The

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 ...

n infraorder Muscomorpha is a large and diverse group of flies, containing the bulk of the Brachycera, and, most of the known

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

. It includes a number of the most familiar flies, such as the

housefly The housefly (''Musca domestica'') is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. It is believed to have evolved in the Cenozoic Era, possibly in the Middle East, and has spread all over the world as a commensal of humans. It is the most common fl ...

, the fruit fly, and the blow fly. The antennae are short, usually three-segmented, with a dorsal arista. Their bodies are often highly setose, and the pattern of

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e is often taxonomically important. The

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 of muscomorphs (in the sense the name is used here; see below) have reduced head capsules, and the

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

e are formed inside the

exoskeleton An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...

of the last

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

; exit from this puparium is by a circular line of weakness, and this pupal type is called "cyclorrhaphous"; this feature gives this group of flies their traditional name,

Cyclorrhapha Cyclorrhapha is an unranked taxon within the infraorder Muscomorpha. They are called "Cyclorrhapha" ('circular-seamed flies') with reference to the circular aperture through which the adult escapes the puparium. This is a circumscriptional name t ...

Classification

The name

is used, in various modern classifications, to represent either a subgroup within the infraorder Muscomorpha, or simply a rankless group within the Brachycera. In either case, the

Empidoidea The Empidoidea are a large monophyletic 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 within Empidoidea, ...

are the

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 Cyclorrhapha. In the present classification, as the term Muscomorpha is used to refer to the sister taxon of the Empidoidea, the names "Muscomorpha" and "Cyclorrhapha" are effectively synonymous (though not entirely interchangeable: for nomenclatural purposes, it is always considered better if the endings of names of similar rank are consistent, and since all the other infraordinal names end in "-morpha", the use of "Cyclorrhapha" as an infraordinal name would be inconsistent). In the

Tree of Life Web Project The Tree of Life Web Project is an Internet project providing information about the diversity and phylogeny of life on Earth. This collaborative peer reviewed project began in 1995, and is written by biologists from around the world. The site h ...

, the name "Muscomorpha" refers to the

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, th ...

plus the Cyclorrhapha. *Section

Aschiza The Aschiza are a section (biology), section of the Brachycera. Two large families, the Syrphidae and the Phoridae, and a number of smaller taxa are in this group. They are similar to most of the familiar Muscomorpha with one notable exception; t ...

**Superfamily

Platypezoidea The Platypezoidea are a superfamily of true flies of the section Aschiza. Their closest living relatives are the Syrphoidea, which, for example, contain the hoverflies. Like these, the adults do not burst open their pupal cases with a ptilinu ...

**Superfamily Syrphoidea *Section

Schizophora The Schizophora are a section of true flies containing 78 families, which are collectively referred to as muscoids, although technically the term "muscoid" should be limited to flies in the superfamily Muscoidea; this is an example of informal, hi ...

**Subsection

Acalyptratae The Acalyptratae or Acalyptrata are a subsection of the Schizophora, which are a section of the order Diptera, the "true flies". In various contexts the Acalyptratae also are referred to informally as the acalyptrate muscoids, or acalyptrates, as ...

***Superfamily Conopoidea ***Superfamily

Tephritoidea The Tephritoidea are a superfamily of flies. It has over 7,800 species, the majority of them in family Tephritidae. The following families are included: * Ctenostylidae * Eurygnathomyiidae * Lonchaeidae - lance flies * Pallopteridae — flutter ...

***Superfamily

Nerioidea Nerioidea is a superfamily of Acalyptratae flies. Description As flies, Nerioidea undergo complete metamorphosis with the four life stages of egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult stage has three body segments (head, thorax and abdomen), th ...

***Superfamily Diopsoidea ***Superfamily

Sciomyzoidea Sciomyzoidea is a superfamily of Acalyptratae flies. The families placed here include at least the following: * Coelopidae – seaweed flies * Dryomyzidae * Helcomyzidae * Helosciomyzidae * Heterocheilidae * Huttoninidae * Natalimyzi ...

***Superfamily Sphaeroceroidea ***Superfamily Lauxanioidea ***Superfamily

Opomyzoidea The Opomyzoidea are a superfamily of flies. Biology Opomyzoids show a range of lifestyles including mining plant leaves (many Agromyzidae), feeding in grass stems ( Anthomyzidae and Opomyzidae), forming plant galls ('' Fergusonina''), feeding ...

***Superfamily

Ephydroidea The Ephydroidea are a superfamily of muscomorph flies, with over 6,000 species. Description A characteristic of adult Ephydroidea (shared with their relatives such as Calyptratae) is that the pedicel of the antenna has a dorsoventral seam or ...

***Superfamily

Carnoidea Carnoidea is a superfamily of Acalyptratae flies. Description In general, carnoids are small flies no more than a few millimetres long. Carnoidea is a poorly defined superfamily. In 1989, ten synapomorphies were described for the group, but ...

**Subsection

Calyptratae Calyptratae is a subsection of Schizophora in the insect order Diptera, commonly referred to as the calyptrate muscoids (or simply calyptrates). It consists of those flies which possess a calypter that covers the halteres, among which are som ...

***Superfamily

Muscoidea Muscoidea is a superfamily of flies in the subsection Calyptratae. Muscoidea, with approximately 7000 described species, is nearly 5% of the known species level diversity of the Diptera, the true flies. Most muscoid flies are saprophagous, coprop ...

***Superfamily

Oestroidea Oestroidea is a superfamily of Calyptratae including the blow flies, bot flies, flesh flies, and their relatives. It occurs worldwide and has about 15,000 described species. The superfamily includes the families: *Calliphoridae *Mesembrinellidae ...

***Superfamily

Hippoboscoidea Hippoboscoidea is a superfamily of the Calyptratae. The flies in this superfamily are blood-feeding obligate parasites of their hosts. Four families are often placed here: * Glossinidae - Tsetse flies * Hippoboscidae - Ked flies * Nycteribiidae ...

External links

The Tree of Life Web Project: Brachycera
{{Taxonbar, from=Q240514 Insect infraorders