceridae attacking spiders, and Nemestrinidae typically attacking Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassho .... Both families have unusual and distinctive wing venation by which they can be easily recognized, in addition to othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrocera Orbiculus
''Acrocera orbiculus'', also known as the top-horned hunchback, is a species of fly belonging to the family Acroceridae. The species has a holarctic distribution, ranging from North America to the Palaearctic. Etymology The specific name is the Latin diminutive noun , meaning 'a small disk'. Description "Antennae placed at the extreme top of the head, ending in a long thin arista. Venation very much reduced. Proboscis absent, or very short and stumpy" Verrall, G. H., 1909 Stratiomyidae and succeeding families of the Diptera Brachycera of Great Britain'' British flies'' Volume 5 London : Gurney and Jackson, 190BHL Full text with illustrations/ref> Biology The larvae are endoparasites of spiders in the families Amaurobiidae, Clubionidae and Lycosidae Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (). They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acroceridae
The Acroceridae are a small family (biology), family of odd-looking flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known. The most frequently applied common names are small-headed flies or hunch-back flies. Many are bee or wasp mimicry, mimics. Because they are parasitoids of spiders, they also are sometimes known as spider flies. Description The Acroceridae vary in size from small to fairly large, about the size of large bees, with a wingspan over 25 mm in some species. As a rule, both sexes have tiny heads and a characteristic hump-backed appearance because of the large, rounded thorax. In appearance, they are compact flies without major bristles, but many species have a bee-like hairiness on their bodies, and some are bee or wasp mimicry, mimics. In most species, the eyes are holoptic in both sexes, the heads seemingly composed mainly of the large ommatidia, facete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemestrinidae
Nemestrinidae, or tangle-veined flies is a family of flies in the superfamily Nemestrinoidea, closely related to Acroceridae. The family is small but distributed worldwide, with about 300 species in 34 genera. Larvae are endoparasitoids of either grasshoppers (Trichopsideinae) or scarab beetles (Hirmoneurinae). Some are considered important in the control of grasshopper populations. Adults are often observed on flowers. Genera * '' Atriadops'' * '' Ceyloniola'' * '' Cyclopsidea'' * '' Fallenia'' * '' Hirmoneura'' * '' Hyrmophlaeba'' Rondani, 1864 * '' Moegistorhynchus'' * '' Nemestrinus'' * '' Neohirmoneura'' * '' Neorhynchocephalus'' Lichtwardt, 1909 * '' Nycterimorpha'' * '' Nycterimyia'' * '' Prosoeca'' * '' Stenobasipteron'' * '' Stenopteromyia'' * '' Trichophthalma'' * '' Trichopsidea'' Westwood, 1839 Data sources: i = ITIS, c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.net Fossil history Fossils of Nemestrinidae are known from several localities of various ages in Russi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhagionemestriidae
Rhagionemestriidae is an extinct family of brachyceran flies known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It was first named as a subfamily of the Nemestrinidae by Ussatchov (1968), and was raised to full family status by Nagatomi and Yang (1998). They are considered to be closely related to the family Acroceridae. Similar to Acroceridae, members of the family possess a large hemispherical head, with eyes covering nearly all of the area. Taxonomy * †'' Cretinemestrinus'' Zhang et al. 2020 ** †''Cretinemestrinus euremus'' Grimaldi 2016 (formerly ''Jurassinemestrinus eurema)'' Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian * †'' Burminemestrinus'' Zhang et al. 2020 ** †''Burminemestrinus qiyani'' Zhang et al. 2020 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian * †'' Iberomosca'' Mostovski and Martínez-Delclòs 2000M. B. Mostovski and X. Martínez-Delclòs. 2000New Nemestrinoidea (Diptera: Brachycera) from the Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous of Eurasia, taxonomy, and palaeobiology ''Entomo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic groups are typically characterised by shared derived characteristics ( synapomorphies), which distinguish organisms in the clade from other organisms. An equivalent term is holophyly. The word "mono-phyly" means "one-tribe" in Greek. Monophyly is contrasted with paraphyly and polyphyly as shown in the second diagram. A ''paraphyletic group'' consists of all of the descendants of a common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups. A '' polyphyletic group'' is characterized by convergent features or habits of scientific interest (for example, night-active primates, fruit trees, aquatic insects). The features by which a polyphyletic group is differentiated from others are not inherited from a common ancestor. These definitions have tak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brachycera
The Brachycera are a suborder of the order Diptera. It is a major suborder consisting of around 120 families. Their most distinguishing characteristic is reduced antenna segmentation. Description A summary of the main physical characteristics is: * Antenna size (with eight or fewer flagellomeres) is reduced. * The maxillary palp (an elongated appendage near the mouth) has two segments or fewer. * The back portions of the larval head capsule extend into the prothorax (the anterior part of the thorax, which bears the first pair of legs). * Two distinct parts make up of the larval mandible (lower jaw). * The epandrium and hypandrium of the genitalia are separated in males. * No premandible is present on the lower surface of the labrum (the roof of the mouth). * The configuration of the CuA2 and A1 wing veins is distinct. Brachyceran flies can also be distinguished through behavior. Many of the species are predators or scavengers. Classification The structure of subgroups wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabanomorpha
The Brachyceran infraorder Tabanomorpha is a small group that consists primarily of two large families, the Tabanidae (horse and deer flies) and Rhagionidae (snipe flies), and an assortment of very small affiliated families, most of which have been (or could be, or sometimes are) included within the Rhagionidae. Description Adult Tabanomorpha typically have a convex face and antenna bearing styli. The forewing has a costa along its entire perimeter (though its posterior portion may be weaker), while the tarsi have pulvilliform empodia. Males have eyes that are nearly or fully holoptic and have an endoaedeagal process which is usually quite long and distinct. Females have the cercus always flattened. Larval Tabanomorpha have a retractable head capsule and a brush of setae just under the fold of the integument. Ecology Adults of most species feed on nectar and pollen, but blood-feeding (hematophagy) occurs in the majority of female Tabanidae, some Rhagionidae and an Athericida ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asilomorpha
The Brachyceran infraorder Asilomorpha is a large and diverse group of flies, containing the bulk of the non muscoid Brachycera. The larvae of asilomorphs are extremely diverse in habits, as well. Classification In most modern classifications, the infraorder Asilomorpha is not recognized, as it is paraphyletic; the Empidoidea are the sister taxon to the Muscomorpha (used here in the same sense as the traditional Cyclorrhapha, not following the Tree of Life Web Project system in this one instance). However, these modern classifications are not Linnaean, and - while relatively easy to visualize on a phylogenetic tree diagram - do not lend themselves to any classification that uses Linnaean ranks (''see'' discussion ''for details''). Also, some classifications place the Nemestrinoidea Nemestrinoidea is a small, monophyletic superfamily of flies, whose relationship to the other Brachycera is uncertain; they are sometimes grouped with the Tabanomorpha rather than the Asilomorpha. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asiloidea
The Asiloidea comprise a very large superfamily insects in the order Diptera, the true flies. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring worldwide. It includes the family Bombyliidae, the bee flies, which are parasitoids, and the Asilidae, the robber flies, which are predators of other insects. Description Adult Asiloidea are large and showy flies in terms of general appearance. They can be recognised by the following features: antenna with no more than 4 flagellomeres, leg empodium usually setiform or absent; wing with cell cup elongate and vein CuA2 ending freely on the wing margin or meeting with vein A1 at or near the wing margin. In families Mydidae, Apioceridae, and Asilidae, the head is at least slightly concave between the eyes and the ocelli, and both sexes are dichoptic (with a clear separation between the eyes). In Therevidae, Apsilocephalidae, and Scenopinidae, the males are usually holoptic (eyes meet at top of head). Known larvae of this superfamily have p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neontology
Neontology is a part of biology that, in contrast to paleontology, deals with living (or, more generally, '' recent'') organisms. It is the study of extant taxa (singular: extant taxon): taxa (such as species, genera and families) with members still alive, as opposed to (all) being extinct. For example: * The moose (''Alces alces'') is an extant species, and the dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinct species. * In the group of molluscs known as the cephalopods, there were approximately 600 extant species and 7,500 extinct species. A taxon can be classified as extinct if it is broadly agreed or certified that no members of the group are still alive. Conversely, an extinct taxon can be reclassified as extant if there are new discoveries of living species ("Lazarus species"), or if previously-known extant species are reclassified as members of the taxon. Most biologists, zoologists, and botanists are in practice neontologists, and the term neontologist is used largel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitoid
In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable strategy, evolutionary strategies within parasitism, distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes the strategy close to predation. Among parasitoids, strategies range from living inside the host (''endoparasitism''), allowing it to continue growing before emerging as an adult, to Paralysis, paralysing the host and living outside it (''ectoparasitism''). Hosts can include other parasitoids, resulting in hyperparasitism; in the case of oak galls, up to five levels of parasitism are possible. Some parasitoids Behavior-altering parasite, influence their host's behaviour in ways that favour the propagation of the parasitoid. Parasitoids are found in a variety of Taxon, taxa across the insect superorder Endopterygota, whose compl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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