The Bibionomorpha are an

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

of the suborder

Nematocera The Nematocera (the name means "thread-horns") are a suborder of elongated flies with thin, segmented antennae and mostly aquatic larvae. This group is paraphyletic and contains all flies but species from suborder Brachycera (the name means "sh ...

. One of its constituent families, the

Anisopodidae The Anisopodidae are a small cosmopolitan family of gnat-like flies known as wood gnats or window-gnats, with 154 described extant species in 15 genera, and several described fossil taxa. Some species are saprophagous or fungivorous. They are mo ...

, is the presumed

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to the entire suborder

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 i ...

. Several of the remaining families in the infraorder (those shown without

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s) are former subfamilies of the

Mycetophilidae The Mycetophilidae are a family of small flies, forming the bulk of those species known as fungus gnats. About 3000 described species are placed in 150 genera, but the true number of species is undoubtedly much higher. They are generally found ...

, which has been recently subdivided. The family

Axymyiidae The Nematoceran family Axymyiidae is the sole member of the infraorder Axymyiomorpha, though it is often included within the infraorder Bibionomorpha in older classifications. It is known from only nine species in four genera, plus eight fossil s ...

has recently been removed from the Bibionomorpha to its own infraorder

Axymyiomorpha The Nematoceran family Axymyiidae is the sole member of the infraorder Axymyiomorpha, though it is often included within the infraorder Bibionomorpha in older classifications. It is known from only nine species in four genera, plus eight fossil s ...

. Most representatives of the Bibionomorpha are

saprophage Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi (f ...

s or

fungivore Fungivory or mycophagy is the process of organisms consuming fungi. Many different organisms have been recorded to gain their energy from consuming fungi, including birds, mammals, insects, plants, amoebas, gastropods, nematodes, bacteria and othe ...

s as

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e with the

Cecidomyiidae Cecidomyiidae is a family of flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small insects usu ...

being predominantly

gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

-formers. Some

sciarids The Sciaridae are a family of flies, commonly known as dark-winged fungus gnats. Commonly found in moist environments, they are known to be a pest of mushroom farms and are commonly found in household plant pots. This is one of the least studie ...

are common indoor pests, developing large populations in potting soil that has become moldy from overwatering. The larvae of the

Bibionidae Bibionidae (March flies) is a family of flies (Diptera) containing approximately 650–700 species worldwide. Adults are nectar feeders and emerge in numbers in spring. Because of the likelihood of adults flies being found ''in copula'', they h ...

sometimes migrate in large, snake-like masses to minimize dehydration while seeking a new feeding site.

Extinct families

The extinct bibionomorph fauna is: **

Cascopleciidae ''Cascoplecia insolitis'', rarely known as the unicorn fly, is an extinct dipteran that lived in the Early Cretaceous. The type specimen was found in Burmese amber. George Poinar Jr., who described the fossil, placed the genus into a new family ...

Middle? Cretaceous; Myanmar ** Eopleciidae extinct (Lower Jurassic) ** Oligophryneidae extinct (Upper Triassic) ** Paraxymyiidae extinct (Middle Jurassic) ** Protobibionidae extinct (Middle Jurassic) ** Protopleciidae extinct (Pan Jurassic) ** Protorhyphidae extinct (Upper Triassic) ** Protoscatopsidae extinct (Middle Jurassic) *Superfamily Pleciodictyidea extinct ** Pleciodictyidae - (Upper Triassic) *Superfamily Protoligoneuridea extinct ** Protoligoneuridae - (Upper Triassic) *Superfamily Fungivoridea ** Pleciofungivoridae extinct (Upper Triassic) (Lower and Middle Jurassic) ** Palaeopleciidae extinct (Upper Triassic) ** Pleciomimidae extinct (Lower and Middle Jurassic) **

Archizelmiridae Archizelmiridae is an extinct family of flies, known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It belongs to the Sciaroidea, and has suggested to have a close relationship with Sciaridae. Genera * '' Archimelzira'' Grimaldi et al. 2003 New J ...

extinct (Middle Jurassic) ** Fungivoritidae extinct (Middle and Upper Jurassic) ** Tipulopleciidae extinct (Middle Jurassic) ** Sinemediidae extinct (Middle Jurassic)

References

External links

Tree of Life Bibionomorpha
Insect infraorders {{Bibionomorpha-stub