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. 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 Arista may refer to: Organizations *Arista Networks, a software defined networking company *Arista Records, an American record label, division of Sony Music **Arista Nashville, a record label specializing in country music *Arista (honor society) ...

. 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 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 ...

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 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 name "Muscomorpha" refers to the Asilomorpha 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 The Syrphoidea are a superfamily of flies containing only two families under present classification, one of which ( Syrphidae) has a great number of the most common and familiar flies. One of these familiar flies is ''Eristalis tenax ''Eristali ...

*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), three ...

***Superfamily

Diopsoidea The Diopsoidea are a small but diverse cosmopolitan superfamily of acalyptrate muscoids, especially prevalent in the tropics. Some flux exists in the family constituency of this group, with the Strongylophthalmyiidae and Tanypezidae formerly bei ...

***Superfamily Sciomyzoidea ***Superfamily

Sphaeroceroidea Sphaeroceroidea is a superfamily of flies. It includes the cosmopolitan families of Sphaeroceridae (small dung flies), Heleomyzidae, and Chyromyidae, as well as a few smaller groups. It has about 2,600 species. Description Sphaeroceroids tend ...

***Superfamily

Lauxanioidea The Lauxanioidea are a superfamily of flies that includes the two large families, the Lauxaniidae and Chamaemyiidae, and the small family Celyphidae. Generally, they are small to medium, densely populated, coloured flies. The Chamaemyiidae liv ...

***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 o ...

***Superfamily Ephydroidea ***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 m ...

**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 some of ...

***Superfamily Muscoidea ***Superfamily Oestroidea ***Superfamily Hippoboscoidea

External links

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