Nemestrinoidea is a small, monophyletic superfamily of flies, whose relationship to the other

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 ...

is uncertain; they are sometimes grouped with the

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 b ...

rather than 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 ...

. They are presently considered to be the sister taxon to the

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 group contains two very small extant families, the

Acroceridae The Acroceridae are a small 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 ...

and

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 eith ...

, 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

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s, and Nemestrinidae typically attacking Orthoptera. Both families have unusual and distinctive wing venation by which they can be easily recognized, in addition to other features.

References

External links

Tree of Life Brachycera
Diptera superfamilies {{Nemestrinoidea-stub