Scatopsoidea is a superfamily of

true 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 ...

that comprises the

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

Canthyloscelidae,

Scatopsidae __NOTOC__ The minute black scavenger flies or "dung midges", are a family, Scatopsidae, of nematoceran flies. Despite being distributed throughout the world, they form a small family with only around 250 described species in 27 genera, although m ...

, and

Valeseguyidae Valeseguyidae is a family of flies, belonging to Scatopsoidea. It contains only one known extant species, ''Valeseguya rieki'', known from a single male specimen found in Victoria, Australia, described in 1990. It was initially classified as a m ...

. There are about 400 known species worldwide but more may yet to be discovered, especially in the tropics.

Identification

In Scatopsoidea, the posterior margin of the katepisternum is displaced to a more posterior disposition, causing the pleural suture to be folded. The superfamily also has a well-developed sperm pump and associated apodemes.

Phylogeny

Based on morphological features, Scatopsidae and Canthyloscelidae are sister groups to each other, and Valeseguyidae is the sister group to them. An analysis of

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

and mitochondrial gene markers supported the

monophyly 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 gro ...

of Scatopsoidea. It also found that this superfamily is the sister group to

Bibionomorpha The Bibionomorpha are an infraorder of the suborder Nematocera. One of its constituent families, the Anisopodidae, is the presumed sister taxon to the entire suborder Brachycera. Several of the remaining families in the infraorder (those shown wi ...

References

Psychodomorpha Diptera superfamilies {{Psychodomorpha-stub